Change is something that most of us human beings are not used to but that is not the case of chef Bo Bech. Since last year he spends most of his time in New York, having left the kitchen of his own restaurant Geist since he considered himself to have become the bottleneck. He went to the United States and precisely New York with the intention of opening a restaurant but then thought that he would be running away from himself. “I seriously thought about opening a restaurant in New York when I left Copenhagen,” Bo said. “But I realised that if I was going to open a restaurant I would be copying myself. It was like I was running away from myself, like I was chasing my own tail.” Since then he has organised 16 special events called The Bride of the Fox. These events only exist once. They are organised in different venues like the stage of a theatre or the kitchen of the World’s Best restaurant Eleven Madison Park. When he arrived in New York, he reflected about what he was … [Read more...]
San Degeimbre and perma-management: Learning to manage people by finding inspiration from nature
“It is essential to understand nature before you can start to understand your kitchen,” says San Degeimbre, chef of Belgian restaurant L' Air du Temps. “A plant will give you lots of hints about what you can do in the kitchen. Observing plants and nature not only inspires you but also communicates with you. Through observation you can notice that a plant or vegetable needs water. But when we speak with humans, observation is all the more essential because communication alone is not sufficient. Someone can tell you that they are very well when it might mean exactly the opposite. Understanding and observing are therefore essential," he said. Drawing inspiration from perma-culture he spoke about what he called perma management or taking inspiration from nature to find ways to solve problems and find ways to manage people. He was speaking at the first W Food Festival event organised the Generation W, the collective of chefs from the French speaking Belgian region of Wallonia which he … [Read more...]
Zaiyu Hasegawa: “Doing things differently makes me happy”
Zaiyu Hasegawa, the 37-year-old chef of Jimbocho Den in Tokyo took an interest in food and cooking at early age. The son of a geisha, he recalls his mother bringing delicious leftover food from the traditional restaurant she worked in home and he would eat it in the morning and be marvelled at how good it was. That is where he attributes his interest in food. But there was another reason why he took to cooking. "I did not speak English very well but I thought that with my food I could communicate. And cooking is something that you can do anywhere in the world." That is something that Zaiyu has been doing a lot recently. He is frequently on the road and able to adapt to the location he find himself in. Travelling is something the Japanese chef attaches a lot of importance to. At the end of June, he was in Alba to cook a four hands dinner with Italian three Michelin star chef Enrico Crippa. Cooking with Mr Crippa or Crippa San as he calls him is a dream come true for Zaiyu. He … [Read more...]
Bo Bech: On opening Geist and learning the art of delegating
It is not often that people let go when they are the leader at the top or they own a business. But for Danish chef Bo Bech, who is renowned in Copenhagen for his cooking, his bread-baking and his charisma, that seemed to be the only option. Having decided to close his Michelin star restaurant because he did not like the direction that the fine dining scene was taking, he decided to open the restaurant Geist in Copenhagen in 2011 to replace Paustian. Last year, he again made a drastic change, this time walking away from the restaurant and deciding to manage it from a distance. Here is someone who is not afraid of change. Today Bo lives in New York and travels frequently and has delegated the management of the restaurant to his team though he is of course still very much informed of what is going on in the restaurant. When he decided to let go he realised that he had become the bottleneck. "People would call to ask me if I was going to be at the restaurant. They wanted me to be … [Read more...]
Inside the magical world of Enrico Crippa’s garden is the secret to his legendary salad
For a food lover or chef, visiting Enrico Crippa’s garden just a few kilometres outside of the town of Alba is a bit like visiting the magical world of Roald Dahl's chocolate factory. To understand the Italian chef of Piazza Duomo in Alba, one of the best restaurants in the world, you need to understand this garden. Ideally, you need to wake up early and visit it with him. Because it is here that you will discover the secret to his success, to his flavours and to his story. His ‘Insalata’ or salad as it is known is the stuff of legend. A lot has been written about it, photos taken and he describes it as the best dish he has ever made. “But there is no cooking or preparation,” he smiles. You may have come with preconceived ideas about the dish but nothing prepares you for the experience. A table of eight people including Zaiyu Hasegawa, the Japanese chef of Tokyo restaurant Den, Andrea Petrini, one of the co-curators of The Gelinaz! and host Roberta Ceretto representing the … [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...]
