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MASTERCHEFS SERIES 4 [8x26min
episodes]
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KKS4 ep1 Mauro Colagreco "Mirazur" [Monaco] & Angela
Hartnett "Murano" [London]
Do
Mauro
Colagreco "Mirazur" [Monaco]
Only
after the tragic death of Bernard Loiseau in February
2003 did Mauro decide to move to Paris to work
at Arpege, the legendary restaurant run by Alain
Passard. He
would stay there a year and a half working with
this true craftsman of the kitchen, which would
allow him the chance to develop his own sense
of creativity, his attention to detail and his
imagination. In 2004 he carried on his journey,
curious to learn about cooking in a luxury hotel,
and had the opportunity to work in Alain Ducasse’s
restaurant in the Plaza Athenée. This experience taught him the idea of perfection,
refinement and rigour. At the end of his stay
in Paris he spent a year at the Grand Véfour.
Working with Guy Martin allowed him to develop
his own personal style as chef. Early 2009 The
Mirazur is chosen as the 35th best restaurant
in the world according to the San Pellegrino classification.
Angela
Hartnett "Murano" [London]
In
recent years, Angela Hartnett has emerged as one
of Britain's most successful, best-loved and busiest
chefs. In 2002 with Gordon Ramsay she opened Menu
Restaurant at the Connaught hotel; the first woman
ever to run the kitchen there. Her efforts were
formally recognized in 2004 with the award of
her first Michelin Star. In January 2007 Angela
was awarded an MBE for her service to the hospitality
industry. After 5 successful years at the Connaught
and with the hotel undergoing a massive refurbishment,
Angela and Gordon Ramsay opened Murano in Mayfair
in August 2008. Murano serves modern cuisine with
an Italian accent, reflecting Angela's family
roots. Not long after opening, the sublime Murano
was awarded its first Michelin star in Jan 2009
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KKS4 ep2 Brett Graham "The Ledbury" [London] &
Christophe Cussac "Joel Robuchon" [Monte
Carlo]
Brett Graham The Ledbury** [London]
Chef
"Rising Star" Brett Graham is one of
the most respected chefs in London. The only Australian
currently to hold three Michelin stars is No.14
on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards list.
Graham was brought up just outside Newcastle,
NSW, and during his three-year stint at Banc in
Sydney he won the Josephine Pignolet Young Chef
of the Year Award, which allowed him to travel
to London, where he was taken on at The Square
in Mayfair, a two-starred fine-diner. In 2002
Graham won his next Young Chef of the Year Award,
while working at The Square. “In the 20-odd years
of running The Square there are maybe half a dozen
chefs who have really stood out,” says The Square’s
chef and co-owner, Phil Howard. “Brett was the
cream of this elite crop – hugely inquisitive,
immensely energetic, extraordinarily gifted, but
most importantly, just a great cook.”
Christophe
Cussac "Joel Robuchon"*** [Monaco]
Joël
Robuchon, offers a Mediterranean-accented, sophisticated
and accessible cuisine, executed by Head Chef
Christophe Cussac, in which the emphasis is on
the produce. The open Teppanyaki-style kitchen
creates a special relationship between the Chef
and the guests.
Executive Chef Christophe Cussac had worked
for several years with Joël Robuchon before he
became the Executive Chef of Hotel Metropole Monte-Carlo
with the two Michelin starred restaurant Joël
Robuchon Monte-Carlo and the one Michelin starred
Yoshi. Christophe Cussac is a true expert in the
Mediterranean and Provence cuisine and spent six
years as the Executive Chef for the two Michelin
starred La Réserve de Beaulieu before he returned
to work with Joël Robuchon.
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KKS4 ep3 Christian Le Squer "Le Doyen" [Paris] &
Matthias Diether "First Floor"[Berlin]
Christian
Le Squer "Le Doyen" [Paris]
Where
Barras, Robespierre and even Bonaparte used to
have dinner. During the Belle Epoque, one had
to be seen there. Today, Ledoyen is a 3 Michelin
Star French gastronomic temple. Although
this place is historically rich, it was not until
the arrival of a genius Breton chef – Christian
Le Squer – that Ledoyen enjoys its status as one
of France’s temple of haute cuisines; to be more
precise, 2002 was the year when Chef Le Squer
was awarded Michelin’s highest accolade putting
him equal to the other Parisian legends such as
Alain Passard, Bernard Pacaud etc.
Matthias
Diether "First Floor"[Berlin]
A new sense of ease wafts through the Gourmet restaurant first
floor in the Palace Hotel Berlin, located in Budapest
Street near the Zoological Gardens. Star chef,
Matthias Diether, understands the partialities
of his upper class guests, and knows how best
he can welcome them. His passion for French cuisine
shows itself with his modern and individual interpretations.
On the distinguished set menu, you will find,
for example, John Dory (fish) encrusted in cheese
and salsa, braised meat from a wooly pig ‘Berliner
Art’, or Valrhona chocolate with cherries and
herb ice creams. The interior of the ‘first floor’
in the Palace Hotel Berlin seduces you with elegance
and comfort. The fluffy white linen tables make
the perfect setting for the culinary art produced
by Matthias Diether. This is why, whether you
opt for lunch or dinner at this Michelin Star
restaurant, it is not just a taste experience,
but a whole lot more.
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KKS4 ep4 Stéphane Raimbault "L'Oasis"**[Cannes] &
Michael Hoffmann "Margeaux" [Berlin]
Stéphane
Raimbault L'Oasis**
From
the photos of Robert Doisneau to the novels of
Francis Scott Fitzgerald, La Napoule has been
able to preserve a certain art de vivre based
on its light hearted and carefree attitude, as
attested by L’Oasis which, 50 years after its
creation by the great chef Louis Outhier, remains
one of the best restaurants on the Côte d’Azur.
L’Oasis does indeed possess several special assets.
Firstly there is its verdant patio in the middle
of which there is a cascading waterfall that truly
is an oasis during heat waves. It is also frequented
for its unique trio of chefs comprising the Raimbault
brothers: Stéphane, Antoine and François. In a
team it is always necessary to have a leader and
this role falls to Stéphane who is both the adventurer
(he lived 9 years in Japan) and the perfectionist
of the family (he picked up his second star at
the tender age of 24. The Raimbault brothers'
cooking is a hymn to the Mediterranean, with its
scents, its tastes and its colours. The fish are
caught locally and are bought the very same morning
at the marché de Forville in Cannes.
Michael
Hoffmann Restaurant Margaux* [Berlin]
At
Margaux, his own restaurant right in the centre
of Berlin , Michael Hoffmann makes vegetables
the stars of his dishes and uses his expert knowledge
of ingredients to create exceptional cuisine.
Hoffmann works with extreme precision and in a
reductive style to create exact flavours. For
his aubergine with coriander and Jerusalem artichoke,
the aubergine is candied for several weeks then
caramelised in olive oil, which produces a kind
of dried fruit that unleashes totally new flavours
in combination with the smoked Jerusalem artichoke
purée, crispy salad stalks and a coriander emulsion.
The seasonal vegetable platter, served with an
intense vegetable bouillon, has become his signature
dish. Cooking all the vegetables individually
brings out each of their characters in a wonderful
way, allowing their separate flavours to shine
through and to combine together to capture the
essence of the season.
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KKS4 ep5 Kolja Kleeberg "VAU"** [Berlin] & Jean-Denis
Rieubland "Chantecler NEGRESCO"** [Nice]
Kolja
Kleeberg "VAU"** [Berlin]
Situated
in the center of Berlin, not far from the beautiful
Gendarmenmarkt, Head Chef Kolja Kleeberg was the
protégé of famous Josef Viehhauser before he started
his very popular VAU. Kolja
Kleeberg strives to use as much local ingredients
from Berlin or at least Germany as possible and
succeeds quite well with that. The menu often
changes, but dishes like aspic of suckling pig
with sauerkraut; lobster with mango and black
olives; and ox cheek braised in balsamico with
thyme polenta and sautéed radicchio are typical
dishes from the mind of Kolja Kleeberg.
