Recognised as one of Europe’s premier gastronomic events, Obsession is celebrating its 17th year with 23 outstanding guest chefs with 16 Michelin stars between them. Travelling from across the world to luxury, Lancashire-based hotel, Northcote, these chefs will cook their unique Obsession Menus during the 17 night event taking place Friday 20th January to Sunday 5th Feb 2017.
On February 27th Hans Neuner will be the top chef invited to takeover the kitchens at the infamous event, with all his culinary repetoire in tow. The two Michelin star chefgrew up in a gastronomic family in Tyrol, Austria. After his initial training he wanted to see the world and started out with stints in St Moritz, London’s Dorchester Hotel, Spain and the Bermudas. He also worked on board a cruise ship and saw him travel from L.A. via Hawaii to Australia.
He finally found a place on the side of two-Michelin-star chefin Germany, and as his sous chef spent 10 years in Berlin and Hamburg, where he honed his team leadership skills. In 2007, Neuner was asked to head the kitchen of Hotel Vila Vita Parc in the Algarve, Portugal. He took up the challenge and promptly earned restaurant Ocean the first Michelin star after only two years. Soon Neuner started to look for producers, farmers and fishermen to work with him and his kitchen team found great joy in tending their own garden for vegetables and herbs.
Today, restaurant Ocean has two Michelin stars and puts the emphasis on fish and seafood. Neuner describes his style as modern Portuguese and very product-oriented. His creations are filled with colour and flavour and the playful presentation adds yet another layer of depth to his creative output. Neuner still loves to travel and see the world, to find inspiration and to keep his mind active.
Nigel Haworth, Northcote’s Chef Patron created Obsession in 2001 as a celebration of great food, wine and a meeting of friends, old and new. Today that is still very much the ethos of the event and Nigel looks for chefs who are obsessed with working with the very best ingredients and challenging themselves to be as creative as they can be in the kitchen.
Nigel Haworth, Chef Patron at Northcote said, “Obsession is now in its 17th year and its great reputation means that it is self-propelling; as soon as we finish the event, we’re already thinking about the next year and how it can evolve to be even better than the last. This year we have an eclectic mix of chefs that I’m really excited about, covering all spheres of cooking from all over the world and with a new focus on the Americas. It’s important to have this variety as many guests come to a number of nights during the event, so I want to make sure there are plenty of appealing options.”
Tickets for Obsession 17 cost from £130 per person including Louis Roederer champagne and canapé reception, five course menu, and coffee and petit fours. Specially paired wine flight can be added starting from £60 per person.
For more information visitwww.northcote.com/obsession17.