WG Magazine - a feast for the palate... July 2016 Issue

JULY 2016

a feast for the palate...

ECKART WITZIGMANN 75 Years

SÉBASTIEN BRAS

Cuisine Of The Moment

JORDI CRUZ

Cooking With Logic

NORMAN VAN AKEN

New World Cuisine

NIKO ROMITO

Cooks With Great Passion www.wgmagazines.com

FRANKIE SOLARIK THE BAR CHEF WG July 2016 -

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Editor Lifestyle Editor Culinary Editor Feature Editor Contributing Editor

Fabian deCastro Doug Singer Corey Siegel, CEC® Oilda Barreto Michael Hepworth

FJMdesign Photography Consultant Creative Design Studio Publisher

IZZY Publishing Pvt. Ltd.

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Cover Image Credit: Frankie Solarik - BarChef, Toronto Night Blossom Photo © Leanne Neufeld

G MAGAZINES

Over the past month, WG’s team of writers have logged countless miles to bring you some true culinary jewels. We first visited with Eckart Witzigmann in Salzburg to get a firsthand glimpse of this ‘legend celebrating with special guest.’ While in Austria, we headed to Vienna to visit with Heinz Reitbauer at Steirereck Restaurant which proved to be a splendid start, and had us fired up for our next stop in Laguiole, France to visit Sebastien Bras’ Le Suquet where we sat down for a storied interview.

Italy delivered Chef Niko Romito as we explored his Castel di Sangro restaurant, Reale, before heading off to what has become one of the most exciting culinary capitols of the world, Barcelona. Here, we visited with Chef Jordi Cruz who earned his first Michelin star at the extraordinarily young age of 24, the second youngest to ever be granted this coveted and fine honor.

While in Barcelona, we decided to peek in on what is starting to become a phenomenon - wait for it… BLUE WINE! A team of young entrepreneurs are revolutionizing the world of wine with a sweet and fresh taste and a vibrant Indigo color which are the main characteristics of this blasphemous drink - Gïk. Now your sommelier can ask red, white, or blue?!

A visit to the U.S. will be highlighted with stops in Florida to visit with trailblazer Norman Van Aken and New York to stop in at Le Bernadin and chat with culinary icon and globally celebrated, Chef Eric Ripert. A short hop to Toronto for a visit with Frankie Solarik at BarChef will be just what the doctor ordered before our long trip to India. Here Atul Kochhar’s NRI - “Not Really Indian,’ as well as his nod to Lima with Mumbai’s first South American lounge bar will truly delight. Mumbai’s Celini will deliver their home-style Italian before heading off to Sevilla at The Claridges in Delhi, where we will dive into some extraordinary Mediterranean cuisine.

Additional stops in Portugal, Mallorca, Denmark, Monte Carlo and Pauillac, France will round out what is sure to be an issue that will spark your appetite and have you lacing up your most comfortable travel shoes!

Doug Singer Lifestyle Editor

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JULY 2016

MAGAZINES

CONTENTS

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Cuisine Of The Moment

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The legend celebrates 75

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New World Cuisine

76

Cooks With Passion

86

Le Berardin

94

Cooking With Logic

110

Blue Wine

116

BarChef

138

Putting Portugal On The Culinary Map

150

Heinz Reitbauer

156

The Mallorcan Woman

168

RelĂŚ An Organic Mecca

180

Meilleur Ouvrier de France

196

Atul Kochhar

NRI - Not Really Indian

Lima In Mumbai

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Sascha Lenz

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Pit Stop

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Celini

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Sevilla

NIGHT BLOSSOM Inspired by a tree that Frankie came across while walking his dog one evening, it was night time and there was a beautiful tree lit perfectly with beautiful green leaves and lots of blossoming purple flowers. The following day Frankie began working on the dish.

Cacao and Chartreuse cream branch, blossoms of violet and almond, mint, patchouli and Amaro, snow of maple and orgeat, julienne of balsam fir and honey and violet, cocktail of bourbon, Islay Scotch, maraschino liqueur and rosemary poured table side.

Frankie Solarik BarChef Photo Š Leanne Neufeld WG July 2016 -

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E X C E P T I O N A L A L W A Y S B U T

W E ’ L L

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H O O S I N G

S T E P M O R E

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A B O U T

P A Y I N G

M O M E N T

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S L O W

D I S C O V E R I N G

PA S S I O N AT E

G O

540

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W H AT

T H E M

D O W N .

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A T T E N T I O N T R U LY

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&

E L A I S

M E E T I N G

T H E Y

M E N

B E S T

T H E

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B U T

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W O M E N

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‘ WOGOA FOUNDATION

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Carme Ruscalleda

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WG MAGAZINES

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SÉBASTIEN BRAS - LE SUQUET, LAGUIOLE, FRANCE

Sébastien Bras “I have always lived in the kitchens of the family restaurant. I entered them on the day my parents returned from the maternity ward!” relates Sébastien Bras. More than a heritage, it is also his natural playground.

“As I see it,” continues Sébastien, the essentials in life consist of my family, my friends, Aubrac and cooking. Rooted in the land, the love of terroir and the taste of fine produce, there is nothing like it for inspiring culinary invention, which for me is an obsession and occupies all my waking moments.

It’s true that the search for beauty, for pleasure and for taste are values which formed Sébstien’s childhood. Focused on the essential, his cuisine is not demonstrative, but encapsulates all the senses. “I love working with ingredients which are often wrongly perceived as of little value.” With this ‘cuisine of bits and bobs’, bread takes on a new flavor when used as part of a stuffing, the skin of the milk, which Sébastien enjoyed so much as a child, adds an element of surprise to a dessert. These pumpkin seeds, once roasted and cut into fine strips, will season a gateau of truffles and Jerusalem artichokes. A simple slice of pork fat nestling close to a piece of Aubrac beef, one of Grandma Bras’s secrets, which she regarded as indispensable.

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SÉBASTIEN BRAS - LE SUQUET, LAGUIOLE, FRANCE

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“We like to use the whole product: thus, for example, you will often find apple pips included in the dish.” As for the Niacs, created by Sébastien and now widely used in his culinary repertoire, “These are flavorings which bring out the intensity in a dish. The Niac animates, structures, provokes, questions... It can be found in liquid emulsions of sorrel, of peppers, dried mixtures of black olives, with unrefined cane sugar, fruits, vegetable combinations...”

“I create “spontaneous cuisine of the moment”, instant, alive, sensual, which appeals more to the heart than the head. But make no mistake, it is also the result of much research, work, testing, maturity, history. The taste for cooking is all about balance; an open mind, a lot of hard work and the sum of one’s total experiences.

There is no substitute for experience. You cannot be, without having been.”

“Nature is the defining influence, for she decides what she provides! Our cooking follows the rhythms of nature. Very often, the surprises which our garden at Lagardelle springs on us early in the morning enable us to create according to the morning dews and the seasons.” Aubrac is also Sébastien’s foundation. Its products determine the essentials of his cuisine. But also contact with the women and men who give their all in order to supply each day the quintessence of their terroir. Sébastien demands that Aubrac be viewed in a contemporary light, where “rusticity” is not a reference. An Aubrac which he conjugates with his travels, “indispensable to open my mind, my heart, my senses.”

Leaving, in order to return enriched, effectively.

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SÉBASTIEN BRAS - LE SUQUET, LAGUIOLE, FRANCE

One name, three generations...

The story of the Bras family’s involvement with cooking spans three generations already. Three chapters written by grandma Bras, Michel and now Sébastien.

Grandma Bras acquired a simple unpretentious restaurant in Laguiole in 1956, serving up “delicious home cooking, well prepared” (according to her son, Michel) to local workers. A precocious initiation for this autodidact, who even at a tender age was to be found in the kitchen helping his mother. From necessity sprung invention as Michel Bras embarked on his life’s work, guided as much by his sense of contemplation as his relentless desire to experiment.

With his wife Ginette, he took over the running of the family restaurant in 1968, creating his own style of cuisine, refined, audacious, sincere and most importantly a transcription of nature and a reflection of Aubrac, with a contemporary voice. In 1992, he created the restaurant Le Suquet on a promontory overlooking Laguiole.

For Sébastien, the eldest child, cooking was always in his blood.

This boy, who was lulled to sleep by the noise of the pots and pans and the aromas of the bouillons simmering in the kitchen below his bedroom, started cooking at a very young age. No time for him to take his time. Having successfully passed his ‘diplôme de cuisinier’ (professional cooking diploma) at the Institute Paul Bocuse, he was on the verge of leaving for San Francisco when the lure of Aubrac and the imminent opening of Le Suquet resulted in a change of plan.

Father and son thus developed this relationship of confidence and sometimes diffidence, although they were both conscious that they shared the same vision and sensibility, that of an ethereal yet grounded style of cuisine, shaped by the land and raised with generosity of spirit. Ever since the day when his strawberry and rhubarb dessert found its way onto the menu, Sébastien has succeeded little by little in imposing his own emotions and writing his own script, without denying the past but, on the contrary, with an enormous respect for his culinary heritage. As a result, Michel has been able to retreat gradually from the stoves of Le Suquet since 2009 and spend a little more time with his grandchildren, who are already expressing an interest in what goes on in the kitchen…

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SÉBASTIEN BRAS - LE SUQUET, LAGUIOLE, FRANCE

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“Aubrac has given us everything” Sébastien Bras likes to remind us.

“However, in the sixties, the north of Aveyron was declared a victim of rural depopulation, like Tibet” recalls Michel...

It is the cradle of the Bras family, of Sébastien, who was born in Laguiole, and who likes to tease his father because he was born a few kilometres away in Gabriac. An environment with its menacing, sombre skies, its never-ending plateau, its dramatic light which reveals the granite boulders and shines upon the slate roofs of the burons. Landscapes which they have succeeded in capturing when they created the restaurant on the outcrop at le Suquet, this little promontory with its outstanding views.

They know the surrounding paths and tracks better than anyone, as they are constantly out there, running or cycling, alone or more often with the young chefs of the brigade, with whom Sébastien likes to share the great outdoors.

Aubrac is the cement which binds la Maison Bras, a permanent source of inspiration for its cuisine. This natural abundance, Sébastien likes to feature on the menus, whether ‘Aubrac’, ‘Balade’ or ‘Légumes’.

This is not about cultivating an old-fashioned, rustic image but an enlightened, contemporary vision.

Respect for the produce which the land offers is for Sébastien the payback for what he has given it.

Giving preference to the excellent local producers, working with those who also put quality above quantity, breathing new life into long-forgotten products on the point of disappearing, giving them pride of place on the menu.

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SÉBASTIEN BRAS - LE SUQUET, LAGUIOLE, FRANCE

Sébastien Bras reinvents his cuisine every day. A cuisine of the moment, the fruit of constantly simmering ideas as much as formalized creative thought processes, nourished by an image, a memory from a trip, a stroll in the garden at Lagardelle, an encounter with an enthusiast or quite simply an Aubrac landscape.

“One might think that the menus serve to define the cuisine of the restaurant for the season.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Nothing is fixed creatively. Neither habits, nor desires, nor products, nor inspiration. We rework the menu for each service” says Sébastien Bras.

Nature, the season, a particularly good catch that morning, the perfect maturity of a vegetable which just makes you want to bite into it, or a ripe fruit laden with sugar, ready to be plucked from the tree, a basket of wild mushrooms, unearthed by chance, and immediately, Sébastien Bras puts his agile, creative mind to work and takes you with his signature dishes in a new culinary direction.

Three menus, sprinkled with surprises, a gastronomic voyage of discovery though diverse landscapes.

“Aubrac”, based on four dishes, takes you through the pastures with the cheeses from Laguiole and nearby, and a few ‘sweetmeats’, following the local paths where you may find yourself confronted with some prime Aubrac beef, or maybe a suckling lamb. “Balade” goes even further along the road of discovery, based on five dishes plus two desserts, for those with a sweet tooth. “Légumes”, proposes six ‘invitations’ to stroll through the Bras family garden at Lagardelle, although not without the occasional detour, in the heart of nature.

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SÉBASTIEN BRAS - LE SUQUET, LAGUIOLE, FRANCE

POACHED ENDIVES WITH SAFFRON, MARINATED CHAR “Endives are often misunderstood, because of their bitter taste. This bitterness is entirely natural and an inherent part of the vegetable›s charm, which I›d like people to re-discover” warns Sébastien Bras.

This is yet another story of the Bras family, because it is his cousin who cultivates them in the ground, just 10 km from Laguiole.

Their quality is assured. Sébastien prepares them in a saffron-perfumed bouillon, to which he adds Alpine fennel and various other herbs, tarragon, chervil, sorrel, fennel, and wild garlic, both the leaves and the buds. “I like to marry them with char fillets marinated in coarse salt mixed with sugar, a complex egg-based vinaigrette, oil, and some chopped herbs which round off the dish to perfection. I recently stuffed them with a mixture of bread, egg and herbs and then pan-fried them in duck fat.

I even serve them as a dessert; endives poached in honey, mellowed with the skin of the milk and grapefruit.”

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SÉBASTIEN BRAS - LE SUQUET, LAGUIOLE, FRANCE

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Sébastien and Véronique share and cultivate the same values as their predecessors at Le Suquet, following the “Bras philosophy”, whereby Aubrac is the source of inspiration and nature the source of creation, where respect for the individual is a daily concern and the family the cement which holds together this extraordinary adventure through time...

The Bras family is tightly knit; always ready to lend a helping hand. Sébastien and his wife, Véronique, who is the director of the restaurant and the hotel, have followed in the footsteps of Michel and Ginette Bras, defining the sequel to the same adventure to which they plighted their troth and their love in this sacred union based on a shared passion.

Supportive, discreet, always available, they are the underlying architects of its success.

The generations transfer their knowledge and lend support whenever needed. Long after she had passed the age of retirement, certainly deserved but certainly not desired, “Grandma Bras” could still be found in the kitchen at Le Suquet, preparing the

meals for the brigade and no-one dared interfere when she was making the aligot.

André Bras, Sébastien’s uncle, who worked at the forge in Laguiole, helps Michel and Sébastien to manufacture the bespoke knives that they dreamt up, and has often voluntarily lent a hand at Le Suquet. Even William, Sébastien’s younger brother who thought that he had escaped the family business and the lure of the Aubrac plateau, could not resist employing his talents as an aeronautical engineer to design the supersonic mould for his brother’s incredible Miwams. As for Ginette and Michel, they remain the discreet advisors of Véronique and Sébastien, as well as their unconditional supporters.

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SÉBASTIEN BRAS - LE SUQUET, LAGUIOLE, FRANCE

Sébastien Bras reinvents his cuisine every day. A cuisine of the moment, the fruit of constantly simmering ideas as much as formalised creative thought processes, nourished by an image, a memory from a trip, a stroll in the garden at Lagardelle, an encounter with an enthusiast or quite simply an Aubrac landscape.

THE POTATO WAFFLE 50 - WG July 2016

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Sébastien’s opinion on the best recipe he has created…

“A trip to Peru opened my eyes to the incredible number of different varieties of potatoes which exist. To prolong the memory of my visit, I hit on the idea of creating a dessert made from this famous tuber” recalls Sébastien Bras.

Having abandonned the idea of cultivating the exotic varieties which he brought back from the Andes but which had never experienced a taste of Aveyron, Sébastien decided that the challenge should take shape exclusively in the kitchen. And what a shape! A wavy tuile biscuit, the result of layering several fine slices of potato and then delicately baked on an undulating mould, created by his grandfather, ever ready to beat out some metal. A beurre noisette cream of extraordinary finesse, underscored by a salted butter caramel crowns this dessert, which today has become one of the leading signature dishes on the menu.

