mymuybueno Chefs Get Personal

In this season finale episode, Justine interviews Chef Jack Cashmore as he shares all about the opening of his dream destination restaurant, The Chef's Table at Blue Duck Station, New Zealand.British chef Jack Cashmore began his career in kitchens at 13 years old. The infectious energy and buzz of the restaurant environment enthralled him and set him on a path with the desire of one day opening his own restaurant. That path lead him through some of the best kitchens in Europe, notably the two Michelin starred Restaurant Sat Bains in Nottingham, and In De Wulf in Belgium. Several trips to New Zealand acquainted him with the magical an enchanting wild paradise that is Blue Duck Station. However, it wasn’t until after a 3-year stint as head chef at the critically acclaimed ANGLO in London, that he returned to Blue Duck Station in early 2018. Here, at the age of 27, he began developing and building The Chef’s Table at Blue Duck Station, New Zealand. Built from scratch, atop a remote mountain ridgeline, the intimate 10 seat restaurant opened in 2021.Instagram: @jack_cashmore and @thechefstableatblueduckWebsite: thechefstable.co.nzThank you for listening. Subscribe now so you don’t miss an episode.You can follow mymuybueno on Instagram to stay updated in all going on, now in it’s eleventh year and all Justine’s restaurant visits and reviews too.And mymuybueno Chefs Instagram – our culinary community.Use our hashtag when posting your best dishes and when searching for inspiration #mymuybuenochefs#mymuybueno #mymuybuenochefs #mymuybuenochefsgetpersonal #eatlivelearn

In this episode Justine interviews the inspiring Two Michelin star chef of Da Terra, Rafael Cagali.Originally from São Paulo in Brazil, Rafael started his career in London at the age of 21. Inspired by his Italian heritage, young Cagali then took to Italy to work under Chef Stefano Baiocco at A Villa Feltrinelli where he spent over 3 years. Later in another European excursion, he began growing his career after travelling to Spain to work for Chef Quique Dacosta and Martin Berasategui. After returning to England, Cagali joined the team at famed restaurant The Fat Duck by Heston Blumenthal where he had an honourable stagiare position and after graduating took on the role of their Chef de Partie. From there, he went onto work with Simon Rogan at Fera at Claridges. Leading the Aulis in Fera, Rafael carried on there as head chef. In January 2019, Rafael opened his first restaurant Da Terra in Bethnal Green, London. With Cagali as executive chef after only 8 months, and followed by hard work and dedication, Da Terra gained its first Michelin star. And just 1 year later, following a very eventful 2020, the restaurant was awarded their second star in the Michelin guide of 2021. Rafael Cagali’s experimental cuisine is inspired by the flavours of his origins and influences of his culinary experiences throughout his career.Instagram: @rafacagali and @daterrarestaurant and @elis.ldnWebsite: daterra.co.uk and restaurantelis.co.ukThank you for listening. Subscribe now so you don’t miss an episode.You can follow mymuybueno on Instagram to stay updated in all going on, now in it’s eleventh year and all Justine’s restaurant visits and reviews too.And mymuybueno Chefs Instagram – our culinary community and mymuybueno Group.Use our hashtag when posting your best dishes and when searching for inspiration #mymuybuenochefs#mymuybueno #mymuybuenochefs #mymuybuenochefsgetpersonal #eatlivelearn

