Yamba chef Marley Van Den Boom has brought invaluable food knowledge and skills back to his hometown after completing a three-month internship at the restaurant that has been named the world’s best multiple times, Japan’s three-Michelin-star restaurant Noma.

The 22-year-old told the CV Independent he started working in a Yamba café aged 14 as a dish washer while in high school, until when he was 16, he then moved to Brisbane and worked as an apprentice for 6 months.

When he returned to Yamba and discovered the apprentice syllabus was different in NSW and he wouldn’t be credited with what he had completed, Marley restarted his apprenticeship with former popular Angourie establishment Barbaresco.

After about nine months working at Barbaresco, Marley said his friends who owned the café where he used to wash dishes transformed into Karrikin Yamba, where he continued to work and hone his skills while completing his TAFE study.

“I really wanted to go back there and work, they are just really cool people to work with who are doing fun things,” he said.

Marley said he had always followed restaurant Noma, read their books, and kept up with their cooking styles, and he discovered via Instagram they were launching a three-month pop-up restaurant called Noma Kyoto.

“I find it really inspiring and really interesting, I love what they do and how they do it all,” he said.

While holidaying in Japan, Marley said he was working in a resort on the snowfields when he hesitantly sent in an application for one of the coveted intern positions at Noma Kyoto, fearing rejection.

So, when he got the news, he had been accepted, Marley said he could not believe it.

“It was crazy hey, I wasn’t expecting it at all,” he said.

“I’d never really had the opportunity to work in such an established and well recognised restaurant like Noma before.”

As an intern at Noma Kyoto, Marley said his 12-hour days began with food preparation, then when service began, he worked with a huge team of about 30 in the kitchen to get the meals out to customers.

“When service came, we were actually in the kitchen, hands-on, actually cooking everything, which was really cool, I didn’t really expect that at all,” he said.

“It was really good; it was a lot better than expected.

“It’s so different to everything I’ve ever worked with, I’d never eaten anything or worked with some of the produce or even seen some of the fruits, vegetables and herbs before, coming from a small town like Yamba.”

During his internship, Marley said he learned new skills and expanded his food knowledge extensively, working with products he had never seen before.

“I learned a lot about different foods, the knowledge of flavours and how to work at such a high level,” he said.

Now Marley is back working at Karrikin Yamba while he saves money so he and his partner can return to Japan to finish the remainder of his working visa.

“I am working over there, but I’m not really chasing anything, but if an opportunity came up while I am over there, I will follow it,” he said.

Marley said ultimately, he would like to be able to work and travel the world to hone his skills, knowledge, and techniques for the next 10 years, before returning to Yamba to open his own restaurant.

“I’d love to travel more and obviously get more experience and knowledge from around the world in the industry,” he said.

“I’d love to open a restaurant in Yamba one day.”

This article appeared in the Clarence Valley Independent, 11 October 2023.