Northern European cuisine has seen growing success on the international culinary scene in recent years, with young chefs making a name for themselves, following the trail blazed by the world-renowned René Redzepi.
One of them is Torsten Vildgaard, from Denmark, who after working at the famous Noma opened his own restaurant, STUD!O, which has been awarded a Michelin star.
He initially started a traditional course of studies, before realizing that he wanted to follow a different path. He developed a passion for food and particularly for quality ingredients, becoming hypercritical of what he found on his plate. After graduating from high school, he decided to follow his passion and shelved the idea of university to dedicate himself to cooking.
His first experiences were at Tinggården, a restaurant north of the capital where chef Jan Friis Mikkelsen is famous for making almost everything himself and sourcing ingredients from local farmers. Clearly it was the right place for him to start. He spent three years here as an apprentice, learning about discipline, rules, technique and seasonality. After a few temporary placements he ended up at René Redzepi’s newly opened Noma, and stayed for eight years. Now he is working on his own personal project, the restaurant STUD!O.
Vildgaard will be bringing his unique touch to Pollenzo, with the unusual flavors that in recent years have come to characterize Northern European cuisine. His menu will feature grilled beets with blackberries and summer preserves, poached egg with kelp, baked celeriac with smoked parsley and cheese and, to finish, Jerusalem artichoke ice cream and apples.
Italian-Argentinean Mauro Colagreco is the chef at the restaurant Mirazur in Menton, on the French Côte d’Azur. After a period of training that brought him from Buenos Aires to the French kitchens of the great chef Bernard Loiseau, he worked in Paris at L’Arpège, with Alain Ducasse and at Le Grand Véfour.
In 2006 he took the big step of opening his own restaurant, Mirazur, in Menton. Success was immediate: Just over six months after opening, the restaurant was awarded “Revelation of the Year” by the Gault Millau guide, then received its first Michelin star in less than a year. Mirazur features regularly on the list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, and in 2012 Colagreco received his second Michelin star.
Colagreco’s cooking is known for being light and delicate, and many of his ingredients are self-produced, like vegetables, oil and bread.
On Wednesday December 7 he’ll be bringing a taste of his flavors to the Academic Tables, with a menu featuring spaghetti squash, coffee and bitter cocoa, followed by onion tortellini with Menton lemon and consommé of grilled vegetables with tamarind, then closing with “narajo en flor,” a dessert of saffron, eggs, cream, almonds and orange.