Brace yourself for your new favourite restaurant in town!
Australian-born but Victoria-based chef, Tom Moore, is planning on opening a new restaurant that will be ready to open its doors early next year, but in the meantime, he will be opening a pop-up location in the heart of downtown.
Moore’s name and face may be familiar to some Victorians as he is half of the duo that brought the beloved Crust Bakery to Victoria.
He has a long history of making massive contributions to the world of culinary arts, having opened and led several successful restaurants and bakeries in both Australia and Canada.
“My background is, I’m a chef by trade,” Moore told Victoria Buzz.
He was a passionate apprentice when he was young, insisting upon working at the best five star hotel restaurants at the young age of 16-years old to learn from the best.
Moore competed as a young chef, early in his career and says he found the competitions to be second nature for him.
“Those were the first things I ever won,” he said. “It felt easy for me.”
After winning several awards and prestigious competitions, he moved to BC when he was 21-years-old in the hopes of travelling the globe and cooking along the way.
“My aunt and uncle lived in Vancouver and that was going to be the launch point for my world cooking tour. Well then I met a bloody Canadian girl and it all went to shit from there,” Moore laughed.
After that, Moore’s life got very busy, as he liked it.
He got married, moved back to Australia, had kids, opened two restaurants, opened a cooking school, learned about horticulture to grow his own produce and eventually felt a bit overwhelmed by it all.
He then sold off his businesses and opened a bakery. That bakery would lay the groundwork for what Crust Bakery became.
Now, Moore still plays his role as co-owner with Crust, but he says that it is pretty self-sufficient at this point.
With his kids being older, he wants to open his passion project to get back into the thick of the chaos that is running a restaurant that he is now ready to take on.
His new place is dubbed Tombo and will be located in the old home of Agrius and Fol Epi at 732 Yates Street, two amazing restaurant and bakery businesses that closed down earlier this year.
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“In May or June I think, I heard that [Fol Epi Owner] Cliff wanted to get out, so I gave him a call and said, ‘Hey listen, I want to do something by myself and you’re looking to get out, this could work out for both of us,’” he said.
“He said it sounds great, he was looking to get out of the restaurant side of the industry and I stupidly want to get back into it,” Moore laughed.
Unfortunately for Tombo, due to some setbacks with permits that held up construction, he will be unable to open his new venture until early 2024, so he has pivoted and decided to open yet another restaurant to give the city a teaser of what they will be able to expect from Tombo.
“In the meantime, I’m opening a pop-up called Tombo Pop Up, nice and simple and obvious,” Moore explained.
Tombo Pop Up will be located at the mouth of Trounce Alley on Government Street, right above Quazar’s Arcade.
“It’s got the most beautiful little shop front to it, it’s fabulous,” Moore told Victoria Buzz.
“I’m a bit worried actually because if I like it too much, it’ll be hard to part with when Tombo is ready to open,” he joked.
For this venture, Moore will not be taking the role as executive chef, which is what he is used to. Instead, he hired local legend Grant Gard to be Tombo’s executive chef.
Gard opened Part and Parcel on Quadra and has been known for his work in the kitchens of Agrius and Stage. He has earned himself a place among the best chefs in the city to be constantly expanding the palettes of Victorians for years.
“I’ve got an incredible chef,” said Moore. “He’s a lovely human as well and I’m excited to see what we can do together.”
Tombo’s food will be all made fresh in house — including the charcuterie and the bread — and between Moore and Gard, using fresh produce and the best ingredients is of the utmost importance.
The pop-up’s menu will be simple, yet well crafted grab-and-go food with a rotating soup, two salad options and four mouth-watering sandwich options, one of which being vegetarian.
One of the sandwiches to start looking forward to now will be a hero, which is a true and authentic Italian sub sandwich on a house-made baguette.
Once the real Tombo on Yates is ready to open its doors, their menu will expand upon these dishes with the quality of the food being paramount.
Moore says that the pop-up will not only tease the food that Tombo will be serving at their permanent home, but it will also be giving Victoria a taste of what the overall vibe of his new restaurant will be.
“I got a design company and interior designer that also did Crust, and she’s just incredible,” said Moore.
“My request from her was to get her to really help people understand the flow of what Tombo will be — the flow of any business is super important.”
While the real Tombo is still a few months away, Tombo’s pop-up on Government Street will tide the city over until Moore is ready to open the doors and share his passion project with Victoria.
Moore is aiming to have Tombo Pop Up open on November 16th and will be open from Wednesday to Sunday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., or until sold out.