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SÉBASTIEN BRAS - LE SUQUET, LAGUIOLE, FRANCE

MOLTEN CHOCOLATE It all started with a feeling, having returned home after a day’s cross country skiing, during foul weather. The frozen family, chilled to the bone, were sat at the kitchen table in silence, thawing out with a hot chocolate. Then gradually, as the effect of the heat permeated, tongues were untied, laughter was heard and the ambiance warmed up.

This moment touched and inspired Michel Bras, who then sought to reproduce it in the kitchen. Two years later, after much thinking, trialling and testing, the definitive recipe emerged one fine day in 1981, arousing in Michel Bras “a sense of enthusiasm and pride that one rarely experiences as a chef.” A history of hot and cold, The Coulant au chocolat is composed of two distinct parts: a biscuit dough and a frozen chocolate ganache which is inserted into the biscuit dough. Once removed from the oven, the biscuit is cooked and warm whilst in the middle, the chocolate, “as liquid as ours was that day after skiing,” flows like molten lava as soon as the spoon breaks through the biscuit exterior. Visually stunning, emotionally heartwarming. Today, imitations are to be found throughout the gastronomic world. The creator of the original isn’t worried; the story and the experience remain forever his.

Sébastien Bras pays homage to this cult dessert via exciting interpretations including caramel, coffee, fruits, apricots, blueberries, figs... He occasionally accompanies the chocolate version with a truffle sorbet. He has also completely re-invented it by proposing an unforgettable asparagus biscuit tiède coulant, tarragon sorbet, punctuated with a touch of almond.

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SÉBASTIEN BRAS - LE SUQUET, LAGUIOLE, FRANCE

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Le Suquet stands out above the landscape. The building seems perched between land and sky, defying the elements. This habitat, originally conceived by Ginette and Michel Bras and today occupied by Véronique and Sébastien, was designed and contructed in a spirit of total harmony with nature.

Everything about this building was conceived around the central concept of the discovery and revelation of Aubrac. The architecture, austere like the countryside, reflects its codes and materials the light, the vegetal and the mineral - interpreting them in a pure, contemporary style.

Conceived to bridge several generations, It was designed in 1992, in conjunction with the Sébastien and Véronique Bras have gradually architects Eric Raffy and Philippe Villeroux, and made small changes, with the determination of recently revamped by Thierry Chalaux. A space this family of perpetual builders. They have dug, infused with light, where only the distant horizon renovated, adapted, enlarged, enhanced. Here, by interrupts one’s views, where the granite and slate removing the window frame structures in order to are reminiscent of the local ‘burons’, it reveals its offer unobstructed views of the countryside, there nature discreetly, just like the countryside in which by making the reception area of the hotel more it is set. Thus, the ‘draille’ - a former cattle drove welcoming or simply allowing more light in by - which bisects the buildings leads the eye towards redesigning the interior of the building. the village of Laguiole in the distance, as if seen through a crack.

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ECKART WITZIGMANN - RESTAURANT IKARUS, HANGAR-7, SALZBURG

Eckart Witzigmann 75 YEARS OF ECKART WITZIGMANN CHEF OF THE CENTURY PATRON OF THE RESTAURANT IKARUS Text Hangar-7 Photo © Helge Kirchberger / Red Bull Hangar-7

A legend celebrates with special guests...

He is the Chef of the Century, Germany’s first three-star chef, Professeur de la Cuisine and the man in charge of Restaurant Ikarus. And in July he is turning 75. In honour of Eckart Witzigmann, Restaurant Ikarus in Hangar-7 is hosting a month-long culinary birthday celebration, which will be attended by a number of unique guests.

Words simply cannot describe the importance of Eckart Witzigmann’s contribution to haute cuisine in the German-speaking world. The word “doyen” springs to mind, however, as it is clear that no other person has made as significant an impression on the culinary scene as the man from the Austrian spa town of Bad Gastein, near Salzburg, who set out to impress the world.

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ECKART WITZIGMANN - RESTAURANT IKARUS, HANGAR-7, SALZBURG

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Marc Haeberlin, Roland Trettl, Hans Haas, Bobby Bräuer, Eckart Witzigmann, Karlheinz Hauser, Harald Wohlfahrt and Martin Klein

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Guest Chefs 2016, 75 Years Eckart Witzigmann “Kir Royal� Hangar-7

He spent 13 years abroad, gathering experience in top-class restaurants. He drew particular inspiration from Paul Bocuse in Lyon and the Haeberlin brothers in the Alsace. In 1971, Witzigmann began a spell working at the legendary Tantris restaurant in Munich. In 1973, the restaurant was awarded its first Michelin star, followed a year later by its second in 1974. In 1978, Witzigmann opened his first restaurant, Aubergine. Just one year later, Eckart Witzigmann was awarded three Michelin stars, making him the first German-speaking chef to achieve this honour, and only the second chef outside of France.

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Guest Chefs 2016, 75 Years Eckart Witzigmann Breton lobster, carrot, yuzu and coconut - Karlheinz Hauser

However, it is not just his awards that make Eckart Witzigmann so unique. In order to understand his special status, you need only look at the list of chefs who have learnt their trade from Witzigmann. It is a truly star-studded list, headed up by Harald Wohlfahrt, Claus-Peter Lumpp and Christian Jßrgens, not forgetting star chefs such as Bobby Bräuer, Hans Haas and Karlheinz Hauser, and television personalities such as Johann Lafer and Alfons Schuhbeck.

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Guest Chefs 2016 - Harald Wohlfahrt Ikarus Kitchen

Guest Chefs 2016 - Karlheinz Hauser Ikarus Kitchen

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All milestones in a life that remains unsurpassed by any other, and which, in 1994, led to Witzigmann being named Chef of the Century by Gault Millau, finally confirming his status as a living legend on the culinary scene. In the years that followed, only royalty and those who just happened to be in the right place at the right time – or perhaps both – were able to enjoy his cuisine. He found himself cooking for monarchs such as Queen Elizabeth II, King Harald of Norway, King Carl-Gustav and Queen Silvia of Sweden and the Maharaja of Jaipur. “Ordinary people” were given the opportunity to experience it between 2006 and 2008 when he toured through a number of European cities with the acclaimed culinary show projects Witzigmann Palazzo and Witzigmann & Roncalli Bajazzo.

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Guest Chefs 2016, 75 Years Eckart Witzigmann Turbot in a salt dough, capers “Bacalao Trippa”, Risina beans Roland Trettl

In 2003, Witzigmann caused quite a stir with his new project: as head of Restaurant Ikarus, he became the patron of the guest chef concept, a culinary concept unlike any other in the world, which brings the world’s best top chefs to Salzburg, month after month. Witzigmann’s role is that of an advisor and mentor, and he also works together with Executive Chef Martin Klein to select the guest chefs, while providing constant support and assistance to the 50-strong Ikarus Team.

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ECKART WITZIGMANN - RESTAURANT IKARUS, HANGAR-7, SALZBURG

Guest Chefs 2016 - Harald Wohlfahrt, Eckart Witzigmann, Hans Haas and Marc Haeberlin Ikarus Kitchen

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Guest Chefs 2016 - Marc Haeberlin and Eckart Witzigmann Ikarus Kitchen

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Guest Chefs 2016, 75 Years Eckart Witzigmann Pèche Haeberlin - Marc Haeberlin

So where better to honour this man than at Hangar-7? To mark Eckart Witzigmann’s 75th birthday, Restaurant Ikarus is rolling out the red carpet and inviting you to a celebration, which, like the birthday boy himself, looks set to be legendary. Amongst the well-wishers will be some of Witzigmann’s closest friends, most valued companions and most noteworthy students from the last few decades – and as a gift they will be creating a menu that every visitor to Restaurant Ikarus will be able to enjoy throughout the entire month.

As a one-off, in July 2016, there won’t be a single international top chef at Hangar-7 as a guest. There will be several of them. We are not at liberty to reveal their identities just yet, however – it is the little surprises that make a good party truly exciting. But one thing is for sure: this is one party you are really not going to want to miss.

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NORMAN VAN AKEN - FLORIDA

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Photo © Damon Tucci Chix Mofo/Tim Turner

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Norman Van Aken Described as the ‘legendary, visionary and a trailblazer’ as well as ‘the culinary Titan of Florida.’ Norman Van Aken is “the founding father of New World Cuisine,” a celebration of Latin, Caribbean, Asian, African and American flavors. He is also known internationally for introducing the concept of “Fusion” to the culinary world.

He is the only Floridian inducted into the prestigious James Beard list of “Who’s Who in American Food and Beverage.” His restaurant “NORMAN’S” was nominated as a finalist for the James Beard Foundation’s “Best Restaurant in America”. He has been a James Beard Foundation semi-finalist for “Best Chef in America.” The Orlando Sentinel placed him in the “Florida Hall of Fame.”

He is an internationally acclaimed author. His memoir titled, “No Experience Necessary… The Culinary Odyssey of Chef Norman Van Aken.” The book has been praised by many including Thomas Keller, Mario Batali, Emeril Lagasse, Jeremiah Tower, Wolfgang Puck and the late, great Charlie Trotter. The book was also nominated for the prestigious IACP/Julia Child Award.

In 2006, he was honored as one of the “Founders of the New American Cuisine,” alongside Alice Waters, Paul Prudhomme, and Mark Miller at Spain’s International Summit of Gastronomy ‘Madrid Fusión’ event.

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Chef Norman Van Aken tells us about his formative years and how he found his way into the culinary world…

First off… Thank you for inviting me to share my life in cuisine.

My formative years… I first must tell you that I wrote a memoir on this which goes into some length on them. It is titled, “No Experience Necessary, The Culinary Odyssey of Chef Norman Van Aken”. The title is a somewhat wry one in that once I got into the kitchens of an America that were so much less evolved than the ones we have now a days… I got ALL kinds of experiences. And they were a mix of every kind. I wrote the book in part to put on paper what the world of kitchen life was really like… at least for me… and it was a far cry from the celebrated world of ‘chefs and television and sponsorships, etc.’ I hope that what the book might do is to encourage the young to not feel like they are alone in finding the first years fraught with all kinds of twists and turns.

But turning to the time before I first wore an apron and burned and cut my way to some level of proficiency … I grew up in a beautiful part of Northern Illinois. My mother was my first culinary teacher but it was never consciously realized that she was doing it. She was following her inner loves and part of them were gardening, canning fruits and vegetables and making simple but honest home cooked meals. When my maternal grandmother came to live with us she also shared her love of cooking while my mother went out and got jobs in restaurants to take care of the bills and us all. It was a loving and beautiful time. But in no way did I have any thought of being a chef one day. It simply wasn’t part of the dialog of our world back then. I didn’t watch chefs on TV nor dream of going to cooking schools. I actually titled the memoir from the very ad I read in the newspaper that availed me my first job cooking. The ad said, “Short order cook needed... no experience necessary.”

I had been working all kinds of scrappy odd jobs. They included factory work, landscaping, concrete work in Kansas, selling flowers on the streets of Honolulu and also traveling with a small carnival in Illinois. My last job before cooking came into my life was one of hot tar roofer. I was fired for enjoying a summer rainstorm too heartily, but once I got into the kitchen I went from hating work to finding it the first job I actually wanted to excel at. It took years before I realized I was actually going to be a chef ‘for real’. And that really took off once I moved to Key West and the foods and food ways that would come to define me.

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Stone Crab Gazpacho Photo © Penny De Los Santos

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NORMAN VAN AKEN - FLORIDA

Chef Norman’s philosophical approach to cuisine is creating a sensual and rustic marriage with a classical and intellectual celebration of various places – a culinary experience full of flavors...

Chef Norman describes this culinary philosophy and how he brings this balance on a plate…

I was the first person to use the term ‘fusion’ when it came to cooking. That is a rather long story and I don’t know the length your interview allows for. My ‘culinary philosophy’ is essentially a two parter. When cooking in Key West at a time of continuing awareness of the long history and general sentiment that Western European cooking was more ‘vaunted’ by most I felt an ideological shift. I loved the ‘3 Star restaurants’ of France etc. but I also loved the soulful cooking of the immigrant cultures around me on the island. I decided ‘fusing’ them was a means of creating blessed ‘union’ of things. That is imbued within the quote in your question.

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The second part of my philosophy is more geographically specific. (But it is filled with the ramifications of travelers, explorers, merchants, shifting economics etc.) I termed it “New World Cuisine”. Back in the 80’s when I was doing this folks asked me often what I called my cuisine. They said, “It’s not French. It’s not Southwestern. It’s not Cuban… What is it?”

I pondered that a while. I ultimately wanted a term that connotated the grand explosion of what ‘The Colombian Exchange’ brought about. With the ‘discovery’ of The New World there was a huge shift in global cooking. I wanted to dial into how I wished to convey it from my small spot of the globe; Key West. I felt if Faulkner could create a world in that small county and convey all he did regarding the complexity of the human condition I might be able to stay small but be large too.

When we moved up to Miami the acceleration of understanding more about more countries in South America etc. came into my repertoire by cooking, reading, asking native folks their way of doing things and more.

The philosophy is all ‘behind the scenes’ as far as I’m concerned. Like great plays or books that should not be part of the necessary awareness of those we seek to touch with our works. The balance must come from the honest well springs of deliciousness, compatibility, excellent produce, (ingredients), appropriate relationships between things like fat, meatiness, acidity, starch, spice, herbs, greens etc. and then technique.

NEN Caviar on Latke

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Orl Dining Room Photo © Dan Forer

Chef Norman’s greatest influences in the kitchen… Local ingredients and the food history of those that taught me whether by books or ‘hands on’.

Chef Norman’s opinion on the best recipe he has created…

“The best ‘recipe’ I think I have created is one of teamwork for us. The dishes are like my songs. I love many of them but I could not have gone nearly as far with my career if I had not helped create the best teams I could.”

Norman Van Aken tells us what ingredient inspire him, his favourite ingredients and ingredient that he is not able to master…

I love acidity and spice. They give food more definition I think. I continue to find Asian ingredients like Yuzu able to complement many dishes that are not specifically Asian. And I love the South American spice combo known as Merquen which I use often for its cumulative powers.

One of my favorite pastimes on earth is to visit farmer’s markets or food halls.

From La Boqueria in Barcelona to our farmer’s market a few blocks from where we live I love to go there and then make up my mind on what to cook.

I don’t think we ‘master’ ingredients. I think we learn to play them correctly.

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Mongo Veal Chop

Kill Hunger Steak Photo © Tim Turner

NEN Salsa Photo © Tim Turner

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Sunshine’s Key Lime Pie Photo © Penny De Los Santos

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Chef Norman shares his cooking techniques…

In our cooking we love to use ‘live fire’. I think it adds in the angles that bring us back best to our natural selves. When we separate ourselves to much from the touch and feel of ancient cooking I feel like it is too intellectual and not embracing as I need.

Produce, Creativity or Technique… They are a trio as important as any musical trio. You simply can’t get any food into the realms of experience by another … without all three.

Guilty food pleasure… ”I love things like BBQ ribs and my wife’s homemade French fries” ‘My Key West Kitchen’ Chef Norman’s book is a collection of recipes that how one place can influence and inspire a dish, the place where you found passion to cook…

Key West like many places is getting swept up in the surging tides of a kind of globalism in the restaurants now. Back when I started Key West was really amazing in how the food was different than other parts of the USA. Our son and I wanted to get it all down on paper and share the food as we love and loved it. He was born there. My wife and I lived there many years. I keep hoping young chefs will turn back the typical tourist needs and cook Key West with all of its unique power. It is truly what made me the cook I am.

The only Florida chef to win ‘The James Beard Who’s Who’ tells us what motivates him…

To have been awarded the James Beard Who’s Who, and to still be the only person from our great state of Florida is quite an honor I treasure.

