Interview with Chef Marco

The running of a restaurant is a never-ending cycle; purchasing decision is made after discussion with my sous chef the afternoon before. The space limitation of our kitchen means that we can store no more than three days supply.

The morning starts checking the arrival of meat, fish and vegetables that are delivered daily between 9.30-10am. Fresh quality produce is the key to a good restaurant. Marco must check the quality to ensure that it’s to standard.

Then check the booking for lunch and dinner, see who are our regulars and what are their special needs. Knowing who has made a reservation he knows instantly where they want to sit and the atmosphere they like. If they are smokers sit them closer to the lobby so that it’s easier for them to pop out for a cigarette.

The kitchen bakes all of their own bread, with the exception of croissants, normally using local flour when we can get it at the right quality, sometime if it hasn’t been stored properly we cant use it and are forced use flour imported from Germany. The biggest problem in baking bread in Thailand is the humidity.

Fish has to be delivered fresh daily. The kitchen has four industrial fridges that contain the different produce. I am showed around those storing some of basic sauce, others with meats and fish prepared into portions. For example three portions of mixed grill will be taken from the freezer to de-frost over night for use the next day. The problem with relying on to many-imported produce is that one day I may have them the next they are not available.

Then we move onto the one with the pre-cooked pasta that just needs to be dropped into a pan of boiling water to finish it al dente. Many Thais don’t like their pasta like as its too hard from them to chew so their needs are for more boiling until its soft – it’s just a matter of taste. By European standards a Thai taste could be seen as more sweet and what we might regard as over cooked. If the customer wants to sprinkle sugar on their dish, it’s their prerogative.

All of our vegetables come from Chiang Mai, mostly from the Royal Projects. “I believe in the product,” he says, “and I buy were the quality is right and the price is good.”

“Today we are getting a local grown tomato,” says Marco, “ of the quality three years ago we would have had to import. I believe that with a year we will have the Roman and Samasala tomatoes, the later is the one used for making a tomato sauce.”

Three years ago local vegetable production was a disaster. The improvements are a result of a lot of Germans, who have settled in Chiang Mai, and are growing vegetables. They have successfully crossed European vegetable with Thai produce to develop a strain that will survive here. In Europe we have four seasons and some plants need the variation of warm and cool temperatures, but in Bangkok we only have hot. They just can’t survive.

In the last three years the Royal Projects have made a lot of research of what will and will not grow in Thai soil. Sent their staff overseas to Europe, take Chef’s from Bangkok and introduce them to the new produce coming out of Chiang Mai. Sharing ideas has led to the improvement of Thai vegetable production.

“My grandfather was a farmer in Italy,” says Marco, “ he would go into the field and my eating some of the soil could tell what crops to plant, that is experience. We need to do the same here when deciding what to grow.”

“I have tried growing basil from seed on the balcony of my apartment,” he says, “ just as I did in Italy, they would grow so far then just keel over and die. “I was begging with the plant,” he says, “to grow just a little higher and give me to leaves. But before that happened they are gone.”

He then takes a tomato out of the refrigerator, lets me smell it and then slices it in half, there was a consistent deep red colour throughout the vegetable, it looked and smelt like a European produce, but it was grown in Thailand. “You can’t buy a tomato like this yet in the supermarket,” he says, “the supplier is only making them available to top restaurants and five star hotels.”

Local potatoes are still a problem in Thailand, there is only the white potato, “They are good for French fries,” says Marco, “but for gnocchi we should have a yellow potato, but the white is rather watery. Having boiled the potatoes, I roast it into the oven to dry out a little before mashing. But as more European get involved in the development of a Thai grown potato.”

Only a painter can work alone, what goes on the canvas is an individual expression of feelings that are personal and come from the heart. But with agriculture and cooking we are all dependant on others.

After lunch I must work on the dinner operations, as that’s where we make most money. Ensure that the right preparation has been done and that the service team is aware of any items that aren’t available.

I have a well-trained team in the kitchen and my sous chef knows how I like my dishes to be cooked. That allows me to spend more time on the floor of the restaurant with the customer, talking with them, making recommendations.

When I ate here last week I told Marco that I had the Oven-Baked Chilean Snow with Potato crust, artichokes and a red wine reduction, why this unusual combination? “I believe in contrast of flavours,” he says, “potato has a plain taste but can absorb the flavour of the fish and the wine. Snow fish is a special product, nice not a strong taste but can be combined with other flavours. Red wine reduction with shallot and carrot reduce to a tenth will have add all the alcohol boiled off. Then add a little sugar so that the flavour doesn’t become too bitter. The contrast of the three tastes works well; I like their individual tastes and the synergy even better. Then the artichoke becoming the king of the dish with a taste can be a little bitter. Just add a little garlic and parsley and it compliments the fish. When creating a sensation a chef must first have the taste in his head and then his mouth.”

“I don’t like rules,” he says, “ but sound foundation are necessary. The kitchen should be a creative environment. A chef must have some individuality to be respected. What makes a chef different from another is the way he interprets his style of cooking.”

Marco Maggio, Executive Chef, La Gritta, Sukhumvit Soi 19, Tel 0-2255-7350