Jean-Denis
Rieubland "Chantecler-NEGRESCO"** [Nice]
It’s a fine birthday gift for the Negresco. Just as this quintessential
palace of the Côte d’Azur is preparing to celebrate
its one hundredth anniversary, the Michelin Guide
has granted a second badge of honor to its restaurant,
the Chantecler. While the Negresco had a makeover
in 2010, the dining room and its attendant salon
have kept their Regency style décor and their
beautiful 18th century wood paneling. But a peaceful
revolution has been simmering in the kitchen for
the past five years, with Jean-Denis Rieubland,
a young chef with an expressive talent, at the
helm. Named “Meilleur ouvrier de France” in 2007,
this native of Agen gained his early experience
here in Nice, behind the pianos of the Eden Roc
in particular. The pleasure of his return is combined
with the challenge of achieving flawless quality
in his art.
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KKS4 ep6 Hans Haas "Tantris"** [Munich] & Raymond
Capaldi "Hare & Grace" [Melbourne]
Hans
Haas "Tantris"** [Munich]
German
Landmark restaurant "Tantris" was founded
1971 and its original interior design, made by
Swiss architect Justus Dahinden and slightly updated
2002 by Stefan Braunfels, still feels exotic and
strange just as the original intention was. Over
the years chefs, including Eckart Witzigmann and
Heinz Winkler, have worked at the restaurant and
since 1991 the Head Chef is Austrian Hans Haas.
Tantris not only have the top chef Hans Haas,
they also have famous Head Sommelier Paula Bosch
who also joined 1991 and who has access to an
unsurpassable cellar of around 60,000 wine bottles.
Munich is not close to any sea, but still Hans
Haas manages to serve fish and shellfish of absolute
world class. The menu is changed daily, but you
can expect to have some impeccable tuna or trout
during your tasting menu that will send your taste
buds to heaven. Of course you can have meat as
well, such as a classic roast duck on mustard-seed
sauce or dove with marinated cabbage.
Raymond
Capaldi "Hare & Grace" [Melbourne]
Hare
& Grace was voted the Best Restaurant in Melbourne
in the Peoples Choice Category of The Australian
Magazine’s Hot 50 Restaurants in Australia, 2012.
Ray has gained experience in the some of
the finest hotels and restaurants in the world.
They include Gleneagles in Scotland, the Dorchester
in London, the British Embassy in Moscow, the
Park Lane Hong Kong and Hotel Sofitel Melbourne
to name a few.
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KKS4 ep7 Claude Bosi "Hibiscus" [London] & Sauli
Kemppainen "Die Quadragie" *[Berlin]
Doc
Claude
Bosi "Hibiscus" [London]
The
Lyon-born chef Claude Bosi has cooked in some
of the best French kitchens in the world, including
those of Alain Ducasse and Alain Passard, but
he's been making a mark on his own in England
for over a decade. At his London restaurant Hibiscus,
which first opened in Ludlow twelve years ago,
Bosi continues to make French food, but in a way
that reflects his city and his travels. He's earned
two Michelin stars there and a reputation as one
of the best chefs in Europe.
Sauli
Kemppainen "Die Quadragie" *[Berlin]
The
culinary mastermind at Quadriga at Hotel Brandenburger
Hof is Michelin-starred chef Sauli Kemppainen,
who remains true to his Finnish origins despite
a life of travel. Kemppainen is one of the main
exponents of new Nordic cuisine. The
interior of Die Quadriga is just as appealing
as the food itself: A Biedermeier secretary, Frank
Lloyd Wright's cherrywood chairs, designed in
1904, which correspond perfectly with the cherrywood
panels on the walls, which are decorated mainly
by works of artist of the Berliner Sezession provided
by Seidel & Sohn, an art dealer established
1905; the artworks are for sale. The tableware
is KPM porcelain, the silver from Robbe &
Berking, the flowers throughout the hotel by an
Ikebana master. Incidentally, Die Quadriga is
named after the four horses who pull the goddess
of victory, a sculpture by Schadow from 1794 on
top of the Brandenburg Gate.
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KKS4 ep8 Dallmyer [Munich] Petrus [London]
Diethard Urbansky
"Dallmayr"**[Munich]
On the first floor of this Munich landmark
delicatessen, you can dine in the finest possible
style thanks to Michelin-starred chef Diethard
Urbansky. A team of eight chefs led by Diethard
Urbansky prepare dishes with unequalled attention
and precision to treat up to 40 guests at a time.
Furthermore, the delicatessen on the ground floor
guarantees ingredients of the very best quality,
delivered as fresh as can be.
Gordon Ramsay's PETRUS - Chef Sean Burbidge
Sean Burbidge began his career in 1993 as
Apprentice Chef at the Sutton Arms in Stokesley
whilst studying for his NVQ. Having completed
his training, Sean went on to gain experience
in a number of hotel kitchens before joining Restaurant
Gordon Ramsay in August 2003 as Chef de Partie
under Head Chef, Simone Zanoni. Sean progressed
to the position of Sous Chef at the restaurant
and in March 2008 left London to launch Gordon
Ramsay au Trianon in Versailles. Once again under
the direction of Simone Zanoni, Sean spent two
years in Versailles and assisted the restaurant
in gaining two Michelin stars in its first year
of opening.
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MASTERCHEFS SERIES 3 [10x26min
episodes]
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KKS3 ep1 DUCASSE [London] RICO's [ZURICH]
Chef
Jocelyn Herland ALAIN
DUCASSE at the DORCHESTER [London]
3 Michelin Stars
Born
in Auvergne, France, Jocelyn Herland, has worked
with Alain Ducasse in Paris for several years.
From 1997-2000, he was Chef de Partie at Restaurant
Alain Ducasse at 59 Avenue Poincarré (3-Michelin
stars). He then moved as Chef de partie to the
Restaurant Opéra (1-Michelin star) at the Hotel
Inter-Continental in Paris, and as Sous Chef to
the Royal Monceau Hotel. In December 2003, when
Alain Ducasse introduced new Head Chef Christophe
Moret to Alain Ducasse at the Plaza Athénée in
Paris, Jocelyn joined him as Sous Chef, progressing
to his most recent post as Chef Adjoint (deputy).
Jocelyn interprets Alain Ducasse’s cuisine
in London in a contemporary and refined way. In
keeping with Alain Ducasse’s philosophy,
the ingredients are the key elements. Jocelyn
Herland only uses the freshest and most seasonal
products, strictly sourced for their quality and
provenance.
Chef
Horst Petermann RICO's
KUNSTSTUBEN [Zurich]
2 Michelin Stars
Petermann
is a master of innovative-classic cuisine with Mediterranean
infl uences. He has never been content with just
emulating the French maitres, although he has long
been their equivalent – he and Philippe Rochat are
the only Swiss chefs to have been awarded the title
of “Membre de la Haute Cuisine de France”, which
is usually reserved for French chefs. Petermann’s
creations have always reflected his own style and
an admirable level of continuity – the ultimate
prerequisite for substance and a name that becomes
programmatic, like that of “Kunststuben”, the name
of the restaurant that Petermann and his wife Iris
opened on the shores of Lake Zürich almost 25 years
ago and that has become one of the most exclusive
addresses in Europe.
