In 2002, I graduated in culinary arts as a chef and confectioner, and a year later I moved to Ireland, where I spent some years working in hotels doing comfort food, fine dining, wedding parties for 120 to 600 people and big events up to 1,600 people. Then in 2009 I joined a luxury Seabourn Cruises ship where I learned from the best mentors as the 14-course menus changed every day. In 2012, I took up a position in Norway, learning from Michelin-starred chefs, working with fresh ingredients and preparing everything from scratch. My sous chef at Valldal Fjordhotell in Norway advised me to apply for a chef job on a superyacht and so I joined yachting in 2017.
I love working with luxury, premium-grade ingredients when I’m able to choose fresh, local, seasonal produce around the globe. I have the possibility every day to present art on the plate, and to make the guests and crew happy. I also love meeting people from different cultures.
The multitasking operations are the most challenging, when you have to do the provisioning, menu planning, cooking and pot washing.
I mainly focus on healthy dishes and make the most nutritious food possible. I love putting together different cuisines or some elements of each. Everything needs to have a good amount of balance — it should neither be overcooked nor undercooked to keep all the flavors in.
My favorite cuisine is Mediterranean as there’s a lot of fish and seafood involved.
My favorite dish to cook is lime, fresh coriander, parsley, spring onion, chili-flake-marinated, freshly caught conch ceviche, served on mango carpaccio and avocado, topped with micro arugula and fresh coconut shavings.
The ideal guest knows exactly what he or she wants in advance and enjoys the food slowly, respecting all the ingredients.
The strangest request I received was in Greenland, where I had charter guests ask me to prepare a soup based on whale and sea lion meat.