CHEFS ON THE MOVE
Who? Kobus van der Merwe, chef-patron at Wolfgat
Where? DENMARK and SWEDEN
WHY SCANDINAVIA? In May, I went to Ringkøbing in Denmark to participate in The Catastrophic Meal: Utopia and Dystopia on a Plate, where a group of chefs and food technologists from around the world came together to imagine some scenarios in the global food system 50 years from now. I then spent a few days each in Copenhagen and Stockholm. And in October I was invited to the Copenhagen Cooking and Food Festival, where I collaborated with chef Peter Nøhr Christensen and food historian Asmus Gamdrup on a rooftop dinner at the Østergro urban farm. We also participated in a “global hotdog championship” charity event, where I represented South Africa with my dad’s homemade boerewors.
DINING HIGHLIGHT? A tasting menu at a 12-seater eatery, Taxinge Krog, outside Stockholm, where self-taught chef Gustav Öhman serves an experimental Swedish tasting menu consisting of ingredients foraged around the restaurant, from birch syrup and lichen, to ants and wild rosehip.
TRENDS SPOTTED? A tendency towards simple dishes composed using no more than three or four ingredients. Plating is also much simpler, with no drizzles, dots and droplets. The focus is less on styling the ingredients on the plate, and more on delicious-looking produce in considered combinations.
@kobusvdmerwe;
wolfgat.co.za
Who? Chantel Dartnall, chef-patron of Restaurant Mosaic at The Orient
Where? FRANCE, BELGIUM, THE NETHERLANDS
Both! My parents and I decided