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KKS3 ep2 Rene Redzepi, NOMA, Pichmaier SACHER [Vienna]
Chef
Rene Redzepi NOMA
[Copenhagen]
3
Michelin Stars
Noma
is best known for its fanatical approach to foraging
but there is much more to this ground-breaking
restaurant than the mere picking of Mother Nature's
pocket. It's the entire package, from its ingredient
ingenuity to flawless execution, that makes it
a beacon of excellence and which leads to an emotive,
intense, liberating way of eating, unlike any
other. Many have copied chef Rene Redzepi's approach,
most have failed. For the best in class, Noma
really is the number one place to go.
Chef
Werner Pichmaier ANNA
SACHER Restaurant [Vienna]
2
Michelin Stars
Following
extensive renovation work the Anna Sacher restaurant
is now radiant in bright green pleasantly offset
by black furniture with golden highlights. This
interior design merely serves to underscore the
splendour of the paintings by Anton Faistauer
hanging in the restaurant and the priceless Lobmeyr
crystal chandeliers. This interior contrasts starkly
with the straight, unpretentious line taken by
Sacher's chef de cuisine Werner Pichmaier in his
contemporary, light interpretation of traditional
Austrian cuisine. It goes without saying that
he uses high-quality regional products for all
his basic ingredients.
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KKS3 ep3 Antoni Luis Aduriz MUGARITZ
"Chef
Andoni Luis Aduriz MUGARITZ [San Sebastian]
3
Michelin Stars Andoni Luis Aduriz cooked with
nearly all the Spanish greats before becoming
a household Spanish culinary name himself. After
studying at the Donostia School of Cuisine in
San Sebastian, Spain, Aduriz worked for Ramón
Roteta, Hilario Arbelaitz, Jean Louis Neichel,
Juan Mari Arzak, Fermín Arrambide and Pedro Subijana.
In1993 he joined the team at el Bulli, headed
by Ferran Adrià, and in 1996 moved to a chef position
under Martín Berasategui at his eponymous restaurant
outside San Sebastian. Two years later he began
working on his own at Mugaritz, the restaurant
he has run since 1998. Aduriz has been described
by the international gastronomic press as “the
most important gastronomic phenomenon on the world
scene in recent times.” He is regularly highlighted
in the pages of prestigious magazines such as
the Swedish Gourmet, the French Gault&Millau
(where he’s received a 19/20 rating), The New
York Times Magazine, Saveur, the Italian Gambero
Rosso and the Japanese Cuisine Kingdom or Specialités.
In 2002 he was awarded the National Prize for
Gastronomy, and the Spanish guide Lo Mejor de
la Gastronomía named him “Chef of the Year” and
“Patissier of the Year.” In 2003 the Basque Gastronomy
Academy awarded him the “Euskadi Prize for Gastronomy
to the Best Restaurateur” and in 2005 the Michelin
guide awarded him a second star. In 2006 Mugaritz
obtained the 10th place in the “The World's 50
Best Restaurants” list awarded by Restaurant Magazine.
In 2011, Mugaritz is now considered among the
world’s top three restaurants.
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KKS3 ep4 Pedro Subijano AKELARRE, Phil Howard THE SQUARE
Pedro
Subijano
"Akelarre
[San Sebastian] 3 Michelin Stars One of the original
stars of the Spanish Gastronomic scene, Pedro
is part Paul Bocuse and part Pierre Gagnaire.
Absolute Genius with a capital G.
Phil Howard
A
chef’s chef, Howard is rarely away from the stove
and has won numerous accolades including two Michelin
stars (awarded in 1998) & the BMW Square Meal
Restaurant of the Year 2008. Afterstudying bio-chemistry
at university, he signed up for an apprenticeship
at Roux Restaurants before working with such heavyweights
as Simon Hopkinson and Marco Pierre White. Known
for his classy, but seasonal French food, he has
spent much of his career nurturing young chefs
and enjoys showcasing his protégé Brett Graham
at his other restaurant, The Ledbury in Notting
Hill
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KKS3 ep5 Michel Roth THE RITZ, Carlo Cracco,
"Michel
Roth THE RITZ PARIS [Paris] 2 Michelin Stars
He
chose at the age of 15 years, his job: cook. Apprenti
à l' Auberge de la charrue d'or à Sarreguemines,
il enchaîne les postes à l' Auberge de L'Ill à
Illhausern , le Crocodile à Strasbourg , deux
Grandes tables étoilées en Alsace et Ledoyen à
Paris . Apprentice at the Inn of the plow gold
Sarreguemines, it connects the positions at the
Auberge de L'Ill in Illhausern the Crocodile Strasbourg,
two large spreadsheets starred in Alsace and Ledoyen
in Paris. En 1981, il entre comme premier commis
au Ritz, place Vendôme . In 1981, he became a
chief clerk at the Ritz, Place Vendome. Il collectionne
les trophées prestigieux, prix Taittinger en 1985,
Escoffier en 1986, Bocuse d'or et Meilleur ouvrier
de France en 1991, il devient chef de cuisine
de L'Espadon en 1992. He collects trophies prestigious
Taittinger prices in 1985, Escoffier in 1986,
Bocuse d'Or and Meilleur Ouvrier de France in
1991, he became head chef of The Swordfish in
1992. Le 10 juin 1999, il quitte la place Vendôme
pour l'Avenue Franklin Roosevelt chez Lasserre
, à la retraite depuis 1997. On June 10, 1999,
he left the Place Vendome to the Rue Franklin
Roosevelt in Lasserre, who retired in 1997. Puis
le Ritz le rappelle en septembre 2001 ce qu'il
accepte. Then the Ritz recalls in September 2001
that it accepts. Chevalier dans l' Ordre national
du Mérite en 2003, puis Chevalier de la Légion
d'honneur en 2006. Knight of the National Order
of Merit in 2003 and Knight of the Legion of Honor
in 2006. L'Espadon a été récompensé d'une deuxième
étoile au guide Michelin en mars 2009. The Swordfish
was awarded a second Michelin star in March 2009.
Il est le cuisinier français le plus titré. It
is the French cook the most successful. Il sait
tout en préservant la tradition assurer la continuité
de la haute gastronomie française. He knows while
preserving the traditional continuity of French
haute cuisine.
Chef
Carlo Cracco CRACCO [Milan] 2 Michelin Stars
Carlo
Cracco is often credited – and occasionally derided
– as being the ringleader of a small but important
group of Italian chefs attempting to break away
from the constraints of cooking 'traditional'
food. At his eponymous Milan restaurant he creates
challenging cuisine that has won him considerable
acclaim from the major Italian guides and two
stars from Michelin. If you're not a fan of sea
urchins, snails and slugs, though, it may be one
to swerve."
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KKS3 ep6 Heiko Neider DOLDER GRAND, Michel Rostang
Chef
Heiko Neider Dolder
Grand Restaurant [Zurich]
2 Michelin Stars
Originally
from Germany, Heiko Nieder completed his apprenticeship
as a chef at the Four Seasons Hotel in Hamburg.
His career has taken him from the Restaurant Le
Canard in Hamburg, the Hotel zur Traube in Grevenbroich
and the Restaurant Vau in Berlin. For five years
he was Head Chef at the L'Orquivit in Bonn. It
was there, in 2003, that Nieder's creative cuisine
won him the Gault Millau title of Discovery of
the Year. In 2004 he was awarded a Michelin star
and in 2007 17 Gault Millau points. He has held
the position of Chef Fine Dining at the Dolder
Grand's The Restaurant since the opening. The
Restaurant was awarded four Fs by the German magazine
Der Feinschmecker (The Gourmet) in June 2008.
