What makes chefs drop everything and travel across continents, sometimes with very little sleep in between, to push boundaries and challenge themselves outside the comfort of their kitchens and teams? Why do they leave their usual environment, their homes, their families and risk their reputation to participate in an event where you can always expect the unexpected? The answer is GELINAZ! It is a the collective of chefs that is co-curated by Andrea Petrini and Alexandra Swenden and which likes to promote itself as being beyond food and evil. They organise events ranging from impromptu dinners to chefs swapping restaurants for one day, retreats and also the most recent (before last Sunday’s event) being a chef shuffle at the same time as a gathering of 20 chefs called Brussels Headquarters. This was held at Christophe Hardiquest’s Bon Bon where they cooked 4 consecutive services from 12 noon to 3am. This time, they charted new territories with GELINAZ! DOES UPPER … [Read more...]
Building bridges: GELINAZ! gang jump into river to create floating bridge
The GELINAZ! gang yesterday afternoon braved the cold waters (for some at least) of the river in front of the Mühltalhof in Neufelden, Upper Austria to symbolically build a bridge across the river which shortens the distance between the restaurant of father and son duo Helmut and Philip Rachinger and the art gallery of Joachim Eckl called The Heim.Art* Station just across the river. Joachim Eckl said that the building of the bridge was not only just functional, i.e. to enable the chefs and guests to cross from one spot to the other but also symbolic as the chefs were here from all corners of the world to exchange ideas, experiences and work together in a unique setting. The Austrian artist, who likes to call himself a 'social engineer' is currently working on realising "Draw the Danube - Build a Bridge' - a project based on the collaboration of 2000 people along the whole stream of the Danube. Preparations were going ahead in full swing yesterday. The teams have started to exchange … [Read more...]
3 matrix dishes presented by Helmut and Philip Rachinger for GELINAZ! event
The father and son duo Helmut and Philip Rachinger yesterday evening presented the three original upper Austrian Matrix recpies for the GELINAZ! DOES UPPER AUSTRIA event that takes place on Sunday. From a Goulasch and bread of potatoes to wild caught freshwater fish and foraged ingredients from the forest and summer venison, the 22 chefs that will join the Rachingers have already started work and brainstorming to see what and how they will prepare their deconstructed and reconstructed dishes. René Redzepi and Magnus Nilsson (freshly shaved for the occasion after having stopped shaving since June) arrived in the afternoon. Meanwhile, Mauro Colagreco who missed the early morning flight to Austria arrived late in the evening with the slow train to the idyllic Mühltalhof in Neufelden. The last remaining chef to arrive will be Lima based Virgilio Martinez who is set to arrive this morning to join the rest of the group. David Chang with his team composed of Lukaz Mraz, May Chow … [Read more...]
GELINAZ! event in Austria starts with lunch at Konstantin Filippou
The GELINAZ! DOES UPPER AUSTRIA event started with a lunch hosted by the chef of Michelin starred Vienna restaurant Konstantin Filippou at his second restaurant O'Boufe. Among the chefs that were present for this first lunch were Momofuku Ko in New York, Ana Roš of Hiša Franko, Kobarid in Slovenia and voted the World's 50 Best Female chef for 2017, SLOVENIA – W50BR 2017 Best Female Chef, May Chow of Little Bao, Hong Kong and the ASIA50BR 2017 Best Female Chef, Antonia Klugmann, L’Argine di Vinco, Cividale, Italy, Colombe Saint-Pierre, Chez Saint-Pierre, Le Bic, Canada and Bo Songvisava of Bo.lan, Bangkok, Thailand. The chefs are in Austria for a four day Austrian discovery which started on August 16th and ends with a final show on Sunday August 20th at the restaurant of father and son duo Helmut and Philip Rachinger, the Mühltalhof. In total 24 chefs will be taking part in the event. These hail from all corners of the world and will work in teams of three or four around 3 … [Read more...]
Q&A with Enrico Crippa: Innovation is simpler than tradition in cooking
In the second part of our interview with Enrico Crippa, we fire some quick questions and get spontaneous responses from one of Italy's most talented chefs. Read on to discover what the chef of one of the most acclaimed restaurants in Italy, Piazza Duomo has to say about innovation, tradition, upcoming Italian chefs and his best meal ever among others. What is the best dish you have ever created? The salad. When someone tastes it, they become really enthusiastic. The most curious thing is that this is a dish created by a chef but there is no cooking involved. What do you like to eat at home? Pasta or rice because can be done very quickly, gives me energy, I can eat it before I do sport. Do you cook at home? Yes from time to time. I cook as much as I go out to eat. What is something that is in a professional kitchen and which should be in a domestic home? I would say it is a chiller. It is a piece of equipment that brings down the temperature very quickly and … [Read more...]
