What/Who inspired you to become a chef?
When I was five years old, I had two favourite TV shows: ‘The Pink Panther’ and a cooking show called ‘Bocuse à la carte’. From the very first moment I was enthralled by this man in white, working away in this kitchen, juggling copper pans and creating stuff that just looked incredibly delicious. It was magic! This was when I knew that this is what I wanted to do.
What is your culinary philosophy?
To take my guests on a journey through the colorful world of tastes and flavours. I love to surprise and show them combinations of tastes that they have never thought could match or be possible.
What does the ‘art of plating’ mean to you?
Plating is for me like painting a picture. It is the final step of my creations and the moment when all my ideas, emotions and sensations concerning one dish are transferred onto one plate.
How do you try to translate your philosophy onto the plate?
Every plate is a new beginning. None is like the other. With creativity and passion to detail I am constantly trying to reach perfection on each plate.
Can you explain to us how the creative journey of your dishes begins?
The creative journey of my dishes begins usually with something that I observe in every day life and that I think is beautiful. May it be a certain combination of colors, shapes or both. In the next step I ask myself: How can I translate this picture onto a plate? How should this dish look like and how should it taste? To put this question into other words: How can I rebuild it culinarily. In the last step I need a lot of quietness. While sitting in silence I put all the pieces and ingredients of this new dish in my head together. Only if my belly-feeling tells me „go“, I cook it.
As an example: One summer I saw a little boy jumping in a yellow bath suit from a white play-cube into the lake in front of our restaurant. And so I created the dish: Scallop in Matcha-Tea-Broth with South-Italian Lemoncreme“.
Do you have a particular dish that was a favourite to create?
All of my dishes are unique but one is crazy and was huge fun to create: Scallop cannelloni stuffed with black pudding on snails-peach-duxel and assam-tea-bouillabaisse.
What would you say has been the most memorable moment in your culinary career so far?
When we opened our own restaurant in 2010.
Is there a dish of another chef that you feel is iconic and why?
The Acqua pazza by Don Alfonso. It gives you the sense to be on the beach of Naples where you feel the love of simplicity and art of living.
What do you think is on the horizon for the future of the fining dining scene?
I think that the fine dining scene will go more and more back to the roots of flavour. To put it another way: the flavour of the orginal product will more and more get into focus again.
Who’s restaurant would you most like to eat at and why?
The Fat Duck by Heston Blumenthal because I am curious about the presentation of their dishes.
Find out more information about restaurant Weyringer here | www.weyringer-wallersee.at
Images | Ian Ehm