E ver since Auguste Escoffier (1846- 1935), aka The King of Chefs and the Chef of Kings, introduced the concept of the menu as a written presentation of dishes in luxury hotels at the end of the 19 th century, creating those lists of dishes has been the most impor- tant and most serious undertaking of every chef. The essence lives on today, but those bulky, heavy, leather-bound menus are being consigned to history and won’t be found in today’s best restaurants. Experts worldwide agree on several basic rules – a menu must be elegant, clean, simple... It is the personal ID card of chefs and res- taurants, which is why chefs devote spe- cial attention to them. Even the famous Martha Stewart has highlighted the importance of the menu to further the fate of restaurants, advis- ing them to pay attention to every detail. - Every ingredient that impacts on the taste of the meal must be noted. There is nothing worse than ordering a dish that sounds perfectly tasty and then not liking it because the description actually wasn’t sufficiently precise. For all lovers of gastronomic adven- tures, the chefs at restaurants “Homa”, Fil- ip Ćirić, and“Iris”, Vanja Puškar, both estab- lished visionaries in the restaurant world, sat down with us to discuss what a menu means to a chef, and to a guest, what’s the most difficult part of creating a menu and how they chose to design a handwritten
joj viziji koju je nazvao New Bal- kan Cuisine . – Ovaj koncept počiva na lokal- nim namirnicama, na tome da se svakih mesec dana menja jelovnik, kako vegetarijanski, tako i onaj s me- som ili ribom. Polazna osnova mi je spisak namirnica koje su dostupne sledećeg meseca. Zato je ovaj kon- cept fleksibilan i krajnje subjektivan – priča Vanja. Menijem od osam gangova on predstavlja širu paletu ukusa koje Balkan pruža od one uobičajene i po- kazuje kako vidi balkansku kuhinju. Vanja je uočio da je prostor Balkana „najdostupnija egzotika nove global- ne gastropublike“, ljudi koji putuju svetom i uživaju u novim ukusima i zato veruje da zlatno vreme balkan- skog restoraterstva tek dolazi. – Sastavljanje menija jeste izazov, ali ne želim da se ljudi vezuju za je- la, već za formu i stil. Sam jelovnik štampamo na finom omanjem kar- tonu i sasvim je sveden u predstav- ljanju. Bez detalja o jelima, već sa- mo u naznakama. Onog trenutka kada mu kono- bar preda jelovnik u ruke, počinje avantura na kraju koje gost izlazi zadovoljan ili s primedbama zbog kojih neće ponovo doći u restoran. Zato je kreiranje menija prava ma- la umetnost.
menu for guests to familiarise themselves with their culinary creations. - The menu is the guiding star of every restaurant. It may sound excessive, but it really is the holy grail of every chef. On it you present the philosophy you follow, your attitude towards ingredients, towards culture ... - explains Filip Ćirić. According to him, the menu is de- signed in accordance with the season, but he is extremely fond of situations in which he prepares a dish of the day inspired by specific ingredients. At some point they are special forest mushrooms that can on- ly be offered at that time… - We print the menu every day, on white paper. That’s my feeling for effect. In this way I’m flexible and, as it’s also impor- tant that menu is clean, because it hasn’t been touched by a million people. It is used two or three times and then discarded. The creativity of a chef lives, grows and endures, and it dictates how you com- pose a tasting menu of eight or six dishes. - It can be compared with creating a musical composition in which each note has its own significance and meaning, or with the devotion with which Manolo Blah- nik makes his shoes, says Vanja Puškar, an- other star of Serbian gastronomy, about his vision, which she has dubbed New Bal- kan Cuisine. - This concept relies on local ingredi- ents, on changing the menu every month, both vegetarian and meat or fish men-
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