Executive Chef Owner Matt Lambert invites Parisian shooting star and owner of Restaurant A.T, Atsushi Tanaka to co-create a dinner extraordinaire at fast rising The Musket Room in New York City, Monday February 23rd.
The two chefs have admired each others’ cooking from across the Atlantic, now coming together to showcase their skills side by side.
This is your chance to experience not only how New Zealand cooking has been translated into Lambert’s American surroundings but to also to see how he works with a kitchen defined by the Japanese origin/French chef who claims his kitchen to be “impossible to define”.
Impossible? We beg to differ. Come taste it for yourself.
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CHEF PROFILES
MATT LAMBERT
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Matt Lambert marries his New Zealand heritage with a modern, innovative culinary technique, practiced at The Musket Room where he is the Executive Chef and Co-owner. He has quickly become a rising star in the culinary metropolis that is New York City.
Lambert’s cuisine draws inspiration from his Kiwi upbringing, now mixed with his experience of working in some of New York City’s best kitchens and passion for locally sourced produce. Under his leadership, The Musket Room received a highly coveted Michelin Star, just four months after opening in May 2013.
Born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand, Lambert knew from a young age that he wanted to be a chef. After applying for his first job at age 11 (the chef told him to come back when he was of age), Matt first found himself in a kitchen at 14, washing dishes and getting to know the industry that became his life.
At 16, he was granted an apprenticeship with New Zealand restaurateur Garry Bates, an experience which lead to his acceptance into the Culinary Program at Auckland University of Technology. In 1999, Lambert relocated to Wellington, New Zealand, where he worked in various restaurants while completing his degree at Whitireia Community Polytechnic.
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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 the 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 categorise his cooking Chef Tanaka simply states “impossible”.
His impressive resume includes Pierre Gagnaire in Paris, Quique Dacosta (Alicante), Pastorale (Antwerp) and Sergio Herman’s Oud Sluis (Sluis), as well as top-Scandinavian restaurants such as Geranium in Copenhagen, and Frantzén and Oaxen Krog, both of the Swedish capital, Stockholm.
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 Atsushi Tanaka’s own culinary journey.
An advocate for subtle flavours, Atsushi Tanaka can be inspired by something as simple as a shade of green, often limiting his dishes to two or three products of the same colour, creating a number of different textures from just the one ingredient, simply naming a dish ‘Camouflage’.
A.T.s creations are a mixture of poetry, art, colour and taste. It’s a base of ground charcoal, topped with flowers and foie gras and, at times, a bit crazy. Today, 16 years after he started cooking with Pierre Gagnaire, the master himself refers to Atsushi Tanaka as “Picasso of the kitchen”.
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DETAILS IN SHORT
Who: Chef Matt Lambert of The Musket Room (NYC) and Chef Atsushi Tanaka of Restaurant A.T (Paris, France).
When: Monday, February 23rd.
Where: The Musket Room – 265 Elizabeth Street, New York, NY 10012.
Menu: 8-course tasting menu for $100.
Seating times: First seating at 6pm; every 15 minutes until 7pm. Second seating at 9pm; every 15 minutes until 10:30pm.
Reservations: (212) 219-0764 or events@musketroom.com
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The diplomacy speaks to a strong network of 500 journalists, bloggers and writers, as well as 2000+ luxury diners around the globe.
Hungry for more? Have a look Behind the Scenes.
“Chef Matt Lambert’s forte is antipodean cuisine with a contemporary twist, and his masterpieces don’t disappoint.”
– Guide Michelin.