Niko Romito never thought of becoming a chef. He had never even cooked before opening his restaurant and did not even know how to cook an egg. He cooked for the first time at Reale in Rivisondoli, Abruzzo, a village of less than 450 inhabitants. His father had opened it as a pastry shop in 1970 converting it into a restaurant 30 years later as the original Reale. He was neither passionate about cooking nor food and did not even come from a family of restauranteurs because the restaurant had only been open for 2 years. But as fate had it, while he was completing a degree in Economics and Commerce his father fell ill. He still needed to take 5 exams to complete the degree but when his father passed away he and his sister Cristiana took over the operation of the restaurant. The idea was to keep the operation going until they find a buyer. But they fell in love with the restaurant trade and the rest is history. Cristiana took over the front of house, something she still does … [Read more...]
Interview with Poul Andrias Ziska: The young chef who has put the Faroe Islands on the world culinary map
For some people food has become the first thing that they look out for in a destination. Countries that have ignored this are now realising that they can attract a certain type of gastronomic traveller if they can up their game. For those chefs or destinations that are looking for inspiration as to how it can be done, they should look no further than Poul Andrias Ziska, a 26-year-old chef from the Faroe Islands whose restaurant KOKS has won its first Michelin star. This young talented chef has shown what can be done with passion, with fresh food and with what nature can provide you in one of the most remote islands in Europe. Other than for its football team which competes in the European championship, its sheep and its reputation for amazing seafood, few would have heard to these islands at least from a gastronomic map until Poul put them on the map. In the tiny hamlet of Kirkjubour, on the Faroe Islands, Poul was already a household name among foodies serving a 17-course … [Read more...]
Rasmus Kofoed: You need to look for what is not obvious
Michelin inspectors have arrived at a restaurant in the Danish capital Copenhagen. Usually they would get away with anonymity but this time, Rasmus Kofoed and his team know that the persons dining at table are from the Michelin guide. How they realised is a story that has yet to be told but on that day, somehow, the staff at Geranium, the three Michelin star restaurant in Copenhagen knew they were serving Michelin inspectors. The tension must have been palpable. Not knowing that you are being inspected may keep you on tenterhooks every day but there is probably no feeling more intense for a chef to know that he is being tested on the spot particularly when so much is at stake. They serve razor clams and when the plate returns back to the kitchen, the chef and cooks realise that the edible clam shell has been left intact. So they ask the service team to send another set of razor clams to tell them that the shells are edible. Rasmus Kofoed tells Food and Wine Gazette in an … [Read more...]
Lunch with Fulvio Pierangelini: The main ingredient of a perfect tomato sauce is love
The main ingredient of the perfect tomato sauce is love. It is love for the main ingredient, the tomato, and love of the process and what it takes to make a perfect sauce. The colour, texture and taste of a tomato varies. It depends on the variety, it also depends on the sun and the season when it is picked. Making a tomato sauce might sound like the most trivial thing to do. Most would not even hesitate to open a tin of tomatoes to make a sauce. Spaghetti with tomato sauce is the food of childhood memories. If there is one dish that takes us back in time it is this. And today, it is also a staple on children's menus in restaurants. The spaghetto al pomodoro by Fulvio Pierangelini is legendary. Some years ago, when his restaurant Gambero Rosso was still open, he had lectured university students in Bologna about the significance of a great tomato sauce. He had told students that he had a responsibility to cook a great tomato sauce because ultimately everyone could cook a … [Read more...]
Vladimir Mukhin (White Rabbit): The future of gastronomy is glocalisation
Vladimir Mukhin, Russian chef of White Rabbit, the Moscow restaurant that has taken the gastronomic world by storm over the past years is on a mission to make Russian tastes known globally. Born to a family of chefs, he jokes that he was born in the kitchen. Both his mother and father were chefs and so was his grandmother. His grandfather was a teacher in a culinary school and the Russian chef recalls how he started to cook with his grandfather from 5pm to 7pm after school. Mukhin is on a mission to showcase the best of Russian traditions. "The national culture for chefs is the future of gastronomy. We will be going towards what I call glocalisation," he says. "The cooking techniques may be global but we need to find the best recipes and the best tastes of Russia and share it," he says. That is not easy for a young chef born in 1983. "The taste of the Soviet Union in the 1980s was mayonnaise. The people of the Soviet Union only remember this one taste and it killed Russian … [Read more...]