Chef
Michel Rostang Michel
Rostang [Paris]
2 Michelin Stars
Michel
Rostang is one of Paris's most creative chefs,
the fifth generation of a distinguished French
"cooking family." His restaurant contains four
dining rooms paneled in mahogany, cherrywood,
or pearwood; some have frosted Lalique crystal
panels. Changing every 2 months, the menu offers
modern improvements on cuisine bourgeoise. Truffles
are the dish of choice in midwinter, and you'll
find racks of suckling lamb from the salt marshes
of France's western coast in spring; in game season,
look for pheasant and venison. Year-round staples
are quail eggs with sea urchins; fricassee of
sole; quenelles of whitefish with a lobster sauce;
canard au sang (duck prepared in a duck press
with a sauce of red wine, foie gras, and its own
blood); and Bresse chicken with mushroom purée
and a salad composed of the chicken's thighs.
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KKS3 ep7 Arzak, Comme Chez Soi,
"Arzak [San Sebastian] 3 Michelin Stars
If
you like your food pretty, this is the place.
Father-and-daughter team Juan Mari Arzak and Elena
Arzak Espina's plates look fantastic: striking,
colourful and imaginative, yet for the most part
unfussy. The pair run the kitchen as equals and
are a major presence in the dining room. Like
the food, it pulls off the neat trick of balancing
tradition and innovation, with warm, familiar
service.
Chef Lionel Rigolet
COMME CHEZ SOI
[Brussels] 2 Michelin Stars
It
all began in 1926 when Georges Cuvelier, a brave
inhabitant of the southern Belgian Borinage region
escaped the coal mines to open a small restaurant
in Brussels. A regular customer told him each
visit : "Georges, in your restaurant we eat like
at home." It did not take long for him to come
up with the name "Comme chez Soi". When the restaurant
moved to its present location on Place Rouppe,
Georges Cuvelier's daughter married Louis Wynants,
a pork-butcher from the Flemish town of Tienen.
Louis Wynants took the quality of the kitchen
to higher levels. Their son was Pierre Wynants.
He studied at famous restaurants throughout Europe
and met Marie-Thérèse. From this union came two
daughters, Laurence and Véronique. Laurence, the
eldest, has married Lionel Rigolet, a young culinary
talent who rapidly became a key element for the
thouse. The couple now has little Jessica and
Loïc, a fifth generation..."
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KKS3 ep8 George Briffard GEORGE V, Gerald Angelmahr
KORSO
"Chef
Eric Briffard GEORGE V [Paris] 2 Michelin Stars
Who
has doubts about the choice of Eric Briffard to
command the kitchen of the Four Seasons Hôtel
George V---the perfect embodiment of French luxury?
Eric's quest for perfection is known to all gourmets.
His brilliance, technique and expertise are owed
to seven years of touring France and to Joël Robuchon,
whose refinement and delicate touch has brought
a new standard to presentations. Briffard, the
grandson of small farmers who baked their own
bread and produced their own nut oil, is at the
helm of the largest kitchen team in Europe: 115
cooks, 7 apprentices, 15 sous-chefs and 13 sommeliers---this
is quite impressive. Aside from 50 customers in
the restaurant , he also oversees room service
for 90 to 120 people and the gallery with 200
clients. Seventeen- and eighteen-hour days in
the kitchen are not uncommon; six days out of
seven, he comes in first and leaves last. His
approach consists in getting the best produce
in the region, and preparing it with taste and
elegance. Try the fresh crab meat or the appetizer
of abalone from the Brittany coast with seaweed
butter, watercress fondant and hen broth flavored
with lemongrass. The course of Normandy scallops
with celeriac-black truffle mousseline and green
apple rémoulade is a real lesson in freshness
and flavors. His saddle of lamb with piment d’Espelette
will not dissapoint. Desserts, such as the Mont
Blanc Georges V with Mandarin sherbet, are also
exceptional.
Chef
Gerald Angelmahr Restaurant KORSO [Vienna] 2 Michelin
Stars
Angelmahr's
new concept is just as interesting as the exciting
contrast between the Korso's historic dining room
and its illuminated onyx wall. In line with his
casual style, Angelmahr combines traditional dishes
with creative innovations. Born in 1981 in Schwechat
near Vienna, Gerald Angelmahr spent his apprentice
years at the famous Hotel Imperial in Vienna.
Between 2003 and 2005 he assisted in the opening
of the Hotel Le Méridien Vienna as Chef de Partie.
Following successful steps in his career at award-winning
Restaurant Meinl am Graben and design hotel Aenea
in Reifnitz at Lake Wörthersee, Carinthia, Angelmahr
returned to the Hotel Imperial in 2007. As Sous
Chef he pampered state visitors and crowned heads
as well as the guests of award-winning Restaurant
Imperial with his culinary creations. The 27-year-old
newcomer was the winner of "The Young Wild
Cooks" competition in 2007 and underwent
practical training with star chef Ferran Adrià."
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KKS3 ep9 JP
Bruneau & Bilbao Guggenheim's Josean Alija
"Chef Jean Pierre Bruneau
BRUNEAU
[Brussels] 2 Michelin Stars
Two stars shine especially bright in the Capital
of Europe’s gastronomic constellation. These are
those of Jean-Pierre Bruneau’s restaurant, which
for 30 years has been perfecting a culinary art
that is unanimously acclaimed by real gourmets.
Although he respects tradition and well-known
recipes, the chef is always seeking to offer a
cuisine that is innovative and imaginative yet
excludes any eccentricity. Working with the finest
products in the tranquillity of his elegant house,
Bruneau is therefore not the least bit proud to
offer only the very best to a clientele as loyal
as it is cosmopolitan. Not only does the caviar
come direct from Iran and the truffles from the
Carpentries, but the fish, the shell fish, the
meat, the poultry and the game are also chosen
with the greatest care. And if the cook receives
only the “nec plus ultra” from his numerous suppliers,
it is because he has a secret shared by only a
few of the country’s restaurateurs today: rising
early, in order to go to the morning market, as
fresh produce is a guarantee of quality. Maintaining
good and strong friendships is equally as important.
Chef Josean Martínez Alija
Restaurante Guggenheim
[Bilbao]
My philosophy is a work in progress, which, during
nearly two decades, has grown to harmonize with
the things with which I most closely identify:
basically, the authentic and the natural. In some
way, the value of my output will be in the eye
of the beholder, but I aim to bring my diners
to a world in which everything is special. Perhaps
the work consists in discovering where it is exactly—the
magic that makes it special. The aromas connect
you to memories and create an infinite number
of imaginary ideas that invite you to travel and
play. It’s where sensitivity and instinct come
face to face with consciousness and permit access
to a world of endless possibility. To cook is
to transform; change; provoke; and conjugate flavors,
textures, dreams, and appearances. To cook is
to give life to ideas and share unique experiences
by taking on new challenges. A dish approaches
wisdom when it provokes emotions and promotes
good health. To surprise with the familiar is
difficult, as it is inherently a challenge; it
transports us to the essence: the earth and its
bounty. Currently I’m preparing a work which I
will present in Identità Golose in Milan under
the theme: “The luxury of simplicity,” in which
I reflect on the pure essence of my cooking as
though it were a brief Japanese poem, or haiku."
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KKS3 ep10 Yves
Mattagne & Gualtieri Marchesi
"Chef Yves Mattagne - The Sea Grill [Brussels]
2 Michelin Stars
Yves Mattagne is a Belgium-born
chef critically acclaimed for his dishes at the
Sea Grill, one of Brussels’ top restaurants. His
abilities and deep affinity with the ingredients
paved the path towards the gold medal at the concourse
European fish chef competition in 1992. Later,
from 1993 to 1999, he was successively awarded
the Chef d'Or Gault Millau and L'Oscar Cuisinier
by Le Club des Gastronomes de Belgique. At Gourmet
Abu Dhabi, diners will be able to taste Mattagne’s
awesome seafood cuisine, and understand why he
is a two-Michelin-starred chef.
