DIEGO MUÑOZ, SØREN SELIN AND ATSUSHI TANAKA COOKS AT THE WACHAU GOURMET FESTIVAL
Bon Vivant Communications presents an unusual trifecta in the heart of Europe.
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Between March 31st and April 14th 2016 a highly distinguished assemblage awaits you at the 9th edition of the great Wachau Gourmet Festival.
With exclusive multi-course dinners, cookery shows, table talks with celebrities and exquisite wine tastings, the local restaurateurs and winemakers will once again show that Wachau is a culinary region on an international scale.
The program of Wachau Gourmet Festival is enhanced by appearances from internationally renowned star chefs of various Relais & Chateaux and Michelin-restaurants, who will create dinners in this historic and luscious wine region.
Amongst these Peruvian Superstar Diego Muñoz, 2*Michelin Nordic Critics’ Darling Søren Selin and Japanese-French Culinary Enigma Atsushi Tanaka.
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CHEF PROFILES
DIEGO MUÑOZ
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Master of Peruvian Cuisine.
Widely renown as one of the world’s most talented and creative chefs, Diego Muñoz flawlessly executes a complex layering of flavors with extreme attention to detail with an innovative and clean style.
Until very recent Executive Chef at the world renowned Astrid y Gastón in Lima, Peru, since 2012, he helped elevate the restaurant from #42 to current #14 on San Pellegrino’s Top 50 Worlds Best Restaurants and #3 of best Latin American restaurants.
Diego Muñoz started his career in 1998 when admitted to the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu in Canada and Paris. At the latter he was awarded “Le Grande Diplôme” – first price in culinary arts and pastry.
He worked at Mugaritz and El Bulli, before moving to Australia where he revolutionized the kitchen at Bilson’s.
Diego Muñoz draws his inspiration from already existing elements and reinvents them. On a trip to Nazca on the southern coast of Peru he saw the ancient spiral-shaped aqueducts known as cantallocs and used the water gathering qualities of these traditional structures in his menu.
Diego Muñoz has devoted 2016 to culinary exploration, adventure and limited time-based projects around the world in order to find the core of his future culinary DNA, and offers his gastronomic excellence for lectures, food festivals, consultancy, private dining and exclusive dinner parties.
Read more about this in The New York Times.
Diego Muñoz cooks at the refined Schloss Dürnstein, Wednesday April 6th. For reservation or/and more information, please press this link to the event.
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SØREN SELIN
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Søren Selin is a master of the senses. His tools are sourced from all that is offered by the local flora and fauna which he uses to create an incredibly stimulating experience of taste, colour, smell and texture.
His gastronomic philosophy is positioned from a modern style, using purely fresh Nordic produce. He states:
“My passion has always been to cook at the very highest level and at all times further develop my kitchen: A local cuisine that’s rooted in Danish ingredients and seasons, and a natural cuisine where the raw materials are the stars.”
Chef Selin has a culinary past at Le Relais Louis XIII (2 Star Michelin) and Jules Verne (1 Star Michelin), both situated in Paris, and at Alberto K in Copenhagen, – where he spent four years as the Executive Head Chef of the restaurant, including managing all food related matters of the iconic Hotel Royal.
Besides being rewarded with only top reviews for his gastronomy, he has been nominated in various categories for “The Danish Dish of Year” five times, taking prizes home to highly accoladed Restaurant AOC in 2013 and 2014.
Søren Selin was appointed Head Chef of AOC in March 2013, and has since received only top marks from all Danish and international food critics, taking Nordic Cuisine from punk to aristocracy.
In 2015 and 2016 AOC was awarded with 2*Michelin, making the restaurant among only two today in Copenhagen, the other being world-famous Noma now Geranium is awarded with three.
Søren Selin cooks at the idyllic Hofmeisterei Hirtzberger, Sunday April 10th. For reservation or/and more information, please press this link to the event.
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ATSUSHI TANAKA
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Atsushi Tanaka’s cuisine isn’t Japanese. Neither is it Spanish, Scandinavian nor Parisian, despite the fact that he has spent better half of his life training in the latter and has been highly influenced by a number of European culinary techniques, including molecular, Nordic Cuisine and Classic French.
When asked to categorize his cooking Chef Tanaka simply states “impossible”.
His impressive resume includes Pierre Gagnaire in Paris, Quique Dacosta of Alicante, Pastorale, Antwerpen and Sergio Herman, Sluis, – top-Scandinavian restaurants such as Geranium in Copenhagen, and Frantzén and Oaxen Krog, both of the Swedish capital, Stockholm.
All in all, Atsushi Tanaka is rich in diversity something that has constructed his culinary identity; all of his culinary experiences are a part of him, offered at Restaurant AT in Paris, giving him the edge over both Japanese and French chefs serving up more classic offerings in Paris.
A.T.’s cooking is light and every dish on the tasting menu tells a story, each as important as the next in terms of the journey it takes you on, and in a sense the dishes are a translation of his Atsushi Tanaka’s own culinary journey.
A.T.s creations are a mixture of poetry, art, colour and taste. It’s base ground of charcoal, topped with flowers and foie gras and, at times, a bit crazy. Today, 16 years after he started cooking at Pierre Gagnaire, the master himself refers to Atsushi Tanaka as “Picasso of the kitchen”.
Atsushi Tanaka cooks at the historic Kloster UND, Tuesday April 5th. For reservation or/and more information, please press this link to the event.
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WACHAU GOURMET FESTIVAL
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Wachau Festival is no stranger to internationally acclaimed supremacy as it frequently makes its acquaintance in the form of international restaurateurs and winemakers, eager to make the most of the place where some of the finest white wines in the world are made.
If this isn’t enough; the festival not only has the allure of fine wines, it also has the fantastic scenery which produced them. The charming Austrian valley has been formed over time by the Danube river which runs through the grassy hills and meticulously preserved pre-historic architecture, making it a World Heritage Site.
Wachau Gourmet Festival has been in collaboration with Bon Vivant Communications since 2011 on the matter of inviting an eclectic mix of interesting chefs:
In 2011, 2012 and 2013 New York City based NOMA co-founder Mads Refslund.
In 2012 Chef Wizard Ronny Emborg (then of Restaurant AOC in Copenhagen, today Atera in New York City)
In 2013, The King of Smørrebrød Adam Aamann.
In 2014 3*Michelin Bocuse d’Or Legend Rasmus Kofoed of Geranium,
In 2016 Peruvian Superstar Diego Muñoz, 2*Michelin Nordic Critics’ Darling Søren Selin and Japanese-French Culinary Enigma Atsushi Tanaka.
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Please see Wachau Gourmet Festivals own take on the full 2 weeks of culinary festivitas in the heart of Central Europe by following this link to the gourmet festival’s official website.
In case of interest or/and press, please contact Kristian Brask Thomsen at:
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Bon Vivant Communication is a culinary embassy representing star chefs and restaurants, chateaux and high-end wineries as well as working close together with various luxury hotels, gourmets festivals and bespoke concierges services.
The diplomacy speaks to a strong network of 500 journalists, bloggers and writers, as well as 2000+ luxury diners around the globe.
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