Cuisine is limitless. I find motivation in it every day. We are about to open our first cooking school. It will be in the Wynwood section of Miami and called, “In the Kitchen with Norman Van Aken”. Teaching more and more home cooks will be an expanding motivation. We are also opening up a new restaurant in Central Florida in July. It is named, “1921 by Norman Van Aken”. There I will seek to create a menu that will showcase what I call, “Modern Florida Cooking” WG July 2016 -

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NIKO ROMITO - REALE, CASTEL DI SANGRO, ITALY

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Niko Romito Niko Romito was born in Castel di Sangro (AQ) on April 30, 1974, the youngest in a family already “ruled” by three sisters. The family was close, with deep roots in the territory of Abruzzo. As a boy he enjoyed popping wheelies on his BMX bike, and as a teen he was a ski instructor and tennis coach, almost making it to the pros. He attended high school and university in Rome with dreams of banking, double breasted suits and spools of stock market ticker tape. The powerful bond that tied him to his family and his Abruzzo called him frequently back to Rivisondoli, where his father had opened a pastry shop in 1970, converted thirty years later into a restaurant – the original “Reale”.

He still had five exams to take to complete his degree in Economics and Commerce when his father fell ill. When he passed, Niko and his sister Cristiana took over the operation of Reale with the intention of keeping it going until they could find a buyer, but they quickly fell in love with the restaurant trade, and from that moment the committed to a path of hard work and research, without any safety net. Indeed, since Niko had no concrete culinary experience, his initial efforts at Reale were driven largely by improvisation and survival instinct.

Photo © Francesco Fioramonti

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NIKO ROMITO - REALE, CASTEL DI SANGRO, ITALY

When he figured out that he needed to acquire solid technical and theoretical foundations, he maintained his non-conformist attitude and decided that, rather than going for a hospitality diploma or doing an apprenticeship with a famous chef, he would teach himself and get guidance where he could find it. His responsibilities at Reale made any other solution implausible, but it was also his character that pushed him in this direction.

In Rome, he skipped the foundation requirements and took the advanced course at the “A Tavola con lo Chef� culinary school with Antonio Sciullo, fellow Abruzzo native and

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Agnello, aglio e pompelmo rosa Photo Š Brambilla Serrani

friend of his father. In Sottomarina di Chioggia (VE), he took a series of courses at the Istituto Etoile. He spent twenty days in Girona at El Celler de Can Roca (two Michelin stars at the time, now three), not enough to absorb all the techniques and protocols, but sufficient to realize he needed to change direction. His encounter with Valeria Piccini and her husband Maurizio Menichetti at Da Caino (two Michelin stars) in Montemerano (GR) would be fateful: the personal and professional relationship that was born there continues to this day. Romito was incurably curious.

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NIKO ROMITO - REALE, CASTEL DI SANGRO, ITALY

2008 was the year of the “second revolution”. The restaurant underwent a significant restructuring and the gastronomic philosophy began leaning increasingly toward a “cuisine of the ingredient”, streamlined and coherent. Between 2009 and 2011 he received his second Michelin star; three forks from Gambero Rosso; inclusion in the Le Soste Guide. He also won the Lunch of the Year award from the Espresso Guide and was named Chef of the Year by Identità Golose.

At this point, the bar had been raised to the point where the only choice was to make a complete break and expand. Romito moved the operation to Casadonna, a former monastery built in 1512 overlooking the valley of Castel di Sangro.

When he bought it, it was little more than a ruin,

REALE Photo © Brambilla Serrani

Every free moment was spent in the pages of a book or at the table of one colleague or another.

Taken together, all these experiences gave form to an intuition, a new vision.

2004 was the year of the “first revolution” at Reale: Niko and Cristiana cut back the seating capacity and changed to a lighter decor; the menu abandoned the concept of the mountain inn to embrace a more personal and refined expression, though still maintaining a strong connection to the territory. Recognition began to arrive: in 2005 Romito was included in the JRE Guide (Young European Restaurateurs); in 2006 he was among the best emerging chefs in the Gambero Rosso Guide and was named Young Chef of the Year by the Espresso Guide. In 2007 he was given his first Michelin star.

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Casadonna Photo © Francesco Scipioni

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laboratory in Italy completely run by the students of a private culinary school, under the supervision of a team of industry professionals. In the autumn of that year was the debut of Unforketable, the video-encyclopedia of modern Italian cuisine, in collaboration with Pasta Garofalo. Romito received his third Michelin star in November, only seven years after the first and, remarkably, at the age of thirty-nine.

In 2014 Spazio opened a summer pop-up on the island of Salina in the Capofaro Malvasia & Resort, as well as a second permanent location in Rome on the third floor of Eataly. That same year, Espresso magazine assigned Romito the award for Performance of the Year with a score of 19.5 out of 20.

Cristiana and Niko Romito Photo Š Francesco Fioramonti

and the intention was to turn it into the general headquarters of an entire system which, in addition to fine dining, would also include lodging and advanced professional training. It was a gamble, if only because the scale of the renovation was enormous. In 2011 the new Casadonna opened its doors, with an upgraded version of Reale, the newly created School of Professional Training and Specialization and a hotel with six rooms. But Casadonna was conceived first and foremost as a permanent laboratory. The following two-year period saw the consolidation of Romito’s research and culinary identity, which had grown increasingly more profound and original, and had expanded beyond territorial boundaries.

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NIKO ROMITO - REALE, CASTEL DI SANGRO, ITALY

In 2015 a third location of Spazio was inaugurated in Milan, on the third floor of the “Mercato del Duomo”, overlooking Galleria Vittorio Emanuele and Piazza del Duomo. And yet, while these achievements have secured his place at the apex of Italian and international cooking, they will never supplant his desire to “continue doing research and improve even more”.

Abruzzo runs deep in Romito’s work, but what used to be a quite literal “presence” (through an updating of the local gastronomic tradition, with early dishes that were at the same time contemporary and reassuring) has gradually shifted, an emancipation of sorts: “I still draw from my territory for the best products but today for me Abruzzo mostly represents an ideal: it stands for focus, respect and truth - applied to the ingredient.”

Romito works with the ingredient, trying to awaken its intrinsic power rather than add it. “I don’t want the ingredient to get lost, but rather explode on the palate with all its vitality. This is why my dishes lend themselves quite well to photography, but their full power is expressed only upon tasting.” This he explained in “10 Lezioni di Cucina”, the 2015 manifesto (written with Laura Lazzaroni and published by Giunti editore) in which he explained his cooking philosophy, dedicated to all aspiring chefs.

In the book he details the pillars of his approach: “simplicity” is listed as the fundamental value. “My food is often described as simple,” he writes: “This is very true, in the sense that it is not complicated, which is not to say that it is without significant complexity. In cooking, complexity can be advantageous; complication never. By virtue of this simplicity, or rather linearity, or essentiality, my food can be appreciated at the intuitive level, without having to be decoded. It is no accident that my recipes are enjoyed by both those with gastronomic training and those without.”

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Misticanza alcolica e mandorle Photo Š Roberto Sammartini per Grandecucina

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NIKO ROMITO - REALE, CASTEL DI SANGRO, ITALY

of calculation. I don’t create food that is balanced from the nutritional standpoint to satisfy a moral imperative of healthy eating, sacrosanct though it be. The techniques I use lead me naturally to create dishes that are neither sweet nor fatty nor infantile. My cooking is light and balanced because only in this way can it express the ingredients to the maximum.”

Romito never stops researching and studying: it’s his nature. 2016 has already brought an addition to the kitchen of the restaurant Reale: an upgraded Bread Lab (bread being another pillar of Romito’s cuisine, in all its primordial elegance, “the easiest most difficult thing to make, and the best way to judge the philosophy of any chef”.) And a state of the art laboratory adjacent to the main kitchen, where

Gel di Vitello, porcini secchi, mandorle e tartufo nero Photo © Brambilla Serrani

Balance is also crucial to Romito’s cooking philosophy. When attempting to rely on an extremely limited number of ingredients in order to focus on radical essentiality, the slightest misalignment will emphasize eventual mistakes. Put simply, when there’s no overabundance of flavors on the plate, all is laid bare. Romito’s dishes are the result of tireless research, in a millimetric balance.

As he continues his development, his search for the “apparent simplicity” is becoming one with the pursuit of lightness, and health. “I want to provide our customers with lightness rather than weigh them down, ensuring that after a good number of courses they feel good, their palates still capable of perceiving flavors and their digestion uncompromised,” says Romito. “The ‘lightness quotient’ of my dishes, however, is not the result

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Fettuccelle di semola con gamberi rossi e pepe rosa Photo © Brambilla Serrani

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rhythm that is sustained without being frenetic, the number of courses ceases to be an issue.

The quality of service is obviously fundamental, and there must exist an unbreakable flow of communication between dining room and kitchen: the dishes are served, then removed in a timely manner, and so on until reaching the end of the meal without feeling weighted down or fatigued, with a good part of the day or evening still ahead to do whatever one wishes. And within one’s satisfied belly, the glimmer of a new appetite.

It is nice having the time and energy after lunch or dinner to do something else with the day rather than feeling compelled to sleep. It’s nice being able to remember what one has eaten, and to look forward to eating again.

Capellini al pomodoro Photo © Brambilla Serrani

new lines of research (on meat and vegetables, fermentation and pressure cooking) are already in full effect - and a brand new set of dishes is ready to be born.

At Reale Romito has two tasting menus, which he calls - Essence and Ideal. The first consists of six courses and the second of nine. The pace of service is just a tad faster than average, since diners don’t need an excessive amount of time to recover from dishes.

Romito used to think that the perfect number of courses for a tasting menu was seven. Today he thinks that, more than the number of courses, what matters is the time required to consume them.

Two hours at the most, possibly an hour and forty minutes. If the portions are right, the ingredients balanced and the sequence of flavors obeys a steady

Photo © Francesco Fioramonti

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ERIC RIPERT - LE BERNARDIN, NEW YORK

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Photo © Nigel Parry

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ERIC R I P E RT Chef and co-owner of the acclaimed New York restaurant Le Bernardin. Born in Antibes, France, Eric moved to to Andorra, a small country just over the Spanish border as a young child. His family instilled their own passion for food in the young Ripert, and at the age of 15 he left home to attend culinary school in Perpignan. At 17, he moved to Paris and cooked at the legendary La Tour D’Argent before taking a position at the Michelin three-starred Jamin. After fulfilling his military service, Ripert returned to Jamin under Joel Robuchon to serve as chef poissonier.

In 1989, Ripert seized the opportunity to work under Jean-Louis Palladin as sous-chef at Jean Louis at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. Ripert moved to New York in 1991, working briefly as David Bouley’s sous-chef before Maguy and Gilbert Le Coze recruited him as chef for Le Bernardin. Ripert has since firmly established himself as one of New York’s and the world’s great chef.

In September 2014, Ripert and Le Coze opened Aldo Sohm Wine Bar, named for their acclaimed wine director Aldo Sohm. That same month, the two expanded Le Bernardin’s private dining offerings with Le Bernardin Privé, a dynamic space above Aldo Sohm Wine Bar that can accommodate a range of events.

Ripert is the Vice Chairman of the board of City Harvest, working to bring together New York’s top chefs and restaurateurs to raise funds and increase the quality and quantity of food donations to New York’s neediest. When not in the kitchen, Ripert enjoys good tequila and peace and quiet.

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ERIC RIPERT - LE BERNARDIN, NEW YORK

Photo © William Hereford

Photo © William Hereford

Le Bernardin New York’s internationally acclaimed four-star seafood restaurant, was born in Paris in 1972 by sibling duo Maguy and Gilbert Le Coze. Dedicated entirely to the cuisine of Gilbert Le Coze, the self-taught seafood wizard, it only served fish: Fresh, simple and prepared with respect. Le Bernardin was named after an order of monks who liked to eat and drink and a song about the monks that Gabriel Le Coze, Maguy’s and Gilbert’s father, kept singing to them.

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The dual combination of Gilbert’s new cooking techniques — unheard of in the Haute Cuisine-obsessed salons of Paris’ better restaurants in the early seventies—with Maguy’s energy and drive in the dining room propelled Le Bernardin to one Michelin star in 1976. Considering that Le Bernardin was opened on a shoestring budget with Maguy’s and Gilbert’s parents helping out in the kitchen as the only employees on opening night, the Michelin accolades were an incredible accomplishment.

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Continuing its success story, in 1980 the restaurant moved to a larger location garnering two coveted Michelin stars. This was the highest acclaim for a seafood-only restaurant since the powerful Michelin organization reserves the right to bestow three stars to restaurants with menus that also offer meat, games, poultry and fish to its diners. Le Bernardin insisted on only serving the best fish, carving out a niche in the competitive restaurant world of Paris and establishing an international reputation.

Photo Š Daniel Krieger

Inspired by the triumph of Le Bernardin in Paris and its many American clients, the Le Cozes sought to open a Le Bernardin in New York in 1986.

In no time, Le Bernardin became a four star restaurant which is renown for setting standards in the cooking of seafood in America. After the unexpected death of her brother Gilbert in 1994, Maguy Le Coze began working closely with Chef Eric Ripert, a disciple and close friend of Gilbert, who took over the kitchen, and along with Le Coze continued to uphold Le Bernardin’s position as one of the world’s premier restaurants.

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ERIC RIPERT - LE BERNARDIN, NEW YORK

In September 2011, Le Coze and Ripert unveiled the next chapter in the restaurant’s history: a significant redesign from Bentel & Bentel. The new look features a lounge, a first for the restaurant, where a separate menu is available. Since then, the restaurant received a James Beard Award in 2012 for “Best Restaurant Design,” and an “Outstanding Restaurateur” award in 2013 for Le Coze, who is the first woman to be honored in the category.

Photo © Daniel Krieger

The restaurant holds several records in New York: it received its four star review from The New York Times only three months after opening and is the only New York four star restaurant that has maintained its status of excellence for more than 20 years. Reviews have come in 1986, 1989, 1995, 2005, and in 2012, with the same verdict: four stars. Le Bernardin has received more James Beard Awards than any other restaurant in New York City. In 1998, Maguy Le Coze won the coveted James Beard Award for “Outstanding Restaurant” in America, and in May 2003, the James Beard Foundation named Eric Ripert “Outstanding Chef.”

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Halibut Photo © Shimon & Tammar

King Fish Caviar Photo © Shimon & Tammar

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Scallop Photo © Shimon & Tammar

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Wagyu Tartare Photo © Francesco Tonelli

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In 2009, Le Bernardin was honored with the James Beard Award for “Outstanding Wine Service.” The Michelin Guide, which made its New York debut in 2005, honored Chef Ripert and Le Bernardin with its highest rating of three stars in 2005 and each year thereafter, and the restaurant ranks 18 on the S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. The New York Zagat Guide has consistently recognized Le Bernardin as top rated in the category of “Best Food,” and the 2011-2016 editions awarded Le Bernardin a 29 food rating: the highest in New York City. In the 2012-2014 & 2016 Zagat Guides, Le Bernardin is named the Most Popular Restaurant in the city, and in the 2015 & 2016 guides, it’s also rated the city’s top restaurant for service.

New York magazine also rated Le Bernardin #1 in its annual ranking of the 101 best

Dark Chocolate Photo © Shimon & Tammar

restaurants in New York City in 2006. In his year-end dining feature, Frank Bruni of The New York Times selected Le Bernardin as the “Best Meal of 2008.”

In 1999, Ripert and partner Maguy Le Coze expanded their business to form Ripert Consulting, which so far has shaped restaurants in Florida, California and New York City.

Ripert Consulting partnered with the Ritz Carlton to open Blue in Grand Cayman.