Chef Gualtieri Marchesi MARCHESI
[Brescia Italy] 3 Michelin Stars
Gualtiero Marchesi was the first
Italian chef to win three Michelin stars and at
78 years young, Marchesi is by far Italy’s most
renowned chef; having created a string of award-winning
restaurants and the culinary philosophy ‘Total
Cuisine’, as set out in his seminal book, The
Marchesi Code.
Total cuisine requires attention to every detail,
and when Marchesi opened his first restaurant
in Milan in 1977, was something of a revolution.
Within six months, Ristorante Gualtiero Marchesi
had earned him his first Michelin star and by
1985, the restaurant had three – a first for Italy."
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MASTERCHEFS SERIES 2 [13x26min
episodes]
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KKS2 ep1 Michel Roux GAVROCHE, Helene Darroze
LE
GAVROCHE - London Michel
Roux [2 Michelin Stars]
The
Master's Master.
The
brother's Roux have single-handedly been the breeding
ground for all the top 2-3 star Michelin Chefs
in the UK. Their students include Marco-Pierre
White, Phil Howard, Gordon Ramsay....the list
goes on and on...
HELENE
DARROZE - Paris Helene
Darroze [2 Michelin Stars]
Grand-Daughter
of Michelin-starred Jacques Darroze, the belle-Helene
has just taken over the kitchens at London's Connaught
Hotel - Blimey!
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KKS2 ep2 Armen Petrossian, Shane Osborn PIED A TERRE
PETROSSIAN
- Paris Armen
Petrossian
Petrossian
bought these priceless Caviar pearls to the west
after the Bolshevik revolution and simply continue
to do so.
PIED-A-TERRE
- London Shane
Osborn
[2 Michelin Stars]
Ex-Australia
Osborn's dishes keeps being confused as modern
French by Haute Gallic gastronomes - strewth!
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KKS2 ep3 Dominique Bouchet, Pietro Leeman
DOMINIQUE
BOUCHET - Paris
Dominique
Bouchet [12 Michelin Stars]
A
student and part of the team which elevated Robuchon's
Jamin to legendary status, Bouchet brings 3 stars
to every establishment he has ever worked in from
the Hotel Crillon to the Tour D'Argent and now
his first-ever private restaurant in Paris.
JOIA
- Milan
Pietro
Leeman [2 Michelin Stars]
A
student of Gualtieri Marchese and disciple of
the legendary Freddy Girardet, Swiss-Italian born
Pietro Leeman also spent a number of years in
Japan which informs his "vegetarian" haute cuisine.
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KKS2 ep4 Manuel Matinez LOUIS XIII, Anton Mosimann
LOUIS
13th - Paris
Manuel
Martinez [2 Michelin Stars]
Named
after the King who just happened to be ordained
on these premises over Two centuries earlier.
MOSIMANNS
- London
Anton
Mosimann
The
"Master's Master". Mosimann is the only chef in
the world who can boast 2 royal warrants and clients
which include No.10 Downing St as well!
Trained
in Switzerland by one of Escoffier's proteges.
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KKS2 ep5 Alain Senderens, Christoforos Peskias
ALAIN
SENDERENS [previously LUCAS CARTON]
Alain
Senderens - 3 Michelin Stars
The
"Master of Masters". Alain Ducasse was his protege.
Great modern Chefs like Carlo Cracco, Christian
Delouvrier and a long list of others have found
their epiphany at this Parisien Temple of Gastronomy.
RESTAURANT
48 - Athens
Christoforos
Peskias
A
disciple of Charlie Trotter, Peskias deconstructs
classic Greek Cuisine and imbues it with a modern
gastronomic patina. The dining room is also an
architectural masterpiece.
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KKS2 ep6 Arnaud Bignon SPONDI, Michael Lambie
SPONDI
- Athens
Arnaud
Bignon - 2 Michelin Stars
Ex
protege of Eric Frechon [Paris' Bristol], Bignon
has received the first 2-star rating ever given
to a restaurant in Greece. And it's well deserved!
TAXI
- Melbourne
Michael
Lambie
Ex
-3 star Marco-Pierre White Restaurant executive
chef Lambie has embarked on a modern cuisinal
course whilst in a Melbourne landmark restaurant.
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KKS2 ep7 Guillarme Brahimi, Shannon Bennett VUE DE MONDE
VUE
DE MONDE - Melbourne
Shannon
Bennett
Already
a Melbourne institution, Bennett studied many
years under London masters before applying his
craft.
BENNELONG
@ SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE
Guillaume
Brahimi
A
disciple of the legendary Joel Robuchon [he even
completed 3 stages at Jamin!], Brahimi brings
his Parisien technique to an Architectural Icon
- The Sydney Opera House.
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KKS2 ep8 Tadashi Takahashi NOBU, Justin North BECASSE
NOBU
- Melbourne
Tadashi
Takahashi
NOBU
- Need anything be said? Robert DeNiro's infatuation
on a plate.
BECASSE
- Sydney
Justin
North
A
student of Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir, NZ born
North found his epiphanies at Paris' Pierre Gagnaire
and then, of all places, at Liam Tomlin's Sydney
restaurant.
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KKS2 ep9 Peter Doyle, Matt Moran
PIER
- Sydney
Greg
Doyle
The
King of all things Fish in Australia.
ARIA
- Sydney
Matt
Moran
Following
in the footsteps of his close friend Gordon Ramsay,
Matt Moran also has his TV show "THE CHOPPING
BLOCK" as well as consulting for Singapore Airlines.
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KKS2 ep10 Robin Wickens, Mark Best
INTERLUDE
- Melbourne
Robin
Wickens
Classically
trained in London then trailblazing into the world
of Molecular Gastronomy, Wicken's humour is very
evident in the spectacular dishes he assembles.
MARQUE
- Sydney
Mark
Best
A
disciple of Alain Passard, Best came to cooking
quite late in life but seems to have made up for
it with his talent for dishes with a zest of zen.
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KKS2 ep11 Yoshii Ryuichi, Lefteris Lazarou VAROULKO
YOSHII
- Sydney
Yoshii
Ryuichi
Mixing
foie-gras with sushi is one of Ryuichi Yoshii's
ways to bridge the gap between Western Food-Wine
marriages. His is the "vice-versa" of East meets
West.
VAROULKO
- Athens
Lefteris
Lazarou - 1 Michelin Star
Absolutely
fresh fish [just caught] is the start of what
goes on the plate at this very awarded and iconic
Athens restaurant [with views of the Acropolis!].
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KKS2 ep12 Marcus Wareing BERKELEY, Jean-Louis Nomicos LASSERRE
Paris
PETRUS
@ BERKELEY - London
Marcus
Wareing [2 Michelin Stars]
Wareing
is Gordon Ramsay's partner in Culinary Crime.
A fastidious perfectionism yields sublime examples
of current food art.
LASSERRE
- Paris
Jean-Louis
Nomicos - 2 Michelin Stars
Nomicos
is a student of Senderen's Ducase as well as Marchesi
and after 8 years at Lassere, has founds his own
unique direction.
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KKS2 ep13 Alain Passard L'Arpege , Gordon Ramsay
ALAIN
PASSARD - Paris
3
Michelin Stars
GORDON
RAMSAY - London
3
Michelin Stars
Gordon
Ramsay
Before
Gordon became a TV celebrity, he was quite a good
chef.
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MASTERCHEFS SERIES 1 [16x26min
episodes]
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KKS1 ep1 Tony Bilson, Alain Passard, Sergi Arola
Tony
Bilson- Sydney
There
are some absolutely mind opening experiences that
one has in restaurants if you are interested in
it. Some people just go along and go 'munch, munch,
munch'. I go along and weep. The brilliant guys,
like Guy Savoy in particular, have the ability
- there is a lovely Ducasse saying,"to take something
that is already really good and turn it in to
something beautiful". I think one of the reasons
why the great French chefs and the Japanese get
on so well is that they recognize in the food
that is on the plate, the relationship to seasons,
to agriculture and to the history of the culture.