Food as poetry: Massimo Bottura, the cultured chef at the top of the culinary world
When the World's 50 Best Restaurants announced earlier this week that Massimo Bottura's Modena restaurant Osteria Francescana had made it to the top of the list for the first time few in the culinary world were surprised. His rise to the top of the culinary world has been progressive and constant. What may have been surprising was the time it took for him to achieve the pinnacle of success. This was as much a victory for Bottura, his wife Lara Gilmore and his team as much as it was a victory for culture and creativity. The Italian chef could have easily been a poet or an artist. He says creating a recipe is an intellectual gesture that involves ingredients, technique, memory and the compression of everything in bites of edible culture. He uses food as his medium for creativity and the palate to transmit emotions. "In a world of obligation, you can lose your point of reference. The secret is to keep a small space open for poetry, to be able to jump into that space and … [Read more...]
Father and son Eric and Tristan Martin work in symphony at Maison Lemonnier
Father and son Eric and Tristan Martin are passionate about food, wine and the region they live in. It is therefore no wonder that they work together in an idyllic setting in Lavaux-Ste-Anne in the Belgian Ardennes where they run a hotel and restaurant which has been open for 10 years. Eric has been cooking for more than 25 years while his son Tristan who studied at the Paul Bocuse Institute joined him in Maison Lemonnier in spring 2008. The father studied law but had already made his decision that he would be cooking. In his words, his love for nature and the region was such that cooking was the only obvious choice. You can see that passion in the philosophy of their cooking, the love for the region and its ingredients, the need to try and make their gastronomic restaurant accessible to young people (but not only) through a 'subsidised' menu on the chef's table and their hospitality. It was on a sunny Saturday morning that I drove to Maison Lemonnier in Lavaux-Ste-Anne in … [Read more...]
The Belgian chef giving a Maltese twist to his restaurant in Gent
A Maltese restaurant outside Maltese shores is not a common sight. And there is a reason. The island is small and few Maltese chefs have ventured out of Malta to cook Maltese-style cuisine in their own restaurants. Many Maltese chefs have gone abroad to train but most return to work on the island. It is even more unusual when that cuisine is replicated by a Belgian chef but there is a reason for this. Since 2011, Maarten Van Steen and Anna Vella Bardon have been serving Mediterranean style food with a Maltese twist at their restaurant Villa Bardon in Sluizeken, Gent. "It was always our dream to open a restaurant and Gent was a great location. As a chef I studied in the Flemish city of Bruges and was classically trained. Then I went to Malta for two years, (my wife Anna is from Malta) and it was here that I got to know Maltese food and Mediterranean culture," he tells Food and Wine Gazette. He loved the freshness of the fish and the purity of the flavours. "There are things … [Read more...]
Q&A with Syrco Bakker: ‘Forget about the things you cannot control’
Syrco Bakker is the chef of Pure C and one of the rising stars in the Netherlands. He has had stints with Gordon Ramsay, Jonnie Boer and Sergio Herman at Oud Sluis before being entrusted to head the kitchen at Pure C in 2010. Herman described Syrco as a chef with an inexhaustible amount of creativity. "He is extremely talented and just as passionate as me," Sergio says about Syrco. You can read our full interview with Syrco here. In this quick question and answer with Syrco you will learn a bit more about this very talented Dutch chef. What have you learned from Jonnie Boer, Gordon Ramsay and Sergio Herman? From Jonnie Boer, I learned to work with great local ingredients. He was one of the first chefs to go directly to farmers. I also learnt how important it is to have a very good family atmosphere in a restaurant. This has become extremely important nowadays. It is something that I really appreciate when I look back and it is no wonder that he and Therese have retained a … [Read more...]
Massimo Bottura gives lesson in creativity: The future is about culture
How many times have we heard about the importance of quality of ingredients in cooking? For Massimo Bottura, the opposite holds true. "Cooking is not just about the quality of ingredients but also about the quality of the ideas." That should not come as a surprise to those who know about this Italian chef. He is known to find inspiration everywhere including in particular from the 'cucina povera'. He then takes his creations to a level worthy of the second best restaurant in the world. Many would nowadays throw away the crust of a Parmiggiano Reggiano even if it is used to impart flavour to soups. He has found a way to use it to replace pasta in his compression of pasta and beans (Pasta e Fagioli). Bottura does not need any introduction. Chef of Osteria Francescana, the Modenese restaurant that is the second best restaurant in the world, he can be a man of many contradictions. He is known to make things look very simple but that simplicity comes mainly with the benefit of … [Read more...]