To the delight of fans all over the world, 1998 saw the publication of Le Bernardin’s first cookbook, called Le Bernardin - Four Star Simplicity. Eric Ripert has also published My Best: Eric Ripert, Avec Eric, On the Line, and A Return to Cooking. He was the host of his own Emmy-award winning PBS TV series, AVEC ERIC, which began its third season on the Cooking Channel in February 2015, and has hosted RESERVE CHANNEL’s “On the Table” on YouTube.

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JORDI CRUZ - ABaC, BARCELONA

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Jordi Cruz Cooking With Logic Text Oilda Barreto

Chef Jordi Cruz has known what he wanted to do since his first dish of potatoes and kidney beans that he cooked for his sick mom when he was a 7 year old boy. She told him then that he was going to be a chef one day. He has since polished his talent and substantiated his mother’s premonition.

He began professionally at age 14, when he started working at “Cercs Estany Clar” in Barcelona. He studied at the “Escola Superior de Hosteleria Joviat” in Barcelona while continuing to work at Cercs Estany Clar. This is where he earned his first Michelin star at the age of 24! He was the youngest Spanish chef and the second youngest chef in the world to be awarded the impressive tribute.

Since then, the notable young chef received a second Michelin star along with several other accolades including, “Young Chef’s Spanish Championship” in San Sebastian and the “Championship of Spain Award for Young Values”, in Marbella. He also won an international prize, “Cooking with Olive Oil” from “Jaén Paraíso Interior”. And he won the first edition of “Chef of the Year” from the CCA and is now Vice President of the voting committee. In 2013 he was awarded “Chef de l’Avenir” by the “Académie Internationale de la Gastronomie” (International Gastronomy Academy).

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Sweet corn taco and foie gras with mole ice cream Photo © Marco Pastori

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In 2007, after working there for more than a decade, Chef Jordi said farewell to Cercs Estany Clar and became the manager and head chef of “Angle de Món Sant Benet” AKA, “l’Angle”.

The very next year, the restaurant was awarded a Michelin star, which it still holds. In May of 2010, he took over the “ABaC” Restaurant and Hotel” in Catalonia and he now owns them both.

It almost comes as no surprise that Abac was named Best Restaurant in Catalonia one year later! Subsequently, in 2012, it was awarded 2 Michelin stars, which it has maintained in 2013 and 3 “Soles Repsol” since 2013. It is now one of the top gastronomic restaurants in the city. In 2013 l’Angle restaurant changed its location, from the village of Sant Fruitós del Bages to Barcelona city center, in Hotel Cram where Jordi Cruz is also the gastronomic advisor.

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Jordi Cruz and his team of young professionals develop a creative cusine based on the product, which meets both creativity and tradition...

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Fossilised sea urchin “Pizzeta” with plankton butter and sundried tomatoes Photo © Marco Pastori

Carbonara pine nuts with Parmesan egg white, rooster crest and white truffle Photo © Marco Pastori

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JORDI CRUZ - ABaC, BARCELONA

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Parmesan gnocchi with raw and cooked mushrooms with lemongrass, nuts and truffle Photo © Marco Pastori

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He thinks it is important to know what everyone else is doing, to have all the information, to not repeat and to have all the tools to execute an idea. Says Chef Cruz: “Today, getting information is not so difficult if you know how to listen. So I have access to the information but not a direct influence from Chefs Ferran or Andoni who have a way of thinking that will get fixed in your head. I feel I have my own way of thinking and originality…I wished I had made a stage but was lucky that the chefs I admired when I was a kid are now my friends.” He believes that if he had worked under their tutelage, he’d have to wonder if his creations were his own or if he was simply imitating them. This way, he knows that each and every dish is his own creation.

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JORDI CRUZ - ABaC, BARCELONA

What makes him so successfully creative? Chef Jordi is quoted as saying, “The creative process starts with not settling. If every 3 days I am not doing a new dish, there is something inside me that eats me, makes me uncomfortable. It is an attitude thing with me all day thinking about creating new dishes.” Chef Cruz’s creativity comes from his ingredients and his knowledge.

He often gets inspiration from traditional dishes and loves incorporating the traditional flavors of home into his modern dishes. Fresh, local produce plus his brilliant mind and artistry and his drive to constantly create are his best tools, and ones that he uses regularly to keep the creative process flowing. Regarding his cuisine, the chef himself defines it as “evolutionary and restless, based on the product and where creativity and tradition are merged.” Within his profession, his avant garde cuisine has continued to stand out.

One of Chef Cruz’s proverbs is to “cook simple dishes with logic and care, also applying the principle of proportionality so that diners enjoy each and every one of the courses on the menu and they are equally enthusiastic throughout.”

The Catalan chef defines his cooking as “evolving and inquiring, based on the product, where there is room for creativity and tradition.” One of the cooking techniques that he is passionate about is vacuum cooking. He has written about it extensively in his first book, 2005’s “Cocina con Lógica” or Cooking with logic: technique and concepts in the kitchen of Estany Clar”, based on what he learned from one of his best teachers in France, George Praulus. He has also published 3 more books and is currently preparing three more, one for each of his restaurants.

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Clams with caviar Photo © Marco Pastori

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JORDI CRUZ - ABaC, BARCELONA

Smoky Soil, Bananas, Coffee, Vanilla and Bourbon This dessert is basically deconstructed bourbon with the basic flavor components of bourbon: coffee, vanilla, banana and cocoa. The flavors are represented by caramelized bananas, roasted biscuit crumbs (smoky soil), coffee butter, ice cream made with a bourbon wood infusion, bourbon candy with liquid filling (corn starch mold technique), cocoa cremeux and a caramelized bourbon vanilla cake with crème brûlée (whiskey cake). All are spritzed at the table with more bourbon. The whiskey cake is ‘smoked’ at the table with a bourbon wood infusion mist generated by the liquid nitrogen. These aromatization at the table is a great way to start the experience of this decadent bourbon dessert. The caramelized cake is then incorporated into the main dish.

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ABaC Restaurant

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JORDI CRUZ - ABaC, BARCELONA

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ABaC Restaurant

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Biscuit brittle with yoghurt, flowers and violet ice cream Photo © Marco Pastori

In June 2012 he opened a new restaurant in Barcelona, “Ten’s Tapas Restaurant”, in the heart of the Born district, which offers tapas and side dishes true to the philosophy of ABaC. Jordi aimed to enhance the Barcelona’s gastronomic map even further with “Ten’s”, a shrine for signature tapas, was originally created by the family who owns the Hotel and Restaurant ABaC. The bar offers ten fixed or essential tapas plus others that change every week and can become more complex. The fixed tapas include patatas bravas and Andalusian-style squid, while guest tapas can be popular dishes from the ABaC like cherry ceviche or foie gras with figs.

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JORDI CRUZ - ABaC, BARCELONA

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Light cocoa, hazelnut, caramel and chocolate textures Photo © Marco Pastori

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All of his success has not gone to his head or made him idle. He doesn’t have any days off. Not for holidays. Not for weekends. No sick days. And he hasn’t since he was 14. The only ‘micro-vacation’ he had, he was still working. Chef Jordi has said, “Since I was 14 I have been locked in a kitchen, literally and consciously…I want to enjoy myself for a lifetime and since I was 10 years old I thought like this.” He contends that while his friends were out partying, he was working his butt off doing what he loves. The accolades and accomplishments are all results of his aspirations and his unwavering desire to become the best he can be. He believes that the soul of a restaurant comes from the chef who has the passion to make it great, every single day. That can’t be done if the chef isn’t in the kitchen, creating new dishes on a regular basis and motivating the team. He adds, “When a customer comes into the kitchen and tells me, I loved this dish, I tell them, it’s that guy over there that created it. I try to be an example.”

When the hit TV show MasterChef made its debut in Spain in 2013, Chef Jordi was one of the three original judges. He loved participating on it because the producers allowed him to be himself, and because it’s educational. In fact, one of the reasons he joined the show was that he could take a “micro-vacation” of sorts from his already busy life. He is quoted as saying, “I laughed a lot, I got to know people and I got to try a profession that is not mine. It enriched me.” Plus, with its 9 million viewers, it was great publicity for his restaurants. By the way, he did it on holidays so that he wouldn’t take off from the restaurant.

Again, not surprisingly, he’s now considered one of Spain’s top TV personalities. In fact, he’s reached beef-cake status with his fans.

Although he considers himself “just a chef” at heart.

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GÏK - SPAIN

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Red White Rosé Gïk, the blue wine Wait... WHAT?!

A team of young entrepreneurs is revolutionizing the world of wine with a blasphemous drink.

It took two years of in-dept research, closely collaborating with several leading technological institutes within the food industry, until this team of young entrepreneurs launched the world’s first blue wine onto the market. A sweet and fresh taste and the vibrant Indigo color are the main characteristics of Gïk, aimed to create an accessible wine for all young people between 18 and 70 years old.

You won’t need to attend a wine appreciation tasting course to enjoy the blue wine, since its taste makes it so easy to appreciate. Moreover, while most wines follow the ancestral traditions and inherited rules that make wine drinking so complicated, Gïk has none. You set your own rules and decide when, where, how and with whom you want to toast with a glass of Gïk.

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GÏK - SPAIN

Guacomole

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Crispy prawns

Due to their innovative working structure and the flexibility allowed by the technological process which improves both the color and the taste of the grapes, they work with various vineyards. They carefully choose these vineyards for their grape varieties and their innovative mindset, avoiding the complexity of being governed by any dictatorial institution.

Created by six Spaniards Iñigo Alday, Imanol López, Jen Besga, Gorka Maiztegi, Aritz López, and Taig Mac Marthy in collaboration with the Uniniversity of the Basque Country and Azti Tecnalia (the food research department of the Basque Government) puts a mix of nature and technology. A blend of different varieties of red and white grapes from vineyards in La Rioja, León, Zaragoza and the wine regions of Castilla la Mancha.

Anthocyanin, a pigment from the skin of the red grapes, an organic pigment indigotine a dye extracted from the Isatis tinctoria plant that gives the wine its bluish colour. Noncaloric sweeteners are added to modify the flavor and to create a sweet drink with 11.5 per cent alcohol per volume.

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GÏK - SPAIN

But Gïk is much more than a simple wine company. This project began in Spain, were they have been called blasphemous by many traditional winemakers. In Spanish culture, wine is deeply attached to traditions and religion, so it’s understandable that many Spanish conservatives have taken it as an offense.

Co-founder Aritz López explains that neither he nor his partners had prior winemaking experience, but that they “wanted to create something really innovative.” The team collectively felt that Spain’s wine industry was “missing a little revolution.” López further adds “Drinking Gïk is not just about drinking blue wine; you are drinking innovation. You are drinking creation. You are breaking the rules and creating your own ones. You are reinventing traditions”.

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Aritz López explains the blue inspiration…“inspired by Blue Ocean Strategy, a book written by a Korean-born business theorist - W. Chan Kim, the author speaks about red oceans in his book that represents business markets saturated by specialists (sharks) who fight for the same variables and for a reduced number of clients (fish), and end up in water turned red. And how it’s necessary to revert this, by innovating and creating new variables, back to blue. This seemed poetic for us to turn a traditionally red beverage into a blue one.”

Gïk can be paired with sushi, smoked salmon, nachos with guacamole or pasta carbonara with Alt J or James Blake music in the background…

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FRANKIE SOLARIK - BARCHEF, TORONTO

Frankie Solarik BarChef Photo © Leanne Neufeld

Co-owner of Toronto’s BarChef, Frankie Solarik is a pioneer of the progressive and contemporary approach to cocktails in Canada and the top mixologist in the Nation. Opened to international acclaim in 2008, soon becoming by Food and Wine Magazine one of “Seven New and Innovative bars in the World” shortly after. Business partners and friends Brent VanderVeen and Frankie Solarik’s bar soon became an international destination, their goal; to create an exemplary multi-sensory cocktail experience. With Solarik working behind the bar, developing and designing the cocktail program and VanderVeen handling design and Managing of overall Operations and Interior design.

Soon after opening, the bar began to create quite a buzz with Solarik’s “Modernist” and progressive approach to the genre of the cocktail incorporating only fresh ingredients, herbs, syrups, infusions and customized bitters all made in house and developed around creating specific flavor profiles, accents and nuances to compliment and achieve particular flavor profiles and subsequently blurring the line between food and drink. VanderVeen soon had the idea of Solarik moving from behind the bar to the kitchen with the technical level of what Solarik was doing and the volume of which it needed to be executed with the resources of a full team in the kitchen strictly dedicated to Barchef’s Modernist program.

It was this idea that catapulted the technical level of what Solarik was able to achieve with the added space, staff, lighting and resources. Soon after Solarik began producing what would be become the reference for the “Modernist Approach” in the cocktail world.

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FRANKIE SOLARIK - BARCHEF, TORONTO

Our objective is to challenge the conventional notions and boundaries of the cocktail experience.

Frankie Solarik

“For me artistically it’s the perspective of achieving an emotional and visceral experience for the guest, expanding on the ideology of utilizing liquid and solid in the cocktail genre, incorporating a textural multidimensional approach, the idea of incorporating the guests as an actual component in the overall experience by referencing guests memories and emotions through the use of aroma and tangible references of textures and visual representation of environments and experiences” adds Frankie Solarik.

The buzz is due to the fact that Solarik isn’t just changing the way drinks are made, but because he’s changing the way cocktails are perceived in general, by applying the same detail and passion to preparing cocktails as a chef would to haute cuisine.

Although he prefers to describe some of his signature beverages as “Modernist” rather than “molecular” the “cocktails” on offer at this Toronto cocktail bar are perhaps best described as compositions, but rather than harmonious musical notes they are a personal artistic expression, a textural and sensory experience presented in the medium of a liquid.

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Traditionally, the mystique of a cocktail is due in part to the fact that they are as much an expression of the personal taste of their creator as they are of that of the person who chooses to drink them – in the case of Solarik, even more so. “That’s what makes the creative process so special, the goal is to challenge the perception of flavor.”

Although many of his signature “dishes” feature complex flavours and spectacular presentations, employing everything from frozen carbon dioxide, liquid nitrogen to hydrosols, essential oils and blowtorches, the approach is rooted in balancing components that complement each other rather than contrast, regardless how many ingredients he is working with.

At BarChef Solarik continues to push the envelope; growing a reputation as an innovator and advocate of the progressive approach to mixology. His approach is unique, his research impeccable, and his goal, far – reaching – Put simply, to inspire others worldwide to adopt a completely new approach to cocktail culture and dramatically expand on the Modernist movement.

Oceanic

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FRANKIE SOLARIK - BARCHEF, TORONTO

“It’s very important for me to respect the traditions of the cocktail, however why not expand on the ideology of cuisine and drink and the guest experience and incorporate the use of tools and ingredients that we have available to us to create an experience for the guest that completely challenges the conventional model and create a whole new experience within the genre of the cocktail. My goal is for BarChef to become the first bar in the world to receive a Michelin star and we’ll keep pushing, and working hard until we get there.”

WG Magazine catches up Frankie Solarik…

WG: It’s interesting to learn how Bar Chefs find their passion - Tell us how you found your way to become the top mixologist in Canada and one of the top seven bar chefs in the world!

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Frankie Solarik: When we opened BarChef in 2008 it was very rare to be using flavoured syrups, fresh herbs, wine glasses for cocktails etc not to mention infusions, and in house bitters let alone a full Modernist program, the program at BarChef was extremely ambitious but we were very determined to create a cocktail bar that had a very different and artisanal approach to the craft. We began to receive a lot of local press which then moved to international press, we were just super determined and focussed on our goal of creating a very special experience for the guest, once I moved from behind the bar and into the kitchen that’s when the technical level of what we were doing began to really take shape and the artistic limits were dissolved, my business partner Brent Vander Veen was an absolute key component to this happening by suggesting the Modernist program be moved to the kitchen for extra resources of light, staff, space etc. For me this was a monumental moment for myself and BarChef obliterating any limits artistically and fully focussing on our approach.