In this episode Justine interviews the renowned Chef John Williams of The Ritz, London as he shares his advice for aspiring chefs and so many more pearls of wisdom.Loved by our royal family, Williams joined The Ritz London as Executive Chef in 2004, bringing three decades of hospitality experience to the venerated kitchens of the legendary Piccadilly hotel. Taught by his mother to cook, Williams developed his passion for food at an early age, his culinary career began in 1974 with his first position as a Commis Chef in Otterburn. Young Williams soon started work at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, later becoming their Chef de Cuisine in 1982. In 1986, Williams joined the distinguished Savoy Group of Hotels and Restaurants, during his 18-year tenure, he served as Premier Sous Chef at Claridge’s and Maître Chef des Cuisines at The Berkeley, before his move to head up Claridge’s kitchens as Maître Chefs des Cuisines in 1995. Williams is a man adorned with many awards, being appointed Executive Chairman of The Royal Academy of Culinary Arts in 2004 and awarded the Pierre Taittinger International Award and the Craft Guild of Chefs Award in 2000. In 2005, he became the first British Chef to be conferred with a CMA by the French Government. And in 2008, he received the ultimate accolade when he was awarded as MBE in the New Year’s Honour List by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for his services to hospitality. He is the recipient of a Royal Warrant for Banqueting and Catering Services from His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, making The Ritz the first and only hotel to receive this prestigious accolade. In 2013, Tatler awarded Williams with their Lifetime Achievement Award at their annual Restaurant Awards. Catering for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s 70th and 80th birthday banquets as well as several private dinners for the Royal family at The Ritz and state functions at Buckingham Palace. Williams says, “I have always had a great love of The Ritz and for its time-honoured traditions. The forward-thinking methods and beliefs of Escoffier, the friend and collaborator of our founder Cesar Ritz, have influenced my career significantly and it is a pleasure and an honour to be part of culinary history at this great hotel”. Instagram: @theritzlondon and @johnwilliamschefWebsite: theritzlondon.com/john-williams and theritzlondon.com/cookbook/Thank you for listening. Subscribe now so you don’t miss an episode.You can follow mymuybueno on Instagram to stay updated in all going on, now in it’s eleventh year and all Justine’s restaurant visits and reviews too.And mymuybueno Chefs Instagram Use our hashtag when posting your best dishes and when searching for inspiration #mymuybuenochefs#mymuybueno #mymuybuenochefs #mymuybuenochefsgetpersonal #eatlivelearn

In this episode Justine interviews the legend that is Wolfgang Puck as he shares about his 29 years of catering the Oscars and so much more. A name that is synonymous with the best of restaurant hospitality and the ultimate in all aspects of the culinary arts. The famed 2-Michelin star chef has built a brand encompassing three companies. Puck is also more widely known of late as the official chef catering for the Governors Ball, the Academy Award’s post-Oscars celebration, which he has been doing for 29 years.Puck began cooking as a child, at his mother’s side. She was a chef in the Austrian town where he was born, and with her encouragement, Wolfgang started his formal training at fourteen years of age. As a young chef he worked in some of France’s greatest restaurants, including Maxim’s in Paris, the Hotel de Paris in Monaco, and the Michelin 3-starred L’Oustau de Baumanière in Provence.In 1975, Wolfgang went to Los Angeles and very quickly garnered the attention of the Hollywood elite as chef of Ma Maison in West Hollywood. His dynamic personality and culinary brilliance that bridged tradition and invention made Ma Maison a magnet for the rich and famous, with Wolfgang as the star attraction.From Ma Maison, Wolfgang went on to create his first flagship restaurant, Spago, originally located in West Hollywood on the Sunset Strip. From its opening day in 1982, Spago was an instant success and culinary phenomenon. His early signature dishes, such as haute cuisine pizzas topped with smoked salmon and caviar, and Sonoma baby lamb with braised greens and rosemary, put him and Spago on the gourmet map, not just in Los Angeles but throughout the world. Puck has gone on to open a cult of hugely successful restaurants across the globe and in September 2011, Puck opened his first European venture, CUT in London at the new 45 Park Lane from The Dorchester Collection.He is the only chef to have won the Outstanding Chef of the Year Award multiple times.Instagram: @wolfgangpuck and @45parklane and @spagobhWebsite: CUT, London and Wolfgang PuckThank you for listening. Subscribe now so you don’t miss an episode.You can follow mymuybueno on Instagram to stay updated in all going on, now in it’s eleventh year and all Justine’s restaurant visits and reviews too.And mymuybueno Chefs Instagram – our culinary community.Use our hashtag when posting your best dishes and when searching for inspiration #mymuybuenochefs#mymuybueno #mymuybuenochefs #mymuybuenochefsgetpersonal #eatlivelearn

