Tom Newfield, founder of Christchurch’s iconic Earl restaurant, is passionate about creating a relaxed vibe for his diners, with an ethos that dining out should be about atmosphere, service and wine, as well as exceptionally good food.
Nearly 20 years ago I was paying for my life as a student by working in hospitality. Looking back, it was probably one of my favourite jobs and where I met some of my closest and dearest friends, including the restaurant manager at the time, Tom Newfield. Fast forward to today, and Tom has gone from strength to strength in his hospitality career – despite the challenges along the way – and it is a pleasure to share an insight into his passion to enhance ‘everyday life through cuisines, culture and charisma’.
A born-and-bred Cantabrian, Tom spent much of the last two decades working across a variety of hospitality roles in Australia and the Middle East, as well as shorter stints in Rarotonga and Auckland. He then returned to Christchurch to take on the position of operations manager for Stranges Lane when it opened in 2014, a vibrant and dynamic role that immersed him into the post-earthquake food and wine scene in Christchurch. His next step may be familiar to many of you – the opening, and then closing of inner- city pub Welles Street. ‘Closing Welles was the hardest decision I have made in my career,’ explains Tom. ‘It was unfortunately the best decision at that moment in time, but it was really, really hard. It impacted a lot of people. And for that, I will forever work hard to make up for it.’
Pausing as he reflects, it is obvious it is a decision that has stayed with Tom, and shaped him into the individual he is today – one who is working hard to right wrongs and continue to give back to the city he loves. As the maître d’ of Christchurch’s inner-city bistro Earl, the last few years have been about collaborating with the team to achieve an evolved version of this dining destination. A destination where they aim to ‘unleash the foodie, the culture- craver and the social butterfly’ within us.
Earl was founded (prior to the closure of Welles Street) on the idea of dining. ‘Going out isn’t just about food, although it certainly helps,’ Tom enthuses. ‘It is also about the atmosphere, the service, the wine. It is about how it makes you feel. Price point, and being fancy for the sake of it, shouldn’t come into it. Our intention is to celebrate the art of dining and sharing delicious food with others, while empowering our diners to be themselves and explore something new.’
For the last five years that is exactly what Earl has delivered. ‘We have blurred the lines between the chef and the customer by having the kitchen at the heart of the restaurant and essentially part of the dining room,’ he explains, ‘but people love it. The chefs love it. They can see who is enjoying their food and the customers get a great connection with what they are eating.
‘We haven’t followed trends when it comes to our menu, we just aim to provide people with delicious, simple food done well. While we celebrate working with local producers and suppliers, we are also trying to give our customers something else. We want them to come and feel like they could be in any other cosmopolitan city in the world.’
With the arrival of Covid-19 in the country and the subsequent ongoing lockdowns, like every other hospitality venue, Earl was forced to shut their doors and rethink how they could operate in this strange and unknown environment. ‘The lockdowns were really exhausting, the goal post was forever changing and as quickly as we digested and worked through one piece of information or operational rule, another one would come out,’ he says. ‘We were constantly pivoting, rethinking, changing; we never stood still. Except to make pasta.’
Like many of us during lockdown, Tom and his team found themselves cooking and experimenting at home and enjoying meals with their bubbles, over pasta. ‘We became pasta obsessed, and as we started to see the light at the end of the tunnel to reopen to the public, we thought why not test the waters with a pasta night?’
Able to be executed efficiently, with limited staff – to reduce the risk of Covid – and at a price point that would be sustainable, it seemed like a short-term solution to get them back up and running. ‘We had no idea what people’s appetite would be to dine out post-lockdowns and we wanted to do something that would appeal to a wide range of people and offer the venue up to those who may not have dined with us before.’ The result was Pasta Night Tuesdays – held every Tuesday since 2021, and still going strong. ‘We have people who come just for Pasta Night. It almost has a cult following and some people didn’t even know we had a full menu operating four other nights of the week!’
For Tom, the last five years haven’t just been about surviving the turbulent hospitality sector, but celebrating the friendships he has made along the way, from his team to those who have been there since day one. ‘On our first night we had Wet Jacket Wines on the menu and they are still there today. There is a really beautiful and natural synergy between our two brands and it is always exciting to serve diners who have come to us after experiencing Wet Jacket for themselves in Central Otago – and vice versa. They often have our diners visiting the tasting room after enjoying them at Earl.’
The saying ‘good things take time’ has never been more true as we reflect on the last few years. ‘It hasn’t always been easy; we made it into the media for the wrong reasons with Welles Street,’ says Tom, ‘and there was Covid, but on the other hand the recognition is suddenly coming. We have customers who come every week and never order from the menu, they just trust us to bring them something they will enjoy; we have served food royalty [Nigella Lawson famously tweeted about their potatoes], New Zealand royalty and been recognised by some of Aotearoa New Zealand’s top food critics.
’With the stadium on their doorstep and 900 townhouses under way in their immediate surrounds, they are well poised for the next five years and for this recognition to continue. ‘Christchurch is without doubt home for me,’ concludes Tom.
‘There is a limitless amount of potential to what can be achieved here and it is both exciting, and humbling, to be part of that.’
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