Clementine

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FRANKIE SOLARIK - BARCHEF, TORONTO

Vanilla and Hickory Smoked Manhattan

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Frankie Solarik was inspired watching an episode of Iron Chef America, where one of the competing chefs presented a dish to the judges and removed a small upside down ceramic bowl from over the dish releasing a small amount of mist / smoke. Frankie saw this and decided that he wanted to smoke a cocktail, it was a ground breaking idea for him. It’s Frankie’s signature cocktail at BarChef and this technique is being used all over the world. It’s an honor for him to see this technique being used.

The cocktail... Crown Royal Special Reserve Rye, vanilla infused brandy, cherry and vanilla bitters and hickory syrup is smoked in a glass cloche in front of the guest for two minutes with hickory chunks and a vanilla bean.

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FRANKIE SOLARIK - BARCHEF, TORONTO

Notes of Spring The celebration of flavors of spring - fennel, chamomile, green olive, juniper, and the adaptation of a classic gin martini.

The fennel and chamomile bitters create a very earthy and floral, and the residual base note of hay and grass. The edible components are presented to expand on this and the possibilities of flavour pairings with juniper and chamomile.

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Sous Chef Ilya Khalyapin, Co-owner Brent VanderVeen, and Frankie

BarChef is the ultimate cocktail experience... An adventure for the senses, providing a textual and sensual journey for the palate as well as the eyes.

At BarChef...

Frankie, Brent and the amazing team strive to provide guest with the ultimate cocktail experience...

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Frankie Solarik: It’s the perspective of creating harmonious balance and composition, refusing to be limited to the confines of the glass and “rules” in the cocktail world, by translating flavors and aromas to colours in my head it gives me the ability to create essentially a visual composition which I then translate to flavour the ideology of flavors WG: Your modernist approach to making drinks is being grouped and categorized as “earth tones”, both an art and an experience - signature drinks “pastels”, “accents” florals associated with bright featuring complex flavours, textures, aromas and colours etc, the perspective as the medium of a spectacular presentations, employing everything flavour combination being a blank canvas, base from frozen carbon dioxide to hydrosols and tones being the background colour and accents and blowtorches, at their very core the compositions high notes including ingredients like fresh herbs, depend on a “less is more” approach; a process spices, essential oils, textures etc and aroma. For me rooted in balancing components that complement the goal has always been to create a very visceral each other rather than contrast, regardless how experience for the guest, by incorporating tangible many ingredients you work with - how do you bring textures and visual representations of a scene or about this balance of different aromas and taking it environment I am looking to place the guest in. to a level outside of just the glass?

For example the “Spring Thaw” incorporates fresh flowers, greens, moss textures that when the guest reaches into the service piece to grasp the glass textures of these things brush on the guest’s hands and they are instantly transported to the desired environment, then aromatics of that environment are created at the table, for example cedar, soil, lilacs.

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“A Chef looks to manipulate the textures and flavors of proteins, starches and vegetables using modern equipment, techniques and ingredients, I take that approach and apply it to liquid and alcohol�

Frankie Solarik

Mezcal

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Caramel

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The manipulation of Caramel - the approach of flavour pairing and celebrating an amazing complex and deep flavour profile of something so seemingly simple yet so complex.

The pairings of cardamom, cumin, maple, aromatics of rosemary and the idea of manipulating the texture of caramel into a dry form until it hits the heat and the liquid of your mouth, which then returns to the reference texture of caramel.

It was a new perspective for Frankie - artistically and really expanding on the idea of what’s possible with a “cocktail”.

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FRANKIE SOLARIK - BARCHEF, TORONTO

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WG: You strive to create an experience involving all the senses: a visceral and emotional journey of taste, touch, smell, sound and sight - Could you share the process you go through to creating a new cocktail?

Frankie Solarik: All cocktails and concepts are conceived by the desire to create a specific emotion or feeling or the celebration of a specific flavour or combination of flavors, generally it’s the idea of creating a very emotional and deep experience, one of my favourite tools for doing this is the use of nostalgia and actually incorporating the guest and their personal past references as a component of the finished product, in my personal opinion that’s what really differentiates a good experience to an absolutely special and emotional experience and that’s something we strive to achieve for our guest. Inspiration comes from everywhere the key is to allow yourself to be open to the things around you and very aware of aromas and visuals to allow those ideas to flow naturally.

Winter Cider

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FRANKIE SOLARIK - BARCHEF, TORONTO

The inspiration behind this cocktail was a Zen Garden influence and its presentation through colour composition and flavor.

Cedar

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The incorporation of the cacao soil not only creates a visual representation but also the wonderful earthy flavors or raw cacao and a lingering tannic flavour which is balanced with the pear and cedar.

The cocktail consists of London dry gin, pear eau de vie, fennel, chamomile bitters and chamomile syrup. The guest is instructed to skewer the pair with the provided service ware, swipe through the cedar air, eat then sip the cocktail incorporating all the flavors and aromas on the palate.

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This was the first transformative cocktail experience for Frankie. The concept to create a cocktail that literally transforms in flavour profile in front of the guest.

It begins with light floral flavors and effervescence of neutral grain spirit, orange blossom and Lillet Blanc. Then over time, flavors and aromas transforms too much darker tones of apricot, rosemary, and Madeira.

T R A N S F O R M A T I O N

It’s the beginning of a new direction for Frankie, the introduction of a participatory experience and cocktails that evolve in flavour and aroma in front of the guest. The perspective of a cocktail or dish involves a story, this example was the introduction of creating a style of cocktail that embodies this approach.

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Sailor’s Mojito One of the first cocktails of Frankie to incorporate an aromatic reference of nostalgia.

The “beach essence” served in the centre of the service piece is a very powerful aromatic representation of being at the beach and creating this environment.

The mojito base uses a spiced rum which adds an extra amount of complexity and depth to the finish and flavour profile.

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Olive And Cherry One of my favorite cocktails from the book as I feel it truly embodies a very different and Abstract Expressionist and minimalist approach to the natural manipulation of beautiful ingredients, it was also the first cocktail for me to intentionally be served at room temperature as to not overly dilute or chill the palette, the intention of not chilling to muddy and reduce the beautiful aromatics of the lavender. This is a cocktail from our menu in 2012 and still inspires me artistically as a reference of how powerful minimalism can be in the right expression.

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WG: Your book “The Bar Chef - A Modern Approach to Cocktails” is carefully curated sampling your creations, featuring recipes that are challenging but achievable. Exploring the importance of engaging all the senses when creating modernist cocktails and its aimed for the adventurous mixologists, enthusiasts who wants to hone their skills and taste – what was the inspiration while writing this book?

Frankie Solarik: For me the goal is to create a new genre in the world of food and drink and blur the line between the two, the ideology of looking at the craft in the same light of passion and complexity and composition and celebration of ingredients that would be done with a dish. As much passion, love and creativity can occur in the medium of cocktails and liquid as you would find on a plate or in a restaurant the key to achieving this is the perspective that anything is possible and that there are no rules or limits, the book was an amazing way for me to be able to share this perspective with the readers, I have always had a different perspective as to what’s possible with the medium of a cocktail, I truly believe it is possible to create an amazing emotional, flavourful and visceral experience with cocktails or dishes.

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DIETER KOSCHINA - VILA JOYA, ALGARVE, PORTUGAL

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DIETER KOSCHINA A Man of Vision...

Putting Portugal on the Culinary Map Text Oilda Barreto

On the road to the exquisite Galé Beach in picturesque Albufeira, Algarve you will find the “Vila Joya”, an award winning boutique hotel, spa and Michelin starred restaurant in southern Portugal with beautiful ocean views. Translated as “Joy Villa” or “Bejeweled Villa”, the success story of Vila Joya and Chef Dieter Koschina started in the summer of 1991 when the former resident chef of Vila Joya vacated his job in the middle of the busy tourist season. At the time owner Claudia Jung contacted one of the most famous chefs in Austria, Mr. Werner Matt. But, Chef Matt was not available thus; Chef Koschina came to the rescue.

Within three days Mr. Koschina, (now owner/chef of Vila Joya Restaurant) was meeting Mrs. Jung in Munich and began working at Vila Joya shortly thereafter. At first it wasn’t easy to cook the way he was accustomed to because he lacked the ingredients he would commonly use. However, being the talented chef that he was, and is, he adapted and succeeded. In fact, in 1995 the forerunner for Portugal’s gourmet Michelin star cuisine is Dieter Koschina when he received his first Michelin Star. In 1999 he was awarded with his second Michelin star. For thirteen years he continued to hold his position as the only chef in Portugal with two Michelin Stars.

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DIETER KOSCHINA - VILA JOYA, ALGARVE, PORTUGAL

The Portuguese are proud of their culturally delicious, fresh, locally sourced cuisine. It is deep-rooted, European provincial food. From traditional dishes to the best seafood source in the world, everything is locally sourced. It hasn’t really had a chance to shine in the culinary world.

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What makes Austrian Dieter Koschina such a successful chef is a very frequent question that truly is easy to answer. First, it is his innate talent and his extreme passion for his gastronomic profession. Second it is his motivation, his unique creativity and the craving to achieve the perfect flavor. Chef Koschina has led Vila Joya to become one of the best restaurants in Portugal and now in the world. The two-starred chef has changed Vila Joya’s restaurant with his culinary enthusiasm and at the same time Vila Joya and Vila Joya‘s clients have changed Dieter Koschina. The achievement of being awarded two stars it is not only about talent or money but also about the guest’s satisfaction and overall experience.

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DIETER KOSCHINA - VILA JOYA, ALGARVE, PORTUGAL

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Bacalhao with Beetroot

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Born in Dornbirn, Austria Dieter Kochina grew up in Salzburg. He fondly remembers his mother’s cooking and helping her in the kitchen when he was a young child. He also remembers her supporting his dream of becoming a chef. At the young age of 14 he entered into an internship. The he worked his way up in several Michelin-starred restaurants, including Souvretta House, he spent time working under Heinz Winkler at Tantris in Munich, as well as under Gerhard Schwaiger at Tristán in Puerto Portals on Majorca as well as the Hilton Vienna Plaza. Koschina also worked with award winning Austrian chef Eckardt Witzigmann before he got the call to head Vila Joya’s kitchen. He has now cooked at Vila Joya for over two decades, supported by some 20 co-workers, many of whom were and are Austrians looking to gather international experience, nurturing the next generation of top Austrian chefs.

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DIETER KOSCHINA - VILA JOYA, ALGARVE, PORTUGAL

Lobster Mandioka Mango Tandori Tamarind

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Baby Scallop with radish ponzu

Cucumber Tapioka with Caviar and Sour cream

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Pear Chocolate Peanut

Peach

Blueberry Marshmallow

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DIETER KOSCHINA - VILA JOYA, ALGARVE, PORTUGAL

Vila Joya Restaurant

Vila Joya Restaurant

Chef Koschina notably reminds his team that a restaurant without clients is like a king without a kingdom. “The roots of our success are our clients and our ultimate goal is to fulfill their culinary wishes in the best possible way.” The menu changes daily, centering on the availability of the best locally sourced ingredients along with products from the finest suppliers.

Hence, he enjoys taking special requests to please his guests. When he directs his team, “It’s John Wayne time,” he means it’s time to open the refrigerator, take inventory of what is inside and create dishes that are not on the menu. Chef Koschina also taps into his Austrian roots, sometimes preparing Austrian specialties, such as Rindsuppe (beef soup), or traditional Wiener Schnitzels.

In spite of his success, Dieter Koschina remains humble. “Our main goal isn’t necessarily to constantly achieve stars and awards but to please our guests so they return time and time again. When we receive positive feedback from our guests, this is what makes us happy.”

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Scallop Potato and Caviar

Agnolotti Carbonara Soyl’ylaisse Alba Truffels

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Valrhona Chocolate

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His culinary philosophy is, “First the flavor, then the presentation.” This does not necessarily mean his dishes are not artfully presented but that the freshest ingredients like just caught fish bought at the market at dawn, are even more important. His creativity and determination to deliver perfection in taste have enabled him to prime Vila Joya to its current position as one of the best restaurants in Portugal, and now, the world.

Besides the Michelin stars, Chef Koschina’s kitchen at Vila Joya has been awarded other accolades, including the esteemed recognition, since 2012, of being placed on the list of “The World’s 50 Best Restaurants”. Vila Joya was the first restaurant in Portugal to be ranked among the best 50 and the hotel has been voted by the World Travel Awards as “Europe’s Best Boutique Hotel, 2014”. Vila Joya was also acknowledged as the “World’s Leading Fine Dining Hotel Restaurant 2014”, as well as receiving prestigious Portuguese recognition with Golden Key - Expresso Magazine’s “Boa Cama Boa Mesa”, and also the Golden Fork as well as a Gastronomic Award from the International Gourmet Festival by “Revista de Vinhos”.

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HEINZ REITBAUER - STEIRERECK RESTAURANT, VIENNA, AUSTRIA

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Photo © Kanizaj Marija

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HEINZ REITBAUER - STEIRERECK RESTAURANT, VIENNA, AUSTRIA

Paprika Melone mit Olivenkraut und Venusmuscheln Rehbock mit Kochsalat Feigen und Perilla

The Steirereck is a jewel of art nouveau architecture, in one of the most beautiful parts of Vienna, close to the famous statue of Johann Strauss. Drawing on produce from local farmers as well as from his own farm, Grand Chef Heinz Reitbauer creates the very finest of contemporary Austrian cuisine in a relaxed, chic setting.

The dishes and their origins are explained in detail on small cards, which make a lovely memento of a unique culinary experience. Also in the building, the Meierei Milk Bar proposes 120 cheese varieties from 13 different countries as well as traditional Austrian pastries.

Heinz Reitbauer was born on the 23rd of August 1970 in Vienna. A few months previously, on the first of January, his parents had opened the restaurant Steirereck in Vienna. In homage to the Styrian roots of the Reitbauer family the restaurant offered regional delicacies such as Styrian pig’s trotter and root vegetable soup or boiled beef with horseradish.

Exposed to these culinary influences from an early age Heinz developed a passion for cooking and the world of gastronomy. Having studied at the hospitality school in Altötting, Bavaria he served a year’s apprenticeship at his parents’ restaurant before completing his training at the restaurant of the Obauer brothers in Werfen.

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Steinpilze mit Jungmais Nektarinen und Wacholder Steirereck Gebratener Zande mit Sauerspargel Yacon Wurzel Erbsen

Upon finishing his apprenticeship Heinz received the opportunity to learn for a year with Alain Chapel in Mionnay near Lyon. Chapel was one of the foremost three Michelin starred chefs in France and belonged to the pioneers of Nouvelle Cuisine. Heinz continued his international experience one year later at Anton Mosimann’s in London. There followed stints at Joel Robuchon and Restaurant Laurent in Paris. After Heinz’s return to the parental business in 1992 followed the acquisition of the farm and small country inn in the Reitbauer’s home community of Pogusch, northern Styria.

Three years of intensive planning and building work the Steirereck Inn, Pogusch was opened in May 1996. Originally envisaged as more of a weekend country retreat for the family, the inn and restaurant soon began to develop beyond its remit. With a further extension and redevelopment in 1999 the property achieved the form it has today: the combination of place, people and products creating the perfect atmosphere of escapism. This conviviality is recognized in the fact that the restaurant has maintained two toques from Gault Millau since it opened. Heinz was integral to the running of Pogusch from its inception until he assumed the responsibility of head chef at the newly reopened Steirereck in Vienna. His efforts were honoured with the Trophée Gourmet for best Austrian kitchen in 1999.

