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This real iron chef will make you pay
Debra Jopso May 8, 2010
Customers who refused to obey Yukako Ichikawa's rules are directed to her ex-husband's restaurant. Photo: Marco Del Grande
CHEF Yukako Ichikawa cooked up a radical solution to food waste after a favourable newspaper review brought too many of the wrong kinds of diners to her restaurant door.
''They are picky eaters. I do not want to make food for these people,'' said Ichikawa, 42, who turns away customers not in tune with her homespun philosophy of eating, which partly derives from her horror about a world where people die from hunger.
Six weeks ago, at Wafu, her 30-seat restaurant in Surry Hills, she began offering a 30 per cent discount to patrons who ate all the food they had ordered.
She and her staff tell diners that if they do not leave clean plates, they will not be welcome back. ''Finishing your meal requires that everything is eaten except lemon slices, gari (sushi ginger) and wasabi,'' says the menu, which is tagged ''guilty-free Japanese food''.
''Please also note that vegetables and salad on the side are NOT decorations; they are part of the meal too,'' it says.
Launching a campaign this week, the NSW Environment Minister, Frank Sartor, deplored the 800,000 tonnes of food waste generated annually in the state's households, on top of 300,000 tonnes dumped by businesses.
But before the government began telling everyone to eat all their greens, activists were working out ways to reduce restaurant food garbage.
''Freegans'' or vegans dedicated to obtaining leftover food free, devised internet guides to ''dumpster diving'' at shops and restaurants, with one couple donning formal gear for a video send-up of TV food shows. They spawned meat-eating versions- ''meagans''.
Meat-loving chefs have joined the ''nose-to-tail'' movement designed to use all parts of a slaughtered beast.
The chef at Paddington's Four in Hand, Colin Fassnidge, offers pig's ear schnitzel and a veal dish of cheek, fillet, bone marrow and tongue, which is mostly ordered by men because, as he says, it is ''like caveman food''.
Chefs hated wasting food, said Roni Kahn, the founding director of OzHarvest, which collects surplus food from hotels and restaurants to feed the needy.
But none has gone as far as Ichikawa. ''It is her lone stance,'' Ms Kahn said. ''She is pretty brave, because being as dictatorial as she is - and she is certainly pretty dogmatic about how she runs her business - she is going to alienate people,'' she said.
Those buying her takeaway food, which is organic and free of gluten, dairy, sugar and eggs, must bring their own containers.
Each week she fills with waste a bin smaller than a kitchen tidy. Previously even two people struggled to carry out the rubbish.
This year, she nearly closed her restaurant after wasteful types made her ''sick of people'' who were not her regulars. ''If I didn't know them, I didn't want to take them,'' she said.
But friends persuaded her instead to impose rules and, after a visit to a solicitor, she pinned her policy to her front door. It exhorts diners to share meals, to thank the earth while eating and to be mindful of the amount they order.
When Ichikawa feels ''negative'', she sends customers around the corner to her former husband's eatery, Matsuri, because she believes she transmits her negativity to the food.
Her toughness has inspired some bad reviews. One, on the eatability website, said that three people were sent outside to read the policy and then rudely sent away.
Another took exception to ''an aggressive, badly communicated lecture'' about left lettuce leaves, despite the diners having brought their own takeaway container.
''This was after we'd ploughed through the biggest plate of green beans ever seen,'' lamented the writer.
Visiting as an anonymous diner, your Herald correspondent left the plate clean, which won smiles from Ichikawa and an invitation to join her 300 ''members''.
''Sometimes it is funny because even adults, when they are completely finished, they are proud,'' she said.
Rather than arguing, those failing to finish tended to apologise and pay the extra, she said.
Eastwood engineer Mellissa Vaby eats at Wafu monthly with her husband Fred Hardtke and their seven-year-old son, Gabriel, who has a serious nut allergy.
''I don't think she is being rude,'' she said. ''She is laying out her philosophy and methodology.
''She comes right up at the start and says: 'This is what my restaurant is'.
''If you don't appreciate those philosophies, if you don't appreciate whole food and sharing, and you condone wastage, you should go somewhere else. There are plenty of options in Sydney.''
Sydney's Wafu 'sushi nazi' serves diners a raw deal
Fed up with diners not finishing their food, this Surry Hills restaurant denies entry to new customers. And us
By Janine Israel 31 March, 2011
It’s the most exclusive restaurant in Sydney. While a meal won’t set you back much more than $30, only an elite few are privy to its organic, home-style Japanese fare.
If you’re not already a “member” of Wafu restaurant in Surry Hills, or if chef Yukako Ichikawa is not in a conciliatory mood or doesn’t like the look of you, then forget it. Say “sayonara” and take your appetite around the corner to Matsuri -- her ex-husband’s restaurant with a far more embracing door policy.
Sydney’s “sushi Nazi” established her formidable reputation a year ago. Fed up with the excessive food waste generated by picky or non-hungry diners, she began offering a 30-percent discount to those who finished their meals.
She then offered “membership” to customers who polished off everything on their plates (lemon slices, gari and wasabi excluded). Those who failed to finish their food were told not to return.
A year on, it seems Wafu’s “policies” -- displayed on the Cleveland Street restaurant’s front window and pictured below -- have become even more authoritarian.
When I visited Sydney's Wafu recently for dinner, despite there being only five customers in the 30-seat restaurant, a large sign on the door stated, “Do not come in!!! Wafu club members only!”
How to get in
Becoming a member at Wafu is no easy feat.
First-timers are advised to turn up with an existing member. Even then, service is not guaranteed.
Two females were turned away by a flustered Ichikawa because one of the women had forgotten her membership number.
For those without friends in high places, getting a seat is even trickier.
The policy on Wafu’s website advises that if you come as “only two people” you might get served.
First-time patrons are also advised to arrive “hungry, as Wafu is a place to eat –- it is not a café to simply chitchat.” Also, to bring “a sturdy reusable container” to take home any leftovers.
First-timers are advised to turn up with an existing member. Even then, service is not guaranteed.
Trying our luck
Despite not being a member, I had adhered to all the rules -- we arrived with just one other person, a raging appetite and a suitable plastic container.
So we decided to try our luck.
First, we asked one of the five diners if she could pretend she was our friend.
She refused, saying that lying could jeopardize her membership and her reputation as a good, compliant customer. She suggested, however, we ask Ichikawa about her cooking classes as a way of breaking the ice.
Heeding her advice, we waited at the counter until Ichikawa acknowledged our presence.
“I’m interested in your Sunday cooking classes,” I nervously explained.
Ichikawa’s face lit up. “Send me an email,” she replied courteously.
“And I’d really love to eat here as well,” I added hopefully. Perhaps a little too desperately.
Ichikawa’s smile dropped and her voice rose.
“At the moment I can’t take any more members. I can’t waste any more of my time explaining my policy," she said.
And with that, we left, walking dejectedly around the corner to her ex-husband’s restaurant on Crown Street.
The place was packed, thanks to the steady stream of Wafu refugees -- including those two ousted females lacking a membership number -- who were busy drowning their rejection in bowls of steaming miso soup.
getting there
Wafu
460 Cleveland St.
Surry Hills NSW 2010
tel. +61 (0)2 9319 1880
http://wafu.com.au
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