Alain
Passard - Paris***
The
great dishes of tomorrow will hardly be touched
by the cook's hand at all It's very difficult
for me to express where the feelings of creativity
come from in my art. I'm very inspired by the
visual, by what I see around me. For example,
the transparency of crystal, the thread of a table
cloth or even the range of produce one can buy
all help to inspire me. I'm talking about when
the eye looks deeply and really sees. The colour
of a herb, the curve of an eggplant, the translucent
nature of a white onion, the colour of a date
or the perfume of a cumin, all these things are
a part of the sensual journey that is inspiring
me.
Sergi
Arola - Madrid**
15 years ago I was watching the filming of a video
clip of one very famous Spanish singer and guitarist
Raymundo Madoris . He played Jimmy Hendricks with
a Spanish guitar! I thought 'he is touched by
God for playing guitar'. When I realized I could
never arrive to the level of playing as Raymundo,
I changed from a career in music to cuisine and
I found in cuisine the same fight, the same passion
and the same capacity of composing as in music.
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KKS1 ep2 Pierre Gagnaire, Walter Trupp, Gordon Ramsay
"Pierre Gagnaire - Paris ***
Three
Michelin Stars is like Formula One racing , it
is intense competition. I know that and I like
that. I am somebody who tries to give sense to
my job. The way I cook is an expression of all
my life. Why cooking? Because I have no choice.
My family was in this business and I too felt
with my head that it was also possible to give
emotion to the people. Yes I worked in many places
for over 10 years, but I did not understand the
meaning of it, because it was always the same
thing, always the same produce, no emotion…I learnt
all the little techniques - the bad style of escoffier
, it was a kind of repetition, no sense, average
produce...
Walter Trupp - Melbourne
My
biggest surprise was that people in Australia
are interested in what you do. They sit all night
, really want to be entertained and question the
food. In London, there can be 3-4 sittings in
one night, nobody questions what is in the food,
or how you do it.
Gordon Ramsay - London ***
I
was once slated in the Sunday Times for having
a failed football career and a shot gun wedding
by getting my wife ‘up the duff ‘ was the exact
words so I had to marry her. This was by a talented
writer by the name of AA Gill who writes in the
Sunday Times - a food critic. I asked him politely
not to come and review my new restaurants. Lo
and behold he turns up with Joan Collins. No-one
would actually think that I had the bollocks to
evict the whole table, and I kicked the whole
lot out. I am constantly obsessed with what is
going on in New York. I am constantly obsessed
with Charlie Trotter’s new menu. I am constantly
obsessed with what Thomas Keller is doing at the
French Laundry. I admire Ferran Adria at El Bulli
in Rozasse [Spain]. I travel frequently, so I
need to stay that little edge in front.
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KKS1 ep3 Guy Savoy, Geoff Lindsay, Aimo et Nadia
"Guy Savoy - Paris ***
Rostropovich
comes here very often. I design a special menu
card each time he comes. The first time he came
he ordered the veal kidney. The waiter asked him
if he liked it rare, medium or well done, and
he replied "Do you believe that when I am playing
for 300 people I ask them the way they want me
to play?"
Geoff Lindsay - Melbourne
This
tyranny of distance and this isolation that we
have breeds this special kind of character that
Australians have, that you need to suck the marrow
of every chance you have to go to London or New
York. To have a great desire for knowledge, a
great desire for travel, and the feeling that
we have to go and search for it ourselves, it
is not just going to come to us.
Aimo et Nadia - Milan **
At
a certain point in time I discovered that my work,
without realising it, was pleasing people. I wasn't
aware that there could be a financial reward from
being noticed by the food writers in the press.
I received the first and second Michelin stars
without really knowing, without a conscious thought
of it. I was simply progressing my cuisine in
my own culinary world. The personality and flavour
of a product inspires you in the first place.
Beethoven must have been inspired by a small bird
that was chirping. Van Gough was inspired by colour.
When I visit the market and see a zucchini, taste
an oil, or see a cut of meat , I am able to assemble
these ingredients in my mind.
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KKS1 ep4 Michel del Burgo, Neil Perry, Anton Mosimann
"Michel del Burgo & Jean-Claude Vrinat- Paris ***
I tasted 'heaven' when I tried one of Michel's
new dishes. I love sweet potato pie and what Michel
did was out of this world. A good chef has talent
when he can make something out of potato out of
a simple fish, not with lobster, not with truffles,
not with foie gras. One of my best memories in
fact was a private concert by Yehudi Menuhin for
his friend Isaac Perlman playing violin at the
end of the meal for 10 minutes. Yehudi Menuhin
played Happy Birthday and went on and on. Isaac
Perlman stood up and said 'Yehudi give me your
violin and then he played for 15 minutes and Daniel
Barenboin asked 'Mr. Vrinat have you got a piano?',
and I replied 'Unfortunately no'. He said 'Oh
I can't play'. At that point, I wished I had a
piano!.
Neil Perry - Sydney
People
today actually fullfill their sort of skillless
life with food by watching someone else preparing
it. It is like you are sitting there and watching
this happen and you think 'I am hungry now, I
can eat'. You feel like you have done something
because you actually participated in a food programme.
Anton Mosimann - London
Japan
was a tremendous experience for me. The Japanese
style of cooking was all about freshness, the
way it is cooked, or not cooked at all. Even the
presentation was an eye opener for all of us,
but especially for me. I absorbed a lot of the
techniques and ideas from the Japanese culture
and start thinking 'This is the way of eating
and I like it, no cream no butter'. In St. Moritz
I worked at the famous Palace Hotel with the head
chef Monsieur de France. De France trained in
London at the Savoy hotel with Escoffier. Escoffier
was the head chef and de France was the commis.
He was 85 years of age and it was an incredible
experience for me.
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KKS1 ep5 Jean-Louis Nomicos, Teague Ezard, John Burton-Race
"Jean-Louis Nomicos-Paris**
The
magic of the kitchen is the continuous creativity.
You always create and you have to re-invent yourself
twice a day. You work with products that are alive,
that come from the earth. Depending on the season
you cook them accordingly. You try to be creative.
That's my passion, and of course you try to please
the customer.
Teague Ezard - Melbourne
It
wasn't that long ago where most restaurants were
French/Italian. The preparation of the food was
done earlier in the day and basically the chefs
rock up, cook and serve it. The difference with
leaning towards Asian Style which has become more
and more dominant in Australia is that you are
always cooking. There are 3 to 5 steps of putting
together a dish . For example, a scallop dish
that we serve," steamed scallops with a peanut
man juis and Thai salad", you have got to mortar
and pestal your paste to order, you taste your
paste, you season your paste, you steam your scallops,
and it all comes together and it is taste checked,
taste checked, taste checked.
John Burton-Race -London **
You have to have a passion and sometimes I guess
it gets in the way of your personal life. You
have to be driven and there are not a lot of people
that work for you that might like it. You have
to be positive, you have to be very sure of yourself,
you have to have arrogance and you have to have
strength, an inner strength, and then a desire
to push out the boundaries and take yourself over
that. The guys that really succeed are the ones
that go over the pain barrier. Asian and French
cuisine are completely different and it is not
just about the flavours, it is about the actual
cooking. In Asia, the fat you cook in was very,
very expensive, sometimes much more than the protein
itself. Hence something went in, and something
came out very quickly and you ended up with a
crisp crunchy texture, whether it was vegetables,
or protein. When it comes to spicing things, Asian
cuisine 'coats' and doesn't marinade the fish
or the meat - so you don't destroy it's underlying
flavour.