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HEINZ REITBAUER - STEIRERECK RESTAURANT, VIENNA, AUSTRIA

Steirereck Schneebergland Ente mit Kerbelwurzel Erdnuss Mandarine Gebratenes Rehkitz mit Topinampur Pinie und Quitte

The steady rise of Steirereck from a simple city inn to one of the top culinary addresses in the country continues to this day. With the purchase and development of the old municipal dairy in Stadtpark and the subsequent relocation of the restaurant to its new premises in January 2005 a new page in the Steirereck history was written.

With the reopening of Steirereck, Heinz and his wife moved to Vienna, whilst his parents took over the running of the inn at Pogusch. Following the retirement of the long-standing head chef Helmut Ă–sterreicher from Steirereck in Vienna at the beginning of 2005, Heinz assumed the sole responsibility of head chef.

Never one to stand still Heinz undertook in 2013 a complete renovation of the Steirereck restaurant and kitchens which was completed in summer 2014.

The cooking style of Heinz Reitbauer reflects his respect and appreciation of raw ingredients and products. He has constructed his own cooking identity on these

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Kürbisse und Zitronatzitrone mit Hanf und Kräuterseitling Preserved Calamansi with Cream Cheese, Gingerbread & Walnuts

foundations and through his embracing of the national and regional cooking styles of his native Austria. This style consists first and foremost of the meticulous creation of small moments of surprise for the diner, be this through the discovery of a previously unknown ingredient or the resurrection of one long forgotten. Heinz claims the key to his success is the longstanding, intricate and ever expanding network of farmers, gardeners, foragers, botanists and food enthusiasts he has nurtured over the years who never cease to provide him with inspiration and motivation.

His appreciation for rare and forgotten varieties led him to become active in the protest movement against the EU seed policy which sought to limit the propagation and sale of all but the most standard fruits and vegetables.

Currently Steirereck holds two Michelin stars and four toques from Gault Millau.

It has been voted the best restaurant in Austria by A` la carte magazine and the Falstaff Guide. Since 2009 the restaurant is included among the San Pellegrino World’s Fifty Best Restaurants and was awarded the inaugural ‘Slow Food UK’ award in 2012.

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MACA DE CASTRO - EL JARDIN, MALLORCA

Maca de Castro

Photo © Nando Esteva

Nicknamed as ‘ The Mallorcan woman’ Maca de Castro is the chef and owner of the restaurant El Jardin, Born in 1981 she has been working as a chef since the young age of 18.

She found her vocation through attending various conferences, travelling around the world and taking part in various trainings.

When she was 20, she became a sous chef at the restaurant El Jardin and at 21 became head of the fish pass. At 23 she took over as chef.

From the beginning as a kitchen helper, she has combined work and training, both in the School of Hospitality of the Balearic Islands with renowned chefs, including Hilario Arbelaitz of Soule, Mugaritz’s Andoni Luis Aduriz and Julian Serrano of Picasso. Besides attending several courses in el Bulli, she has also trained alongside Wylie Dufresne at wd-50, Manuel de la Osa of Las Rejas, Jean Coussau at Relais de la Poste and at Arzak with Juan Mari and Elena Arzak. She was also guest speaker at the Madrid Fusion and she has held the prestigious Michelin Star since 2012.

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Steirereck Restaurant

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MACA DE CASTRO - EL JARDIN, MALLORCA

“We have created a place where you will feel in Mallorca and where you can immerse yourself in the flavors of the sea, fields, mountains and forests that Mallorca has to offer.”

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Eggplant, rosemary and summer truffle from Mallorca

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Also the ‘El Jardin’ restaurant has been distinguished by the Repsol Guide with two suns. Publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The Country Gentleman, Elle, Vogue, Desktop or Club de Gourmets have also recognised and highlighted her work.

WG Magazine catches up with Maca de Castro…

It’s interesting to learn how Chef’s find their passion for cooking, tell us how you found your way into the culinary field… “I began studying fine arts and was not sure of to be a chef, when I was 20, my dad convinced me to go with him to a gastronomy congress in San Sebastián and it was a true revelation. When I saw Carme Ruscadella and Andoni Luis Aduriz with their young teams, I realized that there was a difference in cooking, more creative and human, was possible. After that I joined a catering college (professional cooking school) for one year but what I really wanted was to work, being in a kitchen, traveling and getting trained.”

You worked and trained with renowned chefs – Hilario Arbelaitz, Julian Serrano and Andoni Luis Aduriz… They’ve been vital experiences in both, human and professional, training. The three chefs have been really important to me and not only in my job, the friendship and I admire them. Hilario Arbelaitz represents honesty; Julián Serrano intensity, and Andoni Luis Aduriz – experimenting and going forward.

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MACA DE CASTRO - EL JARDIN, MALLORCA

Your cuisine pays homage to the soil – Mallorca, fresh seasonal produce with purity of flavors and ensuring the flavors remain naturally delicious throughout the cooking process with an impeccably balance on the plate…

“I am always looking for the perfect texture of each ingredient, very clean flavours and natural. I want my cuisine to be straight forward, transparent, and any surplus in a dish is disturbing to me, everything that is redundant, needless and anything which there is no reason for it to be there.”

Tell us the experience training alongside Elena Arzak, Jean Coussau, Manuel de la Osa and Willy Dufresne…

Elena has the merit of continuing a three generations saga in one of the most prestigious restaurants of the world. Besides, she’s a great host who looks after and pampers whoever comes to her place.

Jean Coussau, especially impressed me his level of service, including all the work done in the floor before opening to customers.

Manuel de la Osa, I learned the importance of a good stew, the family cookery, homemade and savoury. And the merit of building a great house in such a difficult location.

Wylie Dufresne, the pace of New York, the fact of working with people from around the world. I also realized how they valued and used culinary techniques created in Spain.

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Mussels with Orange and Sage

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MACA DE CASTRO - EL JARDIN, MALLORCA

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Maca de Castro describes her culinary philosophy…

My philosophy consists on working with the best product given by my territory in every precise moment of the year. With that, I create a dynamic menu that moves at the same rhythm of the local pantry along with the seasons, making a very transparent and immediate cuisine that searches for the intensity of flavours.

Maca’s greatest influences in the kitchen…

I couldn’t point anything really influential as all the vital and professional experiences that I mentioned before are important.

Every experience, journey or person leaves their mark. But, if I had to highlight a special influence that would be Hilario Arbelatz’s who taught me the importance of dedication and constancy.

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MACA DE CASTRO - EL JARDIN, MALLORCA

local produce inspires Maca’s cooking...

Maca’s opinion on the best recipe that she has created and her inspiration… “To me, there’s not a dish that specially stands out. The important thing is to be able to work with a spring almond in May or a green chickpea in June. Really, I don’t try to create an outstanding dish but to extol the best products, which is my source of inspiration.”

Maca shares the process she goes through to create a dish…

I have a team that helps me to find the best ingredients along the year. That’s always the starting point: the seasonal product. From there, we start to investigate and create, with the support of some culinary concept and traditional method.

Maca de Castro tells us what ingredient inspire her, her favourite ingredients and ingredient that she is not able to master…

The latest ingredients I put in the menu are pork’s blood, a cottage cheese made from sea water, a tiny potato (not bigger than a fingernail), spring almond, monkfish liver, medlar, mare’s milk... As I said before, I work with a team in the search of the best products, therefore we have to be in touch straight with the producers.

I love working with seafood but to be honest, I enjoy working with any local high quality ingredient. I think that all the good things are really close, but sometimes we don’t see them.

I’m working hard with some local birds, like ‘quica’ hen. Something that I had never done before.

Maca’s cooking techniques…

No. In fact, to me, technique is not the most important thing and it is the product and flavours. I am rather traditional: I like cooking pots and slow cooking.

Produce, Creativity or Technique…Without hesitation, the local product. It’s what inspires me and leads my cooking.

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MACA DE CASTRO - EL JARDIN, MALLORCA

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Strawberries with Vinegar and Mallorcan Liquorish Liquor

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Guilty food pleasure… Anything that is nice, but usually the simplest things like grilled sardines. I´m not a supporter of sophisticated or elaborate dishes.

Maca de Castro tells us what motivates her…

Keep doing things in a proper way. Day after day, in each service and enjoying working with the whole team.

Maca’s take on chefs entering the culinary world… “I would recommend constancy, hard work with dedication and commitment and, always enjoy the profession.”

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CHRISTIAN F. PUGLISI - RELÆ, KØBENHAVN, DENMARK

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Christian F. Puglisi Relæ an organic Mecca Text Julian Isherwood The Editors of Denmark - www.um.dk Photos ©Per-Anders Jörgensen

His name, like his food, reflects the poles of his heritage. A Dane of Sicilian-Norwegian origin, Christian F. Puglisi has made his indelible mark on the Copenhagen food scene with first two and soon four food establishments catering for a wide range of pockets and tastes.

But the tastes are as thoroughly his, as his Relæ restaurant is entirely organic – seemingly the first Michelin starred restaurant to be so.

Few non-Italians know the name of Pietro Cuppari, the 19th century Italian doctor and agronomist who helped revolutionise southern Italy’s agriculture. But sitting here in a spartanly furnitured, Michelinstarred restaurant in the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen, and facing a young Danish Italo-Norwegian, Cuppari’s concern for the significance of European ecology and agriculture seems uncannily close at hand.

Somehow it seems rather apt that Master Chef Christian F. Puglisi and Cuppari were born in the same region of Sicily - Christian in Messina and Pietro in close-by Itala. Born over a century apart, both men have shared a passion for ecology that made Cuppari one of the most influential agronomists of his time and Puglisi one of the most innovative chefs of his generation.

“For me, organic certification is not just something to try to achieve, it is an integral part of the way we think and do things. Our certification means so much to us and apart from a minute share of our wine cellar, we are, to all intents and purposes 100% organic,” says 32-year-old Puglisi of the twin Relæ and Manfred restaurants.

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CHRISTIAN F. PUGLISI - RELÆ, KØBENHAVN, DENMARK

Born in Messina of a Sicilian father and Norwegian mother, Puglisi arrived in Denmark at the age of seven, entering the food trade as a cook’s apprentice at the age of 17. Eventually working in France and Spain before returning to Denmark, the young chef’s ideas for a different approach to the restaurant trade quickly matured into what is now an internationally acclaimed establishment.

“I was lucky to work at some of the world’s best restaurants,” Puglisi says modestly of the Gardinier family’s Taillevent, Ferran Adrià’s now-closed El Bulli, and René Redzepi’s NOMA – the latter following the former with several crowns as the World’s No. 1 restaurant.

“There came a time when I could feel that I had my own views as to how things should be. I felt that I was too specific in what I wanted to be able to give as an experience, that it would be difficult for me to work somewhere other than in my own restaurant,” Puglisi says.

At his highly creative level of gastronomy, Puglisi felt there was a paradox in having to provide an expert gastronomical experience only in a ‘posh’ restaurant.

“I felt that one should be able to give a gourmet experience on the plate – but get rid of all that whipped cream on top, which I felt was unnecessary.

To cut through the bumph and get to the food experience itself. No luxury, exclusivity and the suchlike, just down to the food,” he says.

There is little doubt that his philosophical view of the slow food experience has been in keeping with a more modern and youthful attitude towards eating out - no longer the exclusive remit of a hand-and-foot serviceseeking bourgeoisie. The Puglisi idea, he says is to provide another framework that is a bit more fun, a bit more accessible and relaxing.

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Smoked Beet Fish And Elderflower

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The interior of Relæ

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An innovative way of laying a table – eating tools in a draw

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Whipped Goat Cheese And Parsley

Not least, he says, there is the issue of costs – both for the establishments themselves and for its guests. Hordes of waiters hovering around tables to get rid of crumbs, or continuously pouring water into guests’ glasses.

“I felt it was interesting to see whether I could reduce all of that to a minimum so that I can see that we give people who pay us the maximum back on their plates, rather than all the ancillary things that cost so much in running a restaurant,” Puglisi says.

But make no mistake. Whether in the open kitchen, back office or the restaurant itself, all who are there are specialists in their trade – beit the sommeliers, maîtres d’h, or chefs and kitchen staff.

“We have cut away the unnecessary things and use the funds on people who really know the food and wines,” he says.

A clean slate In many ways, Copenhagen and its New Nordic Cuisine restaurants that have taken the gastronomic world by storm, have been lucky in having a clean slate to work from. In Italy, France or Spain culinary traditions are engraved as if in a bible. There are set ways of doing things.

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CHRISTIAN F. PUGLISI - RELÆ, KØBENHAVN, DENMARK

“In Denmark it’s refreshing because the restaurant culture and the gastronomic heritage haven’t been as indelibly etched in stone and difficult to renew. NOMA and its influence on Danish gastronomy both at home and abroad would not have been possible in Italy or France – there, traditions are too embedded,” Puglisi says.

Refreshingly undogmatic, Puglisi’s fare is undoubtedly his own and only allowed in the restaurant if it suits his palate. Not that traditional food does not win his acclaim, but for him, the tastes in other restaurants are someone else’s taste.

“Here I decide what tastes good. I put my personality on the plate, it’s a very personal cuisine. When we make food here we try five different versions before they come onto the menu until we find the one that we think works best. So far it has worked well,” he says of his menu development.

“Perhaps the most important thing we brought with us from NOMA was precisely not just starting another NOMA, but to have an understanding of not doing something the same way as they do it in Paris. We’re going to do something that is ours. So instead of going to Paris for something French-inspired, you can come to Copenhagen because there is something you can’t get in Paris,” Puglisi adds.

The Manfred twin While there may be a tendency to think Relæ alone in Puglisi’s growing empire; that, however, would be a mistake. Close by, the restaurant’s twin – Manfred’s – is as much part of the Puglisi philosophy as Relæ – or indeed the bakery and pizzeria that will be opening later this year.

“Manfred’s is the perfect appendage to Relæ – a little more rustic, everyday type of restaurant. Over there you can just go in and eat a single dish or have a couple of glasses of wine, or have a takeaway. But it’s a vital part of the whole idea,” Puglisi says.

With staff equally at home and swapping back and forth between establishments, Manfred’s winery and restaurant adds the necessary volume to secure prime quality, organic raw materials. Instead of having to order only chicken thighs or legs for a Relæ menu, the group is able to order whole chickens. What is not used in Relæ is used in Manfred’s.

“That synergy is vital for us and particularly our organic position. If Relæ has calf cheeks on the menu, we would never be able to get enough to keep a reasonable price level. But we can as Manfred’s can order half or whole animals and use the rest there,” Puglisi says with a happy smile.

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Lettuce Smoked Almond And Olive Oil

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CHRISTIAN F. PUGLISI - RELÆ, KØBENHAVN, DENMARK

Relæ Restaurant

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The interior of Relæ

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Chantarelles Apple And Granité

Creamery and cuisine philosophy: One would have thought that after a hectic but successful couple of years with Relæ and Manfred’s, that the Puglisi project would be taking a well-earned rest from new endeavours. Not so. There are plans to open a pizzeria and bakery later this year – all part of the Puglisi synergy project. If you’re making some bread for the restaurant, why not make all the bread for the restaurant – and sell it out of house too. And if you’re making bread – why not make pizza – which may be quintessentially Italian – but make it ‘my way’ and experiment with the flour that’s used.

Perhaps most daring is a plan to build a small caseificio/cremeria and make his own quality mozzarella – a cheese that does not travel well, if at all.

