How Tom Waters at Gorse earned Cardiff’s first Michelin star

As a proud Welshman, having a permanent place in his country’s hospitality history books “means the world” to chef Tom Waters.

In February 2025, Tom’s debut solo restaurant, Gorse, was awarded a Michelin star, becoming the first to do so in Cardiff.

When opening in the Wales capital in May 2024, achieving that accolade was always the dream, given his Michelin-starred kitchen background working for the likes of Phil Howard at The Square, Tom Kemble at Bonhams and Heston Blumenthal, Ed Cooke and Ashley Palmer-Watts at The Fat Duck.

But to do it so quickly, and with a restaurant deep-rooted in Welsh produce, is an accolade Tom does not take lightly.

“I'd be lying if I said it wasn't on our radar to be the first,” Tom said, discussing Gorse’s place in the history books.

“As a Cardiff boy, it fills me with so much pride that we were the first to get it. This means the world.

“When we got that email two weeks before from Michelin to say we were invited to the ceremony, obviously you want to be excited, but you don't really know for sure until you get there.

“That day in Glasgow honestly was horrendous, until our name got called.

“My wife and I were out for lunch and deliberately thought we'd pick something quite low key. We were sat at the counter having our lunch and I turn around and Claude Bosi walks in. And then two minutes later, Clare Smyth walks in and then Brett Graham walks in, and then Tom Kerridge walks in. And I'm thinking, oh God, I want to be anywhere else right now!”

He added: “I'm getting a bit emotional. When you're there and you're in the room and they call ‘Michelin star goes to Gorse in Cardiff’, there's no feeling like it.

“I remember Mark Birchall saying to me afterwards, three stars is amazing, but nothing will compare to when they call your name the first time.

“It is extraordinary, the feeling that you get from the validation. I know you shouldn’t be after these sorts of things, but you work so hard your whole career thinking that you can do it, you worked in all these places and to get one for your own name means the world.”

The kitchens that shaped Tom Waters

Tom breaks his career down into stages. First getting into cooking whilst at university, he began in the industry with fellow Welshman Bryn Williams at Odette’s in Primrose Hill, who “taught me the foundations, the basics of cooking”.

A “baptism of fire” followed with Phil Howard and Gary Foulkes at The Square.

“Phil is still one of the best chefs the country has ever produced and it was just an absolute pleasure to be able to work there,” said Tom.

“I really think that was probably the time of my career I enjoyed the most.”

The place which has had the biggest influence on his current restaurant the most was Bonhams, where he worked with Tom Kemble.

“That was the place that maybe has impacted me the most in my career. The quality of produce coming through the door was something like I hadn't really seen before,” said Tom.

Afterwards came the “finishing school” at three-Michelin-starred The Fat Duck, where he worked as sous chef, which Tom described as an “extraordinary” and “very eye-opening” experience.

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Why Cardiff - and why it worked

So with all that behind him, why open a restaurant in Cardiff?

“My wife is Welsh as well, so we always wanted to move back to Wales,” Tom explained.

“I was born in Cardiff, support Cardiff-based football and rugby teams and we always wanted to come to a city, so it made perfect sense to us.

“It's somewhere that probably five or six years ago I might not have imagined coming back to, but I think the quality of restaurants in Cardiff has only got better and better.

“It gave us the confidence that something like this could work in Cardiff.”

He continued: “We started off by cooking a series of pop-ups for about a year and a half in cafés and small restaurants around Cardiff. It was a massive success. I was fully booked twice a week for a year and a half.

“Then we started looking for sites. It was quite a long process. It took us about a year to find this site we're currently at, 186 Kings Road in Pontcanna. I think it was the 25th site we saw.

“It's perfect, because it's everything that I always wanted. It's very intimate, only 20 covers. I wanted to feel like it was in someone's living room and that myself and the rest of the team were serving you in their own homes.”

The Gorse ethos - Wales on the plate, in the room, and in the details

Describing his ethos at Gorse, Tom added: “Gorse is all about putting the best of Wales in this room, whether that's on the plate, on the walls, the physical plates themselves or the drinks.

“We really wanted to showcase some of the stuff we have in this country - from the amazing seaweeds, fish, lamb, venison and sparkling wines.

“We wanted to take all that and create something very Welsh, very of this time and place, with also a nod to the rest of the UK as well.

“It's not strictly Welsh, but we wanted to really focus on our local surroundings and just make it all make sense. We don't import any sort of fruit or vegetable. It's all from Wales or from the wider UK.”

Why it took Cardiff so long to earn a Michelin star

Asked why he feels it took so long for Cardiff to achieve a Michelin star, Tom said: “I think Cardiff's always had some good restaurants. There's a place called the Purple Poppadom, which has been here for more than 10 years, which is genuinely one of the best restaurants in the country. It's phenomenal.

“We have a load of good Chinese restaurants, some really good Somali and African cooking.

“But I think in terms of fine dining, I would say Cardiff has probably struggled a touch.

“You look at all other major cities in Europe that have a guide and I think we might have been the last one as a capital to not have a star.

“There's no reason why there can't be more than one as well. Hopefully more people feel encouraged to open up really ambitious restaurants in Cardiff.

“I think there's definitely enough appetite for it. We've shown that. Hopefully it's onwards and upwards.”

The overnight impact of michelin recognition

Discussing the transformation earning a star has had on Gorse, Tom explained: “It's massive. The impact is huge.

“We're a 20-cover restaurant in Cardiff. At the time we had two of us in the kitchen and two front of house. And then overnight it just exploded. We needed an extra two chefs and an extra front of house.

“We'd gone from being half full throughout the week, to being completely fully booked every single service. From last February - when we got the star - till now, we've had maybe one or two services that haven't been fully booked.

“That is the power of Michelin and it's why it's still the most respected guide in the world by quite a distance.”

The quest for ‘world class’

Looking to the future, Tom added: “It all happened so quickly. We didn't expect to get the star after only eight months of being open. So it sort of makes you think, okay, how far can we take this as a restaurant?

“We think we've only just started scratching the surface of what we can do.

“So it's just pushing that as far as we can take it here and try and create something genuinely world class in Cardiff, in these four walls.

“We're really confident in produce, in the team, in the appetite of people in Cardiff to support it.

“So the only thing stopping us from reaching those heights is ourselves, which is really cool.

“It's really inspiring because we can really do it. There's no reason why not.”