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KKS1 ep6 Dominique Bouchet, Paul Wilson, Shane Osborn
"Dominique Bouchet - Paris ***
I
don't consider Robuchon a genius. Looking back,
I think that he had such a rigor and will to be
the best that he was asking the extreme from his
cooks, it was horrendous. I remember crying while
working and that some cooks broke down and left.
I stayed 5 years maybe because of my pride but
I said to myself: 'No I won't break, I will stay.'
He was so hard, it was inhuman, it was horrible.
You really had to have faith and to love your
work to stay with him. I think this is why he
won in the end This is why he became the Great
Chef 'Joel Robuchon'.
Paul Wilson - Melbourne
I
was bored in London, to be honest. I felt like
I needed to learn something else. I was infused
by Thailand, and just Asian food in general so
I felt that Australia would be a great sort of
starting point.
Shane Osborn - London **
I
am standing at the bar and saying good night to
the customers and they start speaking to me in
French. I say 'I am sorry I speak a little bit
of French but not much'. They then ask 'Where
are you from?', I reply 'I am from Australia',
they say 'Oh no, I can't believe it. Australians
don't cook like this!"
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KKS1 ep7 Eric Frechon, Tim Pak Poy, Tom Colicchio
"Eric Frechon - Paris **
You
learn the rigour, you learn how to refine the
things, but then if you are a real chef, you know
exactly what you want to do. The spirit of Chef
Frechon is the result of 15 years of work with
others but then his own personality comes through.
Tim Pak Poy - Sydney
My
interest in European food came from a different
point in the sense that I was looking for things
that I couldn't learn here. So I did a course
in Perfumerie in Paris to learn the art of trapping
flavour. It is understanding of how to encapsulate
flavour and to offer it to people in an accessible
way. One of the simplest way that we know of trapping
flavour is by using fat - any fat, whether it
be olive oil or animal fat. In perfumerie you
would follow the notes and so composing a series
of notes into something that sings for itself.
At the end of the day the sum has to be greater,
than all of the parts.
Tom Colicchio - New York
It about staying power it is not about being a flash
in the pan. You constantly have to reinvent what
you are doing. You can't rest on your laurels.
It is also a matter of staying fresh because there
are obviously younger chefs who may also want
to take more risks. And so you have to keep up
with them and take as many risks. Food has become
more grounded and it is not this soaring sculpture
that we are looking for anymore. It is not about
8 ingredients on a plate anymore. I think that
is the worst thing that America sort of dumped
on cuisine is that adding all these thing when
you see mango, salsa, chutney, relish yada yada
yada.
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KKS1 ep8 Christian Delouvrier, Michael Lambie, Heinz Winkler
"Christian Delouvrier - NY LESPINASSE
To
survive in New York you have to be successful.
It's very Bottom Line. New Yorkers are happy to
pay but they have to get an experience. That is
what it is all about.
Michael Lambie - Melbourne
He
[Pierre Marco White] was like a rockstar chef
and he showed us that anyone could make it happen.
I didn't think that he was a particularly good
cook, but he had about 6 or 7 dishes that he knew
how to do really well and he used to change them
all around. We used to have a joke in the kitchen
when Marco would say "Oh Michael I want to have
a menu meeting with you". I used to get a piece
of paper and cut it up into six things and write
Red Mullet , Beef in Red Wine etc , put it all
in a hat and ask myself "What we are going to
do today for the new menu?, o.k. we are going
to do Beef, with deep fried leeks and that is
how we would come up with our new menu.
Heinz Winkler - Munich ***
Today,
the repertoire of a young chefs is limited because
they only work in 2 or 3 restaurants and not in
15 or more. Anton Mosimann and myself were always
looking for new places to learn, looking all over
Europe for the best Chefs to train with, from
Italy, from France and we took ideas from everywhere.
You store all this information and every time
we create a new plate, you draw from all these
experiences. In Germany, haute cuisine never existed
- all that existed was sauerkraut and basic ingredients.
Nowadays, the food people demand is lighter. We
recreated the original plates and made them much
lighter and healthier but its origins are heavy
stodgy food.
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KKS1 ep9 Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Tetsuya Wakuda, Phil Howard
Jean-Georges Vongerichten- NY
Working in a 3 star restaurant
it is like entering the Mafia. I never had to
find another job'. If I wanted to go to the south
of France, to Louis Outhier, it was a phone call
away and two weeks later I was there.
Tetsuya Wakuda - Sydney
Recipes
guide us how to do it and then that little touch,
just the right amount of salt even for example
makes the dish. The degree of cooking each fish
- cooked through, cooked just a little bit under
or that sort of thing, it makes a huge difference…
that is a chef. I love food, but at that point
in time I never thought that this becomes my profession.
And almost about year later I met the chef Tony
Bilson and he basically taught me cooking but
I mean French cooking. At that time I think he
thought that I'm Japanese so maybe we can do some
Japanese bit and pieces.
Phil Howard - London **
To
achieve that final 10% of perfection you need
to cut out all the emotional content of cooking
and get a strategy. Stop playing around everyday
with different ingredients, and stop acting on
sponteneity. Training your staff to understand
exactly what you are doing. Being able to reproduce
the same dish perfectly as quickly as possible.
Marco Pierre White had the ability of identifying
fantastic combination of flavours from wherever
it may be in the world. Taking the essence of
a dish and without exception improving it both
in content and presentation so what you are getting
on the plate was the most beautiful food that
had ever been produced in the country. You will
never be able to repeat the Beatles or the Stones.He
represents to cooking what they represent to music.
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KKS1 ep10 Daniel Boulud, Liam Tomlin, Bernhard Diers
"Daniel Boulud - New York
At Le Cirque I was flying. Sirio was like 'Oh I'm
sorry.. it would be 9.30 at night, I forgot to
tell you I have 12 friends coming tonight. Can
you make me a little menu?' And then I learnt
that the 12 friends were of course, Italian press,
French press, VIP chefs. That was my chance to
impress him. I would think 'Oh you forgot to tell
me, well I'm going to show what I can do for you!
Liam Tomlin - Sydney
In Switzerland I worked in the Hotel Central in Zurich
and It was there I met chef Bruno Enderlich. He
was someone who took you under his wing and explained
to you about produce, and explained to you about
seasons. Everything you did, Bruno would just
come along and do something to it and it would
change the whole dish entirely. He pushed himself.
For example on his days off he would go work for
Freddie Girardet and they he would come back and
tell us about this guy Freddie Girardet.
Bernhard Diers - Munich **
Good food is important for your well being, it is
important for your health, your day and gives
you energy to be able to do things. My dishes
are the transfer of my creative energy and the
energy of my kitchen staff, to the customer. This
food must give the customer the visual of my ideas
and creativity and must taste good as well, light
and not heavy.
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KKS1 ep11 Eric Chavot, Peter Doyle, Charles Masson, Ian Scully
"Eric Chavot - London **
Kaufmann
was a mess. You had to guess everything, I'd ask
'Chef what is the maison plus?' And he would answer
' I'll tell you later!' That was at 9 o'clock.
Later at half past 12 when the first guest arrives,
he would say 'Get me this, get me that'. It was
kind of a game, like cat and mouse. By the time
I got to Raymond Blanc, it was like a dream. You
open a cardfile and you have the recipe.
Peter Doyle - Sydney
Three
years into my apprenticeship thre was a revolution
in cooking called Nouvelle Cuisine, Leo Scoffield
started writing about Tony Bilson and I read a
couple of articles and I thought I better go and
try this out. So we went for dinner, I took Beverley
for her birthday, in 1976 or 77, and it was just
mindblowing. I just knew I had to go to France
and find out for myself.