“With a little help from Copenhagen University and Christian Hansen we’re setting up a little creamery where we’ll be stretching our own mozzarella for the restaurants. It may not be Neapolitan – but then there’s nothing that says that the Neapolitans are the only ones who can make mozzarella. It’ll be ours, good and local,” Puglisi says.

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CHRISTIAN F. PUGLISI - RELÆ, KØBENHAVN, DENMARK

Beet Crabapple And Söl

The mozzarella project fits neatly into the Puglisi Although there are traditional recipes and pictures philosophy that traditions need not be imprisoned in the book, it is peppered with the ideas that have ideas that cannot be developed. gone into their making, and ideas of what else the same ideas can be used for.

“Denmark has some of the world’s best milk and the process of making mozzarella does not have “I told the publishing house that this was to be to take place in any particular location. We will a book of inspiration and not just information. be stretching our mozzarella with our own local Inspiration to allow people to see some ideas and produce. It will be our mozzarella,” he says. use them in their own creations. The essays tell you what we have actually been thinking – how the raw That philosophy also permeates the long awaited materials should be used, why we cut them in this Puglisi book of cuisine ideas which is due to be way and not that,” he says. published on October 28. Unlike traditional cookbooks, this one is a novel perception of how “It has lots of pictures and lots of dishes so that it to provide the consumer with the ideas behind the can satisfy the manic recipe-book hunter, but it also recipes. provides something for those who just want to leaf “In a traditional cookbook you have ingredients and method. But I thought that a cuisine is much more than just what’s on the surface as an ingredient. A meal is not just the onions that go into it – but the 8-10 ideas that have gone into the considerations for the dish,” Puglisi says.

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through and be inspired. It’s been really hard and I must admit that if I had known what it was that I was letting myself in for, I probably wouldn’t have embarked on it. But now it’s done, I’m happy with it,” he concludes.

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Onion, Birch And Pine

The interior of Relæ And Toasted Bread Mushroom, Almonds

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JEAN-LUC ROCHA - RESTAURANT CORDEILLAN-BAGES, PAUILLAC, FRANCE

Jean-Luc Rocha Meilleur Ouvrier de France

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JEAN-LUC ROCHA - RESTAURANT CORDEILLAN-BAGES, PAUILLAC, FRANCE

Green Mallemort Asparagus, smoked eel and Aquitaine caviar Photo © J Mondiere

Warm Foie Gras in a cereal crust with a Port reduction, pickled mushroom puree and green-apple sorbet Photo © J Mondiere

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“Of my hospitable and generous grandmother, I remember the genuine flavor of traditional dishes, the enchantment of family gatherings and the feeling of conviviality” It is by his father’s side, a talented woof craftsman, that Jean-Luc discovered the important of textures and perfectionism. At the age of 16, Jean-Luc left home to attend culinary school in Besançon, France.

He relocated to the Champagne region in the late 1990’s before taking a position at the Michelin two starred La Pyramide as sous chef to Patrick Henriroux. By his side, Jean-Luc became aware and know how that characterizes fine gastronomy.

In 2002, Jean-Luc joined the Michelin two-starred Château Cordeillan-Bages as Executive Chef to Thierry Marx. Driven by innovation and the quality of the regional produce, it is on this family estate that he earned in 2007 the coveted title Meilleur Ouvrier de France at the age of 30. Caviar d’Aquitaine, Oysters from Arcachon, Foie Gras des Landes, Blue Lobster from the Atlantic and Lamb from Pauillac rapidly became his produce of choice. His signature ‘fraicheur” each season embraces the verbena grown in the garden.

Since 2010, Jean-Luc has created his own signature of elegance. He imagines each course so that it may be paired with fine wines and defines his cuisine as “contemporary, readable, savory and well balanced. I garnish each dish with a touch of fantasy and research in order to delight the senses, as I particularly enjoy to surprise and reassure.”

Chef Rocha was awarded the converted Michelin two star rating directly post departure of his predecessor and elected the only 4 hats by Gault & Millau in 2015 in the Bordeaux and Gironde region.

Glazed loin of venison, poivrade sauce and heritage vegetables

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JEAN-LUC ROCHA - RESTAURANT CORDEILLAN-BAGES, PAUILLAC, FRANCE

A dialogue between delicious cuisine and great wines… WG catches up with two Michelin-starred chef Jean-Luc Rocha, Meilleur Ouvrier de France of Chateau Cordeillan-Bages…

Tell us about the history and legacy of Chateau CordeillanBages…

Since the 1980’s winemaker Jean-Michel Cazes has been considered a pioneer of wine tourism. It was his vision 30 years ago to create a welcoming place for visitors to the Medoc and create a link between the marriage of gastronomy and wine. His home Village of Bages, once abandoned by its inhabitants is now a lively place dedicated to wine, tourism and hospitality. In 1989 he bought Chateau CordeillanBages, formerly a 17th Century chartreuse, now converted into a 28 room luxury hotel with views over the vines. As well as producing fine Bordeaux wine in our neighbouring Chateau Lynch-Bages, we also have a number of wonderful experiences that include a dedicated wine and cookery school, a bistro, guided tours, specialist tastings, art exhibitions and a historic VAT dating back to 1850’s. I joined Cordeillan-Bages’ two Michelin-starred restaurant 14 years ago and during 2007 earned the coveted title Meilleur Ouvrier de France. In 2010, I finally took over the reigns from my predecessor chef Thierry Marx and in 2015 we received our 4 hats by Gault & Millau.

What does the title ‘‘Meilleur Ouvrier de France’ mean? This question I added in…

It is a distinction recognized the world over, a mark of excellence, passion, of what is great in our industry, but also in various others. It encompasses everything that has to do with the transmission of intelligence to the human craft. It is a title which today comforts and positions an individual within his passion, his rigor, his love of the craft and respect for quality and one’s fellow crafts men.

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Cooked and raw foie gras, duck cromesqui fondant, veloutĂŠ of chestnut squas

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JEAN-LUC ROCHA - RESTAURANT CORDEILLAN-BAGES, PAUILLAC, FRANCE

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Blue lobster roasted with oregano butter, parsnip mousseline and coral emulsion

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How would you describe your style as a chef?

A ‘contemporary’ cuisine with soul and heart, which showcases the best products of the SouthWest. A delicious cuisine, generous, well-balanced, it gives center stage to the products and ingredients and pays tribute to authentic flavours. It is a game of textures and ingredients, respecting the products of nature while making them exciting and elegant.

How does your cuisine and style reflect the region of the Médoc?

My cuisine is full of surprises and moves between earth and sea across the seasons, the people I meet and the products I use. The Médoc is a land of immigration, of inspiration where all nationalities and all cultures cohabit and have given in order to receive. It is the same for a dish – it requires a history in order to express emotion and creativity.

How do you go about pairing wine with food?

I always have suitable wine pairing in mind when creating new dishes, although this does depend on the season. The composition changes and the balance of different flavours should be complementary to showcase the food and wine.

My cuisine has international influences from various travels, every bottle and every recipe is a distillation of the geography, history, the fruit, climate, soil, acidity, texture and expertise.

Royale of stuffed Beauce hare and heritage vegetables and mushrooms

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JEAN-LUC ROCHA - RESTAURANT CORDEILLAN-BAGES, PAUILLAC, FRANCE

Can you give a few examples of exceptional wine and food pairings?

Wine and gastronomy constitute a world in and of themselves within which I love to express each season. A fresh, crisp and fruity (citrus, pineapple) white wine is lovely to enjoy with roasted asparagus and smoked fish roe and Comte cheese. The Château LynchBages 2012 white Bordeaux has all the elements to complement asparagus which are sometimes difficult to pair. The tension in the wine accompanies the asparagus – its aroma complements the smoked and salty taste of the fish eggs.

With red mullet, tortilla mousseuse, pâte à l’encre et piquillos, you could pair a rich wine such as the Chateau Ormes de Pez 2003 Saint-Estèphe. With the pronounced taste of the fish, the soft texture of the tortilla accompanied by chorizo highlights the aromas of cassis and spices, as well as a smoked taste that showcases this powerful and elegant wine.

To accompany foie gras with a port reduction, mushrooms and a green apple sorbet, a contrasting pairing such as a dry yet smooth white wine. The Chateauneuf-du-Pape Blanc du Domaine des Senechaux, for instance, because of its freshness, ‘cuts’ the melting texture of the foie gras and gives a lovely balance to the dish. The notes of white fruits give a refreshing sensation, similar to the green apple sorbet.

As a last example, oysters with flavored lard and vegetables with argan oil. In order to contrast with the softness of the oysters and the salty taste of the lard, a crisp white wine, lightly smoked with a notes of citrus and exotic fruits would make an ideal pairing – I’m thinking of the Graves blanc du Château Villa Bel Air 2012.

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Crab Millefeuille, fennel and aniseed with a sorbet of piquillo peppers and cardamom Photo Š P Lattes

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JEAN-LUC ROCHA - RESTAURANT CORDEILLAN-BAGES, PAUILLAC, FRANCE

Chateau Cordeillan-Bages

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Restaurant Cordeillan-Bages

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Jean-Luc has created his own signature of elegance. He imagines each course so that it may be paired with fine wines...

his cuisine is contemporary, readable, savory and well balanced, and each dish is garnished with a touch of fantasy and research in order to delight the senses...

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JEAN-LUC ROCHA - RESTAURANT CORDEILLAN-BAGES, PAUILLAC, FRANCE

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Food and wine pairing is about creating a balance. A knowledgeable palette of wine and selected produce is very important, an understanding of its terroir is also helpful. You need to have a willingness to practice and discover new sensations and products, it’s about personal taste, experimentation and perseverance.

The importance to properly pair food and wine… Wine is an integral part of fine dining and even more so at Cordeillan-Bages, where we are situated in the heart of the Pauillac, surrounded by some of the best Bordeaux wineries. Perfectly paired wines can accentuate the flavours of a dish, bringing out certain characteristics of both the food and the wine. The wrong choice can certainly break a meal by making foods taste bitter, overly sweet, or metallic.

The art of pairing… The palate is changing as people are immersed into different cultures and cuisines, guests are more appreciative of new experiences and taste sensations. Cooking techniques, the way in which a recipe is prepared, a sauce or an accompaniment can provide a totally different perspective and depth to a pairing.

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JEAN-LUC ROCHA - RESTAURANT CORDEILLAN-BAGES, PAUILLAC, FRANCE

Textures of dark chocolate Photo © P Lattes

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Dulce de Leche, tarragon chocolate

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How would you describe the philosophy behind “Lynch Bages & Cie – une famille, un vin & 52 recettes”?

It is about sharing with future generations – it is for our families and children. It is this gastronomic heritage which links us all to our values and traditions, to the art of living of gastronomy and wine.

Do the recipes require much expertise?

Sometimes it’s very simple and quick, the ingredients and products speak for themselves. Other times, they must be worked in order to be presented in such a way that the ‘good’ becomes beautiful and even better.

Jean-Luc’s favorite restaurant…

In France, it would be Arnsbourg à Baerenthal at Cathy and Jean-Georges Klein’s.

What Jean-Luc dislikes most as a chef…

The fact that we cannot spend as much time as we would like with our guests – the ideal would be to have the kitchen in the middle of the dining room to be in direct contact with guests and have a more spontaneous relationship.

Rhum Baba, Strawberry jus, vanilla Ice cream Photo © P Lattes

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ATUL KOCHHAR - NRI & LIMA, MUMBAI

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Atul Kochhar Chef Patron of the highly acclaimed Benares restaurant in London, Atul Kochhar rose to fame as one the first Indian chefs to win a coveted Michelin star. The Indian born, British-based chef, restaurateur and television personality started his career in 1993, cooking at the prestigious Oberoi hotel group in India. Working as a sous chef and supervising a team of 18, Atul was credited with significantly raising standards in the kitchen. This led to his move to renowned Hilton chef Bernard Kunig’s restaurant in 1994. Building on his fine-dining experience, later that year Atul made the move to London to open Tamarind restaurant. Here his culinary excellence was recognized and during Atul’s tenure as Head Chef, he was awarded his first Michelin star in 2001.

Paving the way for his first independent venture, Atul left Tamarind in 2002 and in April 2003 opened Benares Restaurant & Bar, named after Northern India’s spiritual city, in London’s prestigious Mayfair. With a focus on combining his heritage and love of British ingredients, Atul’s innovative modern Indian cuisine successfully redefined the perception of Indian cooking in Britain, leading to his second Michelin star in 2007, an accolade which he has retained at Benares ever since.

The appetite for Atul’s unique understanding of Indian flavours in modern British food has since reached global heights. In 2008 Atul opened his first restaurant in Ireland (Ananda), and in 2012 the chef teamed up with fellow restaurateur Jitindar Singh to launch India Essence, a neighborhood restaurant in Kent, which was shortly followed by fine-dining restaurants in Mauritius and Dubai. Atul’s international success has continued on the seas, with a unique collaboration with P&O cruises. Most recently, in November 2014, Atul opened Sindhu, a traditional Indian restaurant with a contemporary twist in Buckinghamshire.

With regular return trips to his native country, Atul ensures that his creative dishes constantly evolve and continue to surprise and delight the senses. He has had the honor to cook for Prince Charles at St. James’ Palace and was invited to meet HM The Queen. Dedicating time outside of the kitchen to philanthropic endeavors Atul has worked with The Prince’s Trust and stands as an ambassador to The British Asian Trust to support high impact charities in South Asia and the UK. WG July 2016 -

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ATUL KOCHHAR - NRI & LIMA, MUMBAI

Pind Da Hummus

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Mamak lamb chops

Grilled Calamar with Chutney seychellios

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New Indian Dining Concept “Not Really Indian (NRI)” to Mumbai Atul Kochhar now comes back to cook in India (after 22 long years!), with the forthcoming openings of two new flagship properties, the first being NRI - Not Really Indian at Makers Maxity at Bandra Kurla Complex.

Indians have been migrating to other parts of the world for at least a couple of centuries. At NRI‚ we celebrate the life and food of these far afield places now called home by the Indian diaspora.

NRI showcases how our own people and their cuisine have evolved outside the motherland. We bring these new flavours from outside India but use mainly local ingredients further evolving the food.

NRI by Atul Kochhar will serve a menu typical of the vast Indian diaspora living outside India. “With every migration there were some classic recipes that went out with people. And in their new habitat they created a recipe with local ingredients that became part of their new homes and heritage” says Atul. Roti Canai, Pepper Crab, Caribbean Goat Masala with Buss Up Shut Roti, Mombasa Zeera Chicken or Paneer, South African Bunny Chow, Sri Lankan Potli and South African Piri Piri Chicken Wings are some of the examples that are reminiscent of Indian food but have a distinct diaspora flavour.

Tandoori Jerk Spiced Chicken Salad

Signature deserts like the Masala Chai Baileys Brownie, Jaggery Bread Pudding, Tropical Entrement, NRI Signature Celebration Cake, and Orange Cheesecake with Ajwain crumble and many more are an amalgamation of Indian recipes that left the shores, with Chef Kochhar’s signature touches “NRI is going to star dishes that Indian immigrants took with them to far corners of the British Empire, adapting the recipes to locally available ingredients.

Each dish has a beautiful story and I believe it’s a good time to bring them home,” Kochhar says.

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ATUL KOCHHAR - NRI & LIMA, MUMBAI

The menu at NRI is drawn as much from his personal and professional travels across the globe as his observations on how his own family’s food changed with migration from Pakistan to various parts of India. “It’s the stories that make food fascinating...

There’s the time I tasted vegetarian chilli for the first time in a Hare Rama Hare Krishna temple in Toronto. I thought that it was very Indianesque, although it was classic Canadian chili, made to the tastes of vegetarian Indians there,” Chef Kochhar recalls.