In this episode, Justine interviews the legend that is Chef Pierre Koffmann. Pierre is a 3-Michelin star chef with more than 55 years’ experience in the kitchen.Pierre was born in Tarbes, in southwest France, to a family that had farmed for generations. His love of food came from the cooking of his mother and grandmother. One of the greatest pleasures was sucking the juices from string that had been used to tie up meat for roasting.From such simple pleasures, you might imagine that Pierre was almost born to cook. You’d be wrong. His first thought after being invited to leave school at the age of 14 was to join the SNCF national railway. He only opted for culinary college when he realized the holidays were longer.Pierre had found his calling, and trained in restaurants across France, venturing as far as Strasbourg and learning the regional differences in cooking that were so pronounced in France at that time. He also crossed the border into Switzerland, working in Lausanne before deciding to set out to England to watch the England vs France rugby match in 1970. After that, he never left, though he says the food in the UK was shockingly bad.He went to work at Le Gavroche under Michel and Albert Roux, rising to sous chef. The brothers then asked him to open the Waterside Inn, which (like Le Gavroche) went on to win three Michelin stars. Pierre left to open his own restaurant, La Tante Claire, in 1977, where he won three stars in his own right, serving a refined version of the rustic cooking of his youth. His most famous dish of stuffed pig’s trotter still appears on menus around the world.His books include the classic “Memories of Gascony” and the James Beard Award-winning “Classic Koffmann.”He retired in 2003 and was only persuaded to return to the stove when he was invited to open a two-week pop-up on the roof of Selfridges in 2009. Such was the demand, two weeks turned into two months. Pierre then went on to open Koffmann’s restaurant at The Berkeley hotel in 2010­. The original plan was for three years, though Pierre lasted for six, enjoying going into the kitchen each day as much as ever.Pierre mentored a generation of chefs. Marco Pierre White, Gordon Ramsay, Jason Atherton, Tom Aikens and Tom Kitchin are among the Tante Claire alumni, while a younger generation, including Tiffany Lo in Hong Kong, graduated from Koffmann’s. This may be his greatest legacy, though he’ll remain best known for his most famous dish from La Tante Claire.“I know what it’s going to say on my gravestone,” he says. “Pig’s trotter.”Instagram: @pierre.koffman and @thefoodheroesfamilyThank you for listening. Subscribe now so you don’t miss an episode.You can follow mymuybueno on Instagram to stay updated in all going on, now in it’s eleventh year and all Justine’s restaurant visits and reviews too.And mymuybueno Chefs Instagram – our culinary community.Use our hashtag when posting your best dishes and when searching for inspiration #mymuybuenochefs#mymuybueno #mymuybuenochefs #mymuybuenochefsgetpersonal #eatlivelearn

In this episode Justine interviews Chef James Knappett as he shares about his incredibly inspiring journey, working with some of the world’s best chefs.James Knappett is chef patron and co-founder of Kitchen Table. Born in Soham, Cambridgeshire, James had an early interest in cooking and attended a Cambridgeshire catering college before moving to London and landing formative positions at the likes of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, The Berkeley and The Ledbury. Following a number of fulfilling years in the hospitality industry in the city, he relocated to Rick Stein’s The Seafood Restaurant in Padstow for three years. In 2005 he ventured further afield to world-renowned restaurant, Thomas Keller’s Per Se in New York and then to the renowned Noma in Copenhagen. James and his wife, Sandia Chang, opened Kitchen Table in September 2012, which was awarded a Michelin star in 2014, followed by a coveted second Michelin star in 2018. Since opening 8 years ago, the restaurant has been celebrated for offering a dining experience that encourages full interaction with the chefs and showcases remarkable acts of kitchen theatre.Website: https://kitchentablelondon.co.ukInstagram: @jamesknappett and @kitchentable1Thank you for listening. Subscribe now so you don’t miss an episode.You can follow mymuybueno on Instagram to stay updated in all going on, now in it’s eleventh year and all Justine’s restaurant visits and reviews too.And mymuybueno Chefs Instagram – our culinary community.Use our hashtag when posting your best dishes and when searching for inspiration #mymuybuenochefs#mymuybueno #mymuybuenochefs #mymuybuenochefsgetpersonal #eatlivelearn