The evening that Michelin awarded Bozar Brasserie with a Michelin star was the day that Karen Torosyan knew that he would become the master of his own destiny. His fate changed that day, he knew he was about to make the investment of a life time. It was not the star that changed everything but rather the realisation that now was the moment to turn his dream of owning a restaurant into reality. Since he started cooking in Georgia at the age of 13, he always dreamt that he would one day own his own restaurant. “The moment we clinched a Michelin star it became clear in my head that I needed to become independent. This would be the final step in my career, to have a project with my wife, a project that we could call a family project,” Karen Torosyan, chef of Bozar Restaurant in Brussels told me in an interview. Earlier this year, the Armenian chef who was born in Georgia bought the Bozar restaurant from David Martin of La Paix and an investor. One of the first changes he made was … [Read more...]
How Bozar chef Karen Torosyan became the ‘pie king’ of Belgium
To understand Karen Torosyan you need to understand his love affair with the pâté en croûte. In 2015, he became the World Champion of Pâté en Croûte and there has been no looking back since then. In many ways it has defined who he is but it also explains the philosophy of this talented chef who pushed Gault & Millau to create a category of Artisan of the Year to acknowledge his talents and skills. Today foodies who visit Brussels or Belgium on a food trip are known to head to Bozar Restaurant for a taste of his world famous ‘pâté en croûte’. He is the pie and pastry king par excellence. On a recent visit to Brussels, Andrea Petrini of GELINAZ! fame among others, is known to have waited one and a half hours to have a millefeuille prepared for him from scratch. It is prepared on order and Andrea had not ordered it in advance. Karen Torosyan is today master of his own destiny having bought the restaurant that is housed in the Horta designed Palais des Beaux Arts (Centre of … [Read more...]
The newspaper review that saved Belcanto – José Avillez
Things were looking bright for José Avillez six years ago. He had been through two life-changing experiences first as a trainee at Ferran Adria's legendary restaurant el Bulli and then clinching a Michelin star at the oldest and most prestigious Lisbon restaurant. The opening of Belcanto was the culmination of a journey that had seen him move from a business management degree to cooking. The restaurant was fully booked in the first few weeks for lunch and dinner. José's idea was to serve contemporary Portuguese cuisine, something that at the time was not common in Portugal at the time. People were asking him to serve classics but he had other ideas. Then disaster struck. The financial crisis struck in Portugal and it threatened to bring everything down. "I was extremely worried because I had invested a lot into this restaurant. We stayed open and were serving maybe five lunches and 10 to 15 dinners. There were days we were serving no lunches and maybe 5 dinners. I started to get … [Read more...]
‘Simplicity comes from within. When you remove ingredients it has to be perfect’ – Niko Romito
When Niko Romito clinched a Michelin star for his restaurant Reale in Rivisondoli, a village of only 450 residents in Abruzzo, the people in the region believed it was a miracle. “After we earned that first star, they told us we would never achieve a second star because the place was too small.” The restaurant was born as a trattoria, you opened the door and the first thing you saw opposite the door was the toilet. Just over a year passed and when Niko and his sister clinched a second star in 2009 no one could believe it. At the time, they were the only starred restaurant in the whole of Abruzzo. “There were only 450 residents in the village, they were used to having a trattoria. We were very far from the cities, we did not know about guides or the press. We worked and even our neighbours thought we were mad. Because when they came, they did not like it and wanted something different.” Niko said. Mention Niko Romito today and people will tell you he is one of the most influential … [Read more...]
Konstanin Filippou: Creativity starts with quietness
When it comes to the creative process Konstantin Filippou loves quietness. As chef of a fine dining restaurant of the same name in Vienna, Austria, he finds that it is best to concentrate and to trigger ideas either in the dead of night after a dinner service or else when he is completely quiet. While he enjoys music on his days off, in the kitchen, he does not even allow music to be played because it makes him nervous. “Creativity starts with quietness,” he told Food and Wine Gazette in an interview. That sense of quietness, of focus and of searching for answers and taking the time to think may be what has led this talented Austrian chef to retain his focus even when times were hard. So when Michelin called Konstantin Filippou’s name and awarded him two stars for his restaurant earlier this week it was the culmination of a dream he has laboured on quietly and within. In 2013, just when he had signed the lease for the restaurant in Vienna and signed to purchase the equipment … [Read more...]
