Meet the real star chefs of Europe
the real kitchen gods
Gordon Ramsay may have restaurants trading on his name, but the closest you’ll get to his food is your TV screen. You want to see Alain Ducasse at his cooking school? Bonne chance! If you’re looking for culinary inspiration on your travels, forget the celebs. Here’s where to get up close to Europe’s real star chefs
words by Sudi Piggott
Twenty years ago, when most people would have struggled to pronounce – let alone spell – ‘ciabatta’, chefs were not rock ’n’ roll celebrities. They were stars in their own kitchens, with reputations built on their culinary expertise rather than their telegenic looks. Back then, we knew where to find them: either slaving over a hot stove out back, or doing their rounds front-of-house, making sure their diners felt looked after. These days, we’ve changed the way we think about food. We’re all aspirant foodies now, hankering after our slice of action with the Jamie Olivers and Tina Nordströms of the moment. But if you really love your food, you’ll want to distinguish between the places trading on big celebrity chefs’ names (where, let’s be honest, they can’t be found for love nor money) and those where you can be inspired by Europe’s real hard-working culinary stars.
1. chef’s tables where you can watch & learn
who & where
jason atherton maze grill, london
paul cunningham the paul, copenhagen
ronald kunis de kas, amsterdam
Charlie Trotter started it all in the States and “chef’s table” experiences have been all the rage for over a decade. It’s a chance to get up close and personal by eating at a table right inside the kitchen, experiencing all the pressure of the service and seeing the latest gadgets – from pacojets to water-baths – being put through their paces.
Gordon Ramsay famously introduced chef’s tables in all of his London restaurants, but you’re unlikely to hear him uttering a string of expletives at the chef’s table in Claridge’s. A better option is his newest opening, Maze Grill, where rising star Jason Atherton cooks up his inventive tapas and finishes superlative, well-aged steaks on a specially imported broiler. The chef’s table here is actually a massive oak butcher’s block overlooking the pass, where finished dishes are released into the hands of the waiting staff.
High, swivelling armchairs offer a view of the kitchen – or “food theatre” – at Michelin-starred The Paul in Copenhagen’s Tivoli, where British chef Paul Cunningham produces his show-stopping food, ranging from old favourites, like roast scallops and Iberico ham with pea and mint puree, to more adventurous combinations such as rabbit and octopus with hollandaise sauce.
And at De Kas – an ultra stylish converted glasshouse and nursery in Amsterdam’s Frankendael Park – you can see your dinner growing before you take a ringside pew to watch chef Ronald Kunis (ex River Café, London) preparing his inventive dishes which incorporate freshly harvested vegetables and organic meats, and desserts like his flourless chocolate cake with fennel ice-cream.
Maze Grill, 10-13 Grosvenor Square, London, +44 (0)20 7495 2211, www.gordonramsay.com The Paul, Vesterbrogade 3, Copenhagen, +45 3375 0775, www.thepaul.dk De Kas, Kamerlingh Onneslaan 3, Amsterdam, +31 (0)20 462 4562, www.restaurantdekas.nl
2. festivals & events with demonstrations
who & where
rene redzepi copenhagen
tom kitchin & martin wishart edinburgh
michelin starred french chefs mougins near nice
carlo cracco & other italian chefs london & milan
The surest way of getting to fraternise with headline chefs is to plan trips around the dates of the growing calendar of culinary festivals around the world. The well known names really do front up masterclasses and cookery demonstrations and, just as important, they enjoy being there. As Rene Redzepi, trailblazing chef at Copenhagen’s double Michelin-starred restaurant Noma, says, such festivals put him and fellow chefs in a gregarious mood offering, “a great time to get together and share ideas with fellow chefs and customers”.
Redzepi and a long list of top Copenhagen chefs will be taking part in the best dish competition at Tivoli’s annual August food extravaganza Gastronomic Days. Other events include an art-inspired dinner hosted by Paul Cunningham with Rasmus Grønbech of Prémisse and Thomas Rode Andersen of Kong Hans who will all be cooking dishes based on paintings that hang on the walls of their respective restaurants. If you’re paying a flying visit to Copenhagen, this is the perfect time to find out why Michelin nominated the city the hottest culinary capital in Europe this year.
Also in August, Foodies at the Festival is the latest addition to Edinburgh’s month-long mega arts festival. This year, new gastro-celebrity Tom Kitchin of The Kitchin in Leith will top the bill. He’s Scotland’s youngest ever Michelin-starred chef, has worked alongside Alain Ducasse at Louis XV in Monte Carlo, and was a finalist in this year’s series of BBC TV’s Great British Menu. Kitchin gives a hyper-creative edge to local and seasonal ingredients. He may well cook up his winning dish of smoked pike with beetroot, watercress and horseradish crème fraiche. Alongside Tom Kitchin will be another top Scotsman, Martin Wishart. He’s the chef Gordon Ramsay recently described as “Scotland’s next big thing, no question”, whose cutting edge dishes include his signature chilled sweetcorn soup with basil sorbet, crisp veal sweetbreads and salted almonds. If you miss his slot at the event, he has his own Edinburgh cooking school (see www.martin-wishart.co.uk). Other attractions include Nell Nelson – the woman who, as the title of her TV series put it, ‘ate Scotland on a bike’ – preparing picnic foods.
For francophiles, there is Les Etoiles de Mougins. This annual September food festival in the gorgeous hilltop village of Mougins near Nice always guarantees a three Michelin-starred super-chef topping the bill. Last year it was the charismatic Pierre Gagnaire. You can also expect to see top local chefs such as Jacques Chibois or Alain Llorca of the legendary Moulin de Mougins restaurant. The festival is a mix of demonstrations, special meals and cooking competitions, and if dinner at Le Moulin de Mougins is way beyond your budget, local restaurants do special menus of fantastic Provençale cuisine.
For the first time this autumn the Milanese avant-garde Identita Golose gastro-festival will also hold a side event at London’s Vinopolis wine museum aimed at showcasing the cream of Italian cuisine. This is to complement the big annual bash which takes place in Milan each January. Top billing goes to Milanese cuisine’s poster boy, Carlo Cracco of two Michelin star Ristorante Cracco, who will be showing off his playful take on classic Italian dishes – think risotto of Szechuan pepper, ginger and anchovies, and buffalo mozzarella-crusted oyster with pepper cream. Such is Identita Golose’s global reputation that, along with other top Italian chefs, Lidia and Joe Bastianich will be jetting in from the renowned Felidia restaurant in New York.
Gastronomic Days festival, 22-31 August, Copenhagen, www.copenhagencooking.dk
Foodies at the Festival, 23 & 24 August, Sheraton Hotel and Festival Square, Edinburgh, +44 (0)131 226 7766, www.foodiesfestival.com
Les Etoiles de Mougins festival, 20-22 September, in Mougins, near Nice, France, +33 (0)4 93 75 87 67, www.lesetoilesdemougins.com
Identita Golose, 12-14 October, at Vinopolis, London, and in Milan in January every year, www.identitagolose.com
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