Preparations in full swing as GELINAZ! DOES UPPER AUSTRIA is just one week away
When the tickets for GELINAZ! DOES UPPER AUSTRIA went out on sale on Thursday 13 July they did not take long to sell out. Within 7 minutes, all the 140 tickets had been sold in what promises to be the most ambitious project undertaken by this collective of chefs. GELINAZ! co-curator Alexandra Swenden, who curates the events together with Andrea Petrini told Food and Wine Gazette that this was a completely new concept which not only involved chefs but also artists. "It was very exciting to create the concept but it is much more complex to other GELINAZ! events that have been organised before," she said. Meanwhile, a competition is being organised called a Paparazzi Flashmob on Wednesday August 16th from 6.30pm to 7.40pm at Steirereck im Stadtpark. The winner will win one ticket for the GELINAZ! performance on August 20 at Mühltalhof. Those taking part need to grab their camera or cellphone and head to Steirereck at the time when the chefs are arriving and take as many pictures … [Read more...]
VILD MAD Festival in Copenhagen encourages people to take up foraging
In August, Danish chef René Redzepi has become been accustomed to organise the MAD Symposium in Copenhagen though sometimes it is organised on alternate years. This year, the team behind the world famous restaurant noma is organising VILD MAD, a wild food programme with a public festival in Copenhagen on Sunday 27 August. And for people who will not be in the Danish capital on that day, the team behind noma is encouraging people to find a local expert anywhere in the world and try out foraging for the first time. The VILD MAD team say that if you are in Copenhagen that weekend they would love to see you there because entry to is free and the event is aimed for the general public. It will be a day of foraging, sampling wild food and enjoying the outdoors in the company of rangers and chefs in Naturpark Amager (Amager Fælled). Visitors to the festival will be able to wander the trails, snack on and sip wild flavors, or bring their own picnic to enjoy with friends and family. … [Read more...]
Enrico Crippa: “I am no longer afraid of the moments when I am not creative”
It is not unusual for chefs today to be inspired by art. At the highest levels, food can also be considered as the highest expression of art and Enrico Crippa, the Italian chef of Alba based restaurant Piazza Duomo takes it to the next level. While his primary focus has always been the quality of the produce he uses, the visual aspect is also something he attaches a lot of importance to. He even goes as far as to say that food could be even more artistic than a work of art. “I can make a dish which you can see, turn, touch but once you taste it and eat it, it is gone for ever and only a memory remains. The experience ends once you have eaten it. It is actually more complete than any other form of art. When you look at a sculpture or a painting it is physically there so you can see it, return back to it after a day or two and experience it again maybe seeing something different. But even a simple plate of spaghetti may look the same but when you eat it, it will be different. So a … [Read more...]
Vilhjalmur Sigurdarson: The Icelandic brutalist chef in Belgium
When Vilhjalmur Sigurdarson left Iceland on a one way ticket to Belgium little did he imagine that he would be settling in the small city or village of Ypres, known more for the battle field that was World War 1 than for a dining destination. But as a young chef, you cannot say he was not determined. After an experience at Texture in London, he had returned to his home country, Iceland, thinking he would settle there but after three weeks he realised that he needed to leave the island. “In London, I came to experience exceptional produce. It was everywhere and the quality was like nothing I had seen before,” the young Icelandic chef told Food and Wine Gazette. “I realised that this was not possible in Iceland. I wanted to leave as soon as possible.” He had a list of restaurants in mind that he wanted to work in to gain experience, What he was looking for was not the what or the how the restaurant worked but rather the why. That has remained his philosophy till this day. He … [Read more...]
Chambre Séparée: where cooking is like theatre and eating is like attending a performance by Kobe Desramaults
When Kobe Desramaults said he wanted to reinvent the dining experience he was clearly being very serious about it. The chef of the renowned restaurant in De Wulf, in Dranouter, Belgium, which closed in December, has been serving guests in his new restaurant Chambre Séparée in the Belgian city of Gent since opening the new restaurant in June. In a completely different format, the talented Belgian chef is doing what he loves best, cooking with fire in front of guests in what can easily be described as a unique experience. The restaurant only has 16 covers and the diners all sit around the kitchen. Here the cooking takes centre stage and the experience is focused on Kobe and his team working in harmony to serve a limited number of guests while cooking with different forms of fire. There is no hiding for Kobe and his team. In a completely open environment you will know what is going on in the kitchen, whether there is a problem or not. Most importantly you will know whether the key … [Read more...]