Charles Masson & Ian Scully - New York
MASSON:Salvador Dali once commented to my father
'Mr. Masson you throw the money out the windows
but it comes back to you through the doors'
SCULLY: I read about the London Chefs in cook books
and magazines and Chef Michel Bourdain inspired
me the most. After four years of hotel school,
I went to the Connaught in person and met with
Michel and ten days later the only position they
had was in the Pastry and as a second Commis so
I started in the pastry. I was then at the Ritz
after the Connaught where I was the number 2 Chef
for two years.
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KKS1 ep12 Jacques Reymond, Hans Haas, Carlo Cracco,
"Jacques Reymond - Melbourne
I
rode my motor bike from Crizot for about 5 hours,
went around the back and walked straight into
the kitchen with 22 cooks looking at me wearing
a motor bike helmet and asked to see the Chef.
Chef Jacque Picard took me to one side and asks
what I want. I say I want to come and work here.
There is a big silence in the kitchen and everyone
starts to laugh. He says ' No one has ever done
what you have done, and I will give you a chance.
You can start next week'.
Hans Haas - Munich **
My
inspiration is coming from nature - for example
when I cook a rabbit , since rabbit eats carrots
and lettuce , I serve rabbit with carrots and
lettuce. I want the produce to be distinctive
and honest . I don't try to wrap a potato five
times so it does not look like a potato . I try
to keep a product simple and to process it minimally
so that the result is a very light , tasty dish.
I keeps the vegetables very simple, very lightly
cooked. For sauces I don't like to reduce them
very much and prefer to keep them light . To thicken
them I would rather grate a small amount of potato
into it and maybe then at the very end add a little
bit of butter. The sauce then tastes very fresh,
simple and doesn't overpower the produce.
Carlo Cracco - Milan **
It
was not until I worked with Gualtiero Marchese
that I understood for the first time, what cooking
was really about. Other chefs gave me a basic
understanding of working with produce, but Marchese
was the first to elevate cooking into an art form.
I was 20 years old and for the first time I understood
that things were happening in the kitchen. I then
went to work for Alain Ducasse.
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KKS1 ep13 Eberhard Muller, Thomas Byrne, Sergio Mei,
"Eberhard Muller - New York,
Since
I last saw you, I bought a farm and I am actively
farming together with my wife and we actually
supply most of the major restaurants with our
vegetables in New York. Most commercial farms
in the country are mono cultures or almost anywhere
in the world, there are farms that grow broccoli,
there are farms that grow carrots. They specialise
in one or two things. Because I am a chef and
I want it all, we grow everthing. When you come
back this summer and taste the Heirloom Tomatoe
Salad you will see why. There are 18 different
varieties of tomatoes, of flavours, of texture
components that I can play with.
Thomas Byrne - Geneva *
When
you are young, you have so much ambition, you
have so much curiosity, and a lot of creativity
and then when you get to working 30 years in the
same profession you have very solid values. For
example, your taste, the way in which you smell
things. Your sight, the way in which you see food
cooking. You know exactly whether it is cooked.
You can hear the cooking. You assemble ingredients
in your head. You only have to see a naked flame
and place a pan with a piece of fish and you know.
You don't have that in your youth.
Sergio Mei - Milan **
One of my signature dishes
is a special spaghetti with Tomato and Basil and
for me it is still a joy to cook spaghetti with
tomato and basil. Almost anyone can cook Spaghetti
and you can find it everywhere but to me it is
the way in which I prepare it which makes it distinctive.
It is through my continuous research of ingredients
that I have discovered a very particular tomato
- from Sicily which is called a Pachino tomato
. It comes from a little tiny village in Sicily
and I have them shipped to me daily
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KKS1 ep14 Fergus Henderson, Roberto Caraguti, Restaurant 7
"Fergus Henderson - London
Architecture
you create space for people and it affects the
way in which they occupy it, the manners of sort
of behaviour and with food you do the same thing
but intently the nature of the affair is the bone
to gnaw on, or a crab to grapple with, you kind
of affect their behaviour so this way I pop them
inside and out. which is very satisfactory. You
create the space and feed them. It is not about
distractions or lots of art on the wall or lots
of marble and brass. It is not particularly neutral
either it has a sense of spirit of occassion I
think, it is sort of the fact that you have to
go through the long corridor and the sense of
kind of arrival and discovery.
Roberto Caraguti - Geneva
When
you are a cook, you are always making a creation.
And that is a funny thing about this profession
because when some of them like my father and my
son and others too, when they do something it
is like if there were artists really. They are
so happy with what they are doing and then maybe
they change a little bit, and the colours too
are very important.
Nori & Suki - Restaurant 7 - Sydney
Charlie Trotter did not cook much but he was unbelievable
when it came to composing recipes in his mind.
He would tell us "Add that much wine. This produce
with that . Oysters in red wine" . At the last
minute he would ask me "Nori I need oyster with
red wine emulsion with little fennel and stuff".
The result was incredible.
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KKS1 ep15 Sirio Maccione, Danilo Ange, Michel Roux
"Sirio Maccione - LE CIRQUE - New York
The
Duke and Duchess of Windsor came in and they looked
at the table but it was a banquette and they were
only two of them. I said please your highnesses
come in, I showed them to a table and I said,
I think for the two of you this is better. The
Duke of Windsor said to me, "Never think for me
what is better", just like that. They were not
very happy but then I asked them to order and
I gave them two small appetizers. They looked
around and said "Who is Italian here, who is from
Montecatini?" I said it is I, and they looked
at me and everything changed.
Danilo Ange - Milan
Cooking
was my passion from when I was a youngster. My
mother tells me that when I was a young boy ,
I was always saying that I'd be a cook or a photographer.
Now I am chef with a passion for photography.
In terms of organisation, the Italian chefs have
a lot to learn from the French but if you look
at Italian cuisine, fortunately we have a incredible
gastronomic patrimony which does not need to envy
any other place in the world.
Michel Roux - Gavroche - London
Portraying cooking as an art is wrong. Cooking is
more than an art – it is giving pleasure to so
many different senses. It is not only visual,
it is mental, it is your sensory glands, your
nose, feel as well, because you’re crunching into
food, you’re not just slurping. It is everything
– a total experience.
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KKS1 ep16 Claudio Sadler, Marcus Wareing, Jean-Jacques Rachou,
Pietro Leeman
"Claudio Sadler - Milan
My dishes are simple dishes. I don't like sauces.
I like a piece of meat, a piece of fish, I like
the vegetables, I like olive oil, I like the spices
and I put these things together, Sea Bass - for
me it is enough to serve with some mushrooms on
the top, the herbs and olive oil and cooking very
quickly. We have beautiful pieces of beef - I
decide whether we cook them for a long time or
a short time so, but I prepare a sauce because
it is important but I don't make it a big elaboration.
Marcus Wareing - London
People
say that fine dinning is dying, I find that a
hideous thing to say because people, no matter
who you think you are, no matter what you think
of food, somewhere in your life or somewhere down
the line we all want to be pampered.
Jean-Jacques Rachou - New York
New York in 1962 was very different. At the time
we didn't have the produce that we have available
now. Now you are able to find anything you want,
any type of mushroom, truffles, creams, vegetables,
fish, it is a very big, big change.
Pietro Leeman - Milan
Dishes have a meaning in a part of the world and
in another region, it has no meaning. The meaning
is the culture of the region, the taste of the
people, the climate – many things. So by talking
things from Italy like spaghetti with tomato and
re-interpreting the recipe, you don’t lose the
meaning. In the orient the first bite is very
important but the meaning goes deeper. Centuries
ago in Europe, the grandmother took the duck,
killed it and cooked it. Today in Europe we don’t
have this relationship with food. We go to the
supermarket and buy the duck already prepared
- that is food but not the animal. In the orient
they still have the connection to the animal.
In Japan they have soups where the fish swimming
inside and you drink it.
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