Niko Romito and his meticulous work with vegetables: “Every bite has to be different”
What makes a chef serve a floret of a cauliflower in a three Michelin star restaurant as a centre piece without any additions except for a touch of olive oil infused in garlic? It is the knowledge that what he is serving has the necessary complexity and flavour to shine in a three star restaurant. That is exactly what Niko Romito has been doing since he started focusing on vegetables as centre-pieces. Is it the sense that he has attained perfection with a dish, one where the sum of its parts is greater than the whole? To get an understanding of what is happening at Reale in Castel di Sangro, in Abruzzo, Italy you need to look at the chef's work with vegetables. Because it is here that the philosophy of the chef boils down to its essence. “I have been focusing on vegetables for the past three years. I started with the artichoke, then I worked with the cabbage and now the cauliflower. But I do not have an idea which vegetable I will be working with next,” the chef told Food and … [Read more...]
Q&A with Nick Bril: ‘I get a good vibe in Antwerp. Being here is closer to my style of cooking’
Nick Bril runs The Jane in Antwerp considered by many to be one of the most stunning if not the most stunning restaurant in the world. We recently caught up with him to learn more about him, what drives him and how it feels to run a very busy restaurant. In this second part of our interview, we delve into what inspires him, who he considers to be his mentor, his move from the Dutch region of Zeeland to Antwerp and much more. You moved from Zeeland in the Netherlands to a city like Antwerp in Belgium, from nature to a buzzing city? How was the move? I am maybe more eclectic than Sergio (Herman) and Syrco (Bakker - Pure C). The latter is maybe following Sergio in the mindset of having Zeeland as a region. I am enjoying being able to go to Chinese supermarkets around me, to be able to buy Indian spices around me, having multicultural people around me. I can just go out of the place I live and by amazing merguez sausages from a Turkish butcher. Sergio and Syrco travel to get that … [Read more...]
Nick Bril: A chef and entrepreneur who knows exactly what he wants
Nick Bril is ambitious and driven. As a chef and entrepreneur he knows exactly what he wants though there is a certain inner struggle to determine when he will start to push the boundaries at The Jane, Antwerp. At 33, he has been cooking at the highest level for a long time having been the sous chef with his business partner Sergio Herman at Oud Sluis, a 3 Michelin star restaurant that closed at the end of 2013. He has experienced the trappings of the coveted three Michelin stars and is not in a hurry to get there though he aspires to get that accolade one day. “Ambition is one thing, money is another. The cost of running The Jane is high,” said Nick, the Dutch chef of The Jane, a two Michelin star restaurant created in a former military chapel and considered by many to be one of the most stunning and beautiful restaurants in the world. Having worked closely with Sergio he knows what it means to work at the top level day in day out. “When I speak to colleagues about the … [Read more...]
Q&A with Bart de Pooter: I have a collection of thousands of food photos
Bart de Pooter has no problem with clients taking photos in restaurants. He says he has got a collection of thousands of photos of food he has eaten in restaurants. Bart is in many ways a pioneer. He was the first Belgian chef to put his name to two Michelin starred restaurants in the country, he was one of the first chefs to venture to Asia when it was still not on the radar screen of world gastronomy like it is today. This is the second part of our interview in Q&A format. Who are the chefs that have inspired you most? Pierre Gagnaire, Albert Adria and his brother Ferran were all important. What is your best ever meal? That is a very difficult question because I don't have one. For me it is all about the experience. Sometimes, a dining experience can be so overwhelming that I will not go a second time because I fear that I will lose that experience. But I still remember my first experience in a three Michelin star restaurant at Alain Ducasse in Paris … [Read more...]
Bart de Pooter: A dinner that changed everything
Every person has a defining moment which makes you change paths or perspective. For Belgian chef Bart de Pooter that moment came at the dinner table of legendary restaurant el Bulli. He had been running Pastorale, a two Michelin star restaurant in a small village, Reet, close to the city of Antwerp for 26 years but that dinner changed everything. “When I went there and was served 26 courses, I felt very frustrated when I returned home because I realised that out of all those courses, I could maybe only create 3 dishes,” said Bart. He could not understand what had happened. Feeling lost, he went on a voyage of discovery looking at what made him and his restaurant unique. “I was a classic cook and quality was always important but then I became someone who wanted to translate his culture and create an identity.” Upon reflection and deep thinking he came up with Biotope or the habitat that has become his signature. Whether it is the vegetables, the produce or even the wood and … [Read more...]