Christophe Hardiquest fulfills dream to cook without pressure and constraints this summer
Christophe Hardiquest, chef of two Michelin star restaurant Bon Bon is fulfilling his dream of opening a bistro this summer albeit for just two months. He is opening Mon Bistro d'été by Christophe Hardiquest in the old Chez Marie restaurant in the Flagey area of Brussels. The restaurant had been closed for over two years. "A bistro is something fun. It is a great opportunity to work with new suppliers and produce new recipes away from the constraints and expectations of a fine dining restaurant. We don't want to raise expectations though we will use high quality products but differently. My aim is to work with new products which I am not accustomed to use at Bon Bon," the Belgian chef told Food and Wine Gazette in an interview. The chef has decided to open this pop-up restaurant instead of going for a two-month vacation while the restaurant kitchen of Bon Bon is completely refurbished in July and August. The new Bon Bon kitchen, which welcomed 19 chefs from across the whole of … [Read more...]
28 and a half minutes trying to uncover the secrets of Jay Rayner
Jason Rayner is big …..not only in a physical sense but also his presence. Jay as he prefers to call himself, is a man who is ‘Big in Britain’. He is held high in regard thanks to his success as a writer, journalist, author, critic, by his solo flight stage shows, television appearances, radio programmes and one time trip to the USA, as an expert on Bravo channel's Master Chef spin off. This barrowload of awards and accolades reminds us and him, who he was and is. For his big name and big reputation he could even be a 21st century Renaissance man if there is room for that. With his own performing Jazz Quartet in London which strikes a noticeable similarity to Woody and his set in New York, and a wife who sings with him about food and drink, he’s almost the full circle of talent and diligence. Jay arrived in New Zealand in May with opinions and his book to perform the show The Ten Commandments and share it with readers, writers and broadcasters. I was granted 30 minutes of his … [Read more...]
‘The possibilities are endless if we open the doors to fermented juices in restaurants’ – André Chiang
André Chiang is a chef that is revolutionising the way people drink at restaurants. While he has not necessarily set himself the goal of replacing what people drink at his restaurant André, he certainty wants to provide clients with something different. "The current restaurant system is not perfect. When you dine out in a fine-dining restaurant you want to enjoy the experience as much as you can. Normally I would choose a wine pairing because that is something I am familiar with. But when you are served wine with every dish, you end up skipping the wine because it is too much. And what do you have instead? The system is not perfect. If you have one wine and one fermented juice you feel better," he says. In an interview with Food and Wine Gazette, André said that when he started working on fermented juices four years ago he did it out of realisation that restaurant owners were spending so much effort on cutlery, music, tables, napkins, silverware but what do you drink in the best … [Read more...]
Cooking on the film set of The Dinner was more challenging than cooking in a restaurant – Jae Song
It is not often that a chef has to create a menu for an important dinner where the focus is not the taste but rather the visual aspect and the consistency. While in a restaurant you have to work with one dish at a time, for a movie there need to be a series of dishes that are exactly the same and which are served in rapid succession as a scene is shot repeatedly. “It is like serving 50 people when in reality there are 12,” chef Jae Song told Food and Wine Gazette about the experience of creating a meal for the film The Dinner which is being released next month.. Jae Song and Paul Yee were the brains behind the food creations of the meal for the film. It is based on Herman Koch’s international bestselling novel The Dinner. Directed by Oren Moverman, this is a dark psychological thriller that features a fierce showdown between two couples during the course of an ornately prepared meal at a fancy restaurant. When Stan Lohman (Richard Gere), a popular congressman running for … [Read more...]