Bunny Chow Calamari Azteca

A strong believer in the policy of using local, seasonal and sustainable produce with a low carbon footprint, Chef Kochhar will be working with a horticulturalist, who will help him grow his own produce for NRI. The mood and experience at NRI will be nothing like the luxurious dining experience at Benaras, London but yet will have signature touches and speciality dishes that earned Chef Kochhar his stars.

The design conceptualised by Andy Lampard from the UK and executed by Architect Udayan Bhatt, NRI has a touch of colonial nostalgia and deep-rooted Indianness in a warm and casual setting with Victorian lamp posts, a chic thela (food cart), and seating that references railway stations from the 1920s. An altogether different universe from Benares.

NRI’s culture is made on the streets... from Marine Drive to Mahim Causeway, Bond Street to Bermondsey Road. With vibrancy and simplicity, cultures are represented at street side.

Cuisine, Product and Design that directly understands the pace and needs of modern life. The Street Hawker represents our raw culture and intriguing nuances ‘Here’s to the explorers...To those that travel the world to discover something different.’

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Marcaibu Orange

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Chicken liver Masala on Toast

Masal Chai and Bailey Brownie

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ATUL KOCHHAR - NRI & LIMA, MUMBAI

It promises to be a riot of colour and sound with an extensive menu of tasty ‘tapas’, or small plates, and exotic cocktails. Lima will be one of the hottest lounge bars to open in recent times.

Fish Ceviche

LIMA

South American cuisine reflects local culinary practices and ingredients while including influences brought in by immigrants from Europe, Asia (China & Japan) and West Africa.

At Lima, Atul presents traditional South American staples that are locally sourced such as Aji peppers, blackbeans, red onions, yucca, quinoa, edamame as well as seafood. Lima showcases native culinary heritage and culture with Churarasco grills, Tiraditos and Ceviches. South American cuisine is an exemplary taste of multi-cultural fusion making it one of the world’s most exciting and vibrant cuisines.

SOUTH AMERICAN LOUNGE BAR

The menu at Lima aptly reflects the diversity of customs and ingredients that have largely influenced Brazil, Peru and Mexico. Small plates of dishes like Ceviche de Corvina - Indian seabass, avocado and red onion; Ceviche de Trucha - a grilled local trout with aji rocoto(peppers); Chimmichangas; After bringing the diaspora cuisine back to India with Empanadas and Tiraditos, in different flavours and NRI (Not Really Indian) at Bandra Kurla Complex, fillings, make a visit to Lima a journey of discovery.

Chef Atul Kochhar now brings the flavours of South The menu also embraces a wide range of healthy America to life with Lima; Mumbai’s first South salads, popularly known as Ensaladas in South American lounge bar. Next doorto NRI, this is Chef America.

Kochhar’s second opening in India over the span of two months (he returns to cook in India after 22 years!)

With two unique venues under one roof, Chef Atul Kochhar presents two distinctly different culinary experiences with an ambience to match!

Lima will be the city’s first lounge bar specialising in ceviches from Peru, grills from Brazil and street cuisine from Mexico. Lima is a mixture of fresh home-grown ingredients and the latest cooking techniques.

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Multicooloured Quinoa & Mint Salad

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Limo Chili Prawns

Grilled Palm of Hearts with Amaranth

LIMA

Mushroom Ceviche

Churassco Smoked Grilled Yucca

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ATUL KOCHHAR - NRI & LIMA, MUMBAI

Churasco chimichuri Chicken Liver

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Acapulco Sunshine

Five Bean Tiradito

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Croquettas

“I am excited about Lima. South American cuisine is one of my favourites but is so underexposed in India. Mexican, Brazilian and Peruvian food – cuisines that are extremely fashionable and almost ubiquitous in London will be a first for Mumbai.

Each South American country has its own unique cuisine shaped by its history with influences from Europe and other countries,local geography and culture. The result is an exciting variety of flavours, colours and culinary traditions, that come together at Lima“ adds Chef Kochhar.

With Lima, Chef Atul Kochhar once again draws on his world travels to present a cuisine richly influenced by an immigrant population. A strong believer in the policy of using local, seasonal and sustainable produce with a low carbon footprint, Chef Kochhar will be working with a local farm that will help him grow produce for Lima.

Latin American people, with their vibrant colours and tastes, have fans across the globe. Say “Salud” with a Pisco Sour from Peru, Caipirinha from Brazil and Michelada from Mexico. The bartenders at Lima will rustle up many more fiery Latino cocktails with the freshest fruits and spices. Drinks at Lima reflect a passion to celebrate life as the Latinos surely know how to enjoy their afterhours and pre gaming sessions!

LIMA

Compiled by a DJ from BBC radio, Lima will feature a specially curated mix of music from beachside Reggaetón to the street styles of samba, tango and salsa.

The well-known London designer, Andy Lampard and his team at the design studio Zopsigog have designed Lima.

Andy and his team were inspired by the bars of Peru, where a new tribal style and ethnic music scene is taking over, it is gripping and transforming the historic past with an ethos of new age vibrancy.

Lima is designed as a veranda with a colonial and colourful lounge feel. Faded grandeur is the mood, with an essence of excitement as something new reveals itself.

Milk infused Corn on the Cob

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SASCHA LENZ - GRAND HYATT GOA

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Sascha Lenz Grand Hyatt Goa has taken aboard Sascha Lenz as the Executive Assistant Manager to spearhead the food and beverage operations across the resort.

With over 18 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Sascha has been associated with hotels such as the Sheraton and the Mandarin Oriental, prior to joining Hyatt, in 2007. Originally from Germany, Sascha started his career in 1999, his impressive food and beverage knowledge; as well as managerial skills took him to the US, Hong Kong, Russia and then to UK. Sascha’s career with Hyatt started at Grand Hyatt Berlin as the Assistant Director of Food and Beverage, subsequently Sascha was assigned to the Hyatt Regency Ekaterinburg as the Director Food and Beverage and later transferred to Hyatt’s first Andaz hotel at Liverpool Street, London.

As the new Executive Assistant Manager, Food and Beverage at Grand Hyatt Goa, Sascha will be responsible for planning, organising, and controlling the work of the food and beverage division, ensuring smooth, efficient and up-to-standards running of the hotel’s facilities and food and beverage outlets, as well as maintaining high professional standards of quality and service.

Sascha adds “Having worked in the hospitality industry for 18 years and almost 10 years for Hyatt now, I feel very humbled to be given the opportunity to be a part of this amazing resort in Goa.” Sascha continues “My family and I look forward to a wonderful time in this paradise. In this role, my motivation will be to effectively blend my passion for food and beverage, my experience and our leadership profile to take the F&B experience of Grand Hyatt Goa to global heights”.

With his expertise and fresh insights, Sascha will ensure Grand Hyatt Goa continues to provide guests with the best culinary experiences and service; and drive F&B innovation and creativity.

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PIT STOP BAR & LOUNGE - MONTE-CARLO

PIT STOP bar & lounge

Photo © Francesco Cancarini

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PIT STOP BAR & LOUNGE - MONTE-CARLO

This season, Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer is opening a brand new place: the PIT STOP bar & lounge at the Sporting Monte-Carlo. For this first edition, it is the Italian brand FERRARI which decided to settle in. Sharp Italian cuisine by Rocco Seminara, fresh and energetics cocktails… Before or after your dinner at La Trattoria Sporting MonteCarlo, choose PIT STOP bar & lounge for a new experience.

Overlooking the beautiful gardens of the Jimmy’z with a breathtaking view of the Mediterranean Sea, the PIT STOP bar & lounge is imbued with the essence and codes of the prancing horse brand for a unique, vibrant and relaxed atmosphere. With its minimalist and modern decor, the red, black and white tableware in contemporary shapes and materials, its forefront Italian cuisine, this ephemeral space is the privileged place for all evening desires … from l’Aperitivo alla Cena.

As a local of Monaco, Chef Rocco Seminara finds his inspiration in the most beautiful of regional produces and unique ingredients such as the “pretzel” bean, the black chickpea or the venere rice.

Sharp tastes and balanced condiments are the Chef’s signature.

Chef Rocco Seminara

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His creations play with contrasts, as seen with the surprising Mozza-Bella with its hidden stuffed tomato, topped with a olive, tomatoes, basil and marjoram condiment; the marinated anchovies and black peppers, finish line, represent a chequered flag; the Pit Hot is a delicious Vienna bread served with a smoked veal sausage embellished with capers, radishes and confit red onion condiment; as for the roasted octopus, it is served wheelshaped with a tomatolive condiment printed on a crispy potato.

Those with a sweet tooth can satisfy their carving with the fruits Cannoli that is reinvented every day.

In live cooking, the Ice Roll brings a fun and fresh touch to desserts, with its mix of avocado, mango, lime, Mara des Bois strawberry, Marscarpone, Amaretto.

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Mozza Bella

Ice Roll

Mozza Bella ouverte

Ice Roll

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PIT STOP BAR & LOUNGE - MONTE-CARLO

Farfalle aux pois chiche noir, calamaretti, peperoncini

Espadon à la plancha, courgettes d’Albenga

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Poulpe rôti, pomme de terre crispy, tomatolive

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Near the PIT STOP, La Trattoria Sporting MonteCarlo is still sharing all the secrets of the Italian cuisine with Tuscan influences.

You will find the charcuterie board of the Salumeria, the antipasti buffet with the Seabass carpaccio, pine nuts, olives and chives; Octopus, cuttlefish and potato salad; Marinated anchovies and fennel; Confit and grilled vegetables or Aubergine Caviar… The restaurant also boasts the traditional pizzette and a selection of fresh and dried pasta.

The chef Patrick Laine offers light and straight dishes such as the Roasted seabass, sun-dried and grilled vegetables, the John Dory, Riviera condiment or Our piccata with lemon, capers and spinach leaves.

Gluten free Pizzetta Margherita and Penne with clams, with carbonara sauce or arrabiata-style are also on offer. For the desserts, the classics are reinvented, such as the Panna cotta (caramel, chocolate, red fruits), the Tiramisù or the Sicilian Cassata.

From Liguria to Sicily, the wines are mainly from Italian grapes and are an invitation to discover different types of terroir.

Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer delivers a unique experience combining luxury, well-being and gastronomy and offers its customers a worldunique resort: 4 casinos, including the mythical Casino de Monte-Carlo, 4 hotels (Hôtel de Paris, Hôtel Hermitage, Monte-Carlo Beach, MonteCarlo Bay Hotel & Resort), and 33 restaurants, 4 of them gathering a total of 6 stars in prestigious Michelin Guide. Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer is a hub of night-life, with an amazing choice of bars and concert rooms. The Group, which is a talent scout and committed supporter of artistic creation, programs musical events with daring artistic choices at the Sporting Summer Festival, at the Monte-Carlo Jazz Festival, at La Rascasse or at the Buddha Bar. Its Jimmy’z disco has been one of the most famous in Europe for over 40 years.

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CELINI - GRAND HYATT MUMBAI

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Grilled Sea Bass

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CELINI home style Italian dining served pan to plate...

Celini Mumbai, the truly Italian restaurant in Mumbai, with home-style cooking embraces traditional Italian recipes from different regions of Italy like Rome, Sardinia and Tuscany and presents them with a modern approach. Step into a world of new and old world wines paired with the finest food which is sure to create an Italy-like experience in Bombay.

Exuding an understated elegance, the interiors of Celini Mumbai are contemporary and simple. The Mumbai restaurant showcases a wood-fired pizza oven, rotisserie and charcoal grill – all built into its show kitchen designed by Molteni of France, where the sights and smells of Chef Alessandro Persico’s Italian cooking invades all the senses.

The restaurant has an exhaustive list of delectable wine and multiple seating options like table booths and lounge.

As chef de cuisine, Alessandro Persico brings 17 years of culinary expertise to Celini. Born in the northern Italian city and seaport of Genova, Chef Alessandro has spent some time understanding guests’ and profiles before introducing his signature recipes and styles to the Celini kitchen.

Spaghetti

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CELINI - GRAND HYATT MUMBAI

His signature recipes, unique and mystery style of cooking and skillful presentation add the Italian charm to dishes rolled out form the Celini kitchen.

Dig into the crisp and well-done thin-crust pizzas prepared from our wood fired oven; enjoy the celian sea bass, spagtetti alio olio, lobster linguini and home-made pastas, just some of the many dishes you cannot afford to miss out on. Indulge in the sinful tiramisu and caprese cups which are sure to become your favourites just as ours.

Prawns

Grand Hyatt Mumbai – one of the best 5 star luxury hotels in Mumbai is seamlessly connected to both - the International as well as the Domestic airports in Mumbai. It is located just 10 minutes from the Domestic Airport and another 15 minutes from the Mumbai International Airport (BOM) T2 terminal, whilst providing convenient access within 30 minutes to South Mumbai via the Bandra-Worli Sea Link as well.

Our 5 star luxury hotel in Mumbai is situated 5 minutes away from the business hub of the city Bandra Kurla complex (BKC). The various popular shopping districts, malls and entertainment hubs in Mumbai such as Bandra, Lower Parel and Worli are conveniently located from our luxury hotel.

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Avocado mango salad with roasted garlic chicken

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Meringata

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SEVILLA - THE CLARIDGES, DELHI

Sevilla The Claridges

plates fresh tastes from the Mediterranean with an all new menu experience...

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Taking cue from a pertinent need to explore new tastes, The Claridges is pleased to present an all-new new menu experience at Sevilla. Recognized for its new-style Spanish cuisine, the new menu at Sevilla is a true manifestation of zestful Mediterranean culture, while capturing the odyssey that flourishes through the streets of Europe.

The exquisite new menu is the centrepiece of a long-standing commitment to serving and exciting patrons at The Claridges. With this new menu, lovers of fresh ingredients and seafood are in for a gastronomic treat. Apart from select old favourites, dishes revolve around fish fresh from the sea, virgin olive oil and crisp dry white wines, together with fresh vegetables and juicy vine-ripened tomatoes for a multi-sensory experience across each course.

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SEVILLA - THE CLARIDGES, DELHI

On the Grill Degustation of Lamb

Indulge yourself in a culinary experience unlike any other with our unique sensory experience with dining under intricately structured canopies for divine al fresco dining.Experience the Mediterranean like never before at Sevilla.

Sevilla’s styling is inspired by the azure skies and landscape of the Mediterranean. A truly romantic place, the indoors and outdoors merge to provide you a free flowing, casual dining experience. The restaurant continues to win unprecedented praise, awards and rave reviews for its innovative gastronomy from the Mediterranean.

Named after Seville, the famous art and cultural capital of southern Spain, Sevilla at The Claridges, New Delhi is the city’s most recognised Mediterranean restaurant known for its new-style Spanish cuisine. The styling at Sevilla is inspired by the azure skies and landscape of the Mediterranean

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Chocolate Mousse Patata Bravas

that creates a visual delight with the indoors and outdoors merging to provide a free flowing, casual dining experience reflecting the Spanish Riviera. The restaurant continues to win unprecedented praise and rave reviews for its innovative gastronomy from southern coastal Europe and Casablanca.

Located in Lutyens Delhi, The Claridges’ flagship hotel in New Delhi combines an old world charm with the ethos of modern luxury and Indian hospitality.

The iconic hotel is in the centre of the capital’s bustling commercial and cultural district and holds a special place in the city’s post-independence social history. Built in 1952, the hotel is also a proud member of “World Hotels Deluxe Collection”. Recently refurbished, the hotel offers 128 elegant guest rooms and suites, which are among the largest residential rooms offered in the city. The décor and interiors are reminiscent of the hotel’s rich history, while being equipped with all modern amenities and luxury.

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METROPOLITAN R E P O R T

a connoisseur’s guide to the good life

www.metropolitanreport.com

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