It’s simple, familiar favourites on a global scale when it comes to food at Guzman y Gomez. We catch up with the brand’s Head of Culinary to find out about their love for authentic flavours and how they share it around the world.
Luiza Gomes has been cooking since she was a child. Her passion for all things food led her to start working in kitchens from just 16 years old in her native Brazil, and she’s been hooked on hospo ever since.
Gomes carved out a career in both casual restaurants and fine-diners during her time in Brazil, moving to Australia ten years ago primarily to learn English. After some time in kitchens here, she was looking for a new challenge and found Guzman y Gomez (GYG), where she’s now working as Head of Culinary.
“I wanted to explore my connection with food and my Latin background, and I found Guzman y Gomez. GYG has always created authentic South American flavours, and the food here tastes like home, especially for Latin people – it’s exactly what I had as a child in Brazil,” Gomes says. “I started here in culinary operations, and now as head of culinary training I get to design and implement new recipes for all our restaurants.”
It's high praise coming from someone who grew up in South America and has spent almost 20 years in fine dining. But it’s no accident that GYG’s menu tastes familiar for members of the Latin community. It all stems from the brand’s test kitchen, La Cocina, where Gomes creates new recipes.
La Cocina translates to ‘The Kitchen’ – it’s designed to replicate the GYG restaurant cooking and preparation processes. It’s also where Gomes gets a chance to liaise with suppliers and look at ingredients before they’re included in recipes. To create simple and authentic dishes, Gomes is picky about who supplies each restaurant.
“Our food is not only restaurant-grade, it’s clean. The complexity that we face every time we develop a product here leads to the final quality in the restaurant,” Gomes says. “We’re considering things such as shelf life, preparation, cooking, and equipment as well. Years of work goes into a dish.”
Gomes not only oversees the menu development process in La Cocina, she also trains staff. La Cocina is the hub for GYG’s Culinary Excellence program, where franchisees and restaurant managers will go to learn the basics of cooking, as well as advanced techniques. Gomes’ lessons focus on the fine details and keeping cooking simple.
“I educate people on all the little things that elevate the end quality of the food. How to handle a knife, how to slice the coriander correctly, the way you marinate the chicken, the way you place the things on the grill to cook them evenly,” Gomes says. “All these details that I picked up in my fine-dining culinary training add up and make a difference to the final product, so I’m trying to pass these lessons on.”
It's a lot of moving pieces, but Gomes relishes the challenging aspects of her role.
“It’s a heap of responsibility, but it’s incredible. I feel the weight of responsibility in the best possible way here. It makes me a stronger person and chef, as I am challenged to ensure that we are delivering the best quality ingredients and flavours every day,” Gomes says. “I love that challenge here and GYG gives me the support I need to carry that weight.”
“Every day we cook, we don’t just heat food up. Twice a day we’re mashing the avocados for guacamole, we’re cutting the tomatoes and peeling the onions for fresh pico de gallo,” Gomes says. “We’re constantly experimenting and creating in our kitchen, and we have a deep respect for the food. That’s what attracts people not only to come and eat here, but to work here.”
Gomes says the career change from fine dining has taught her a lot – but it’s the similarities that have surprised her the most.
“We use clean, restaurant-quality ingredients. If I get the food that we have at GYG and plate it on a nice ceramic dish in a fancy restaurant, you’d honestly never know the difference.”
This article is produced by Scout Jobs in partnership with Guzman y Gomez.
Photography: Supplied
