Nepo Kitchen Consulting 2018

Perth, Western Australia

The best part of January was spent in Western Australia. With some visits to some vineyards in the Margret River area and Manjimup the truffle growing area 300km south of Perth. Back in Stockholm I did some follow up work and checked out the market interest for Australian winter truffles during our European summer months. The truffle farmers around Manjimup Grow most of Australia’s annual 14 ton harvest of Tuber melanosporum.

Audi FIS Ski World Cup Finals

During February and March, I worked intensely with the upcoming alpine event in Åre, Sweden. menus, calculations, logistical solutions & purchasing. An intensive planning period for the expected 600-700 daily guests. We catered for the whole event from a school kitchen, Fantastic logical challenges and solution. It was a great success from a kitchen and catering view point, I didn’t get to see much of the skiing, but I’m told there were winners there as well.

TUI Family Life F&B congress Mallorca, Spain

Directly after Åre I moved my focus to the Mediterranean preparing for the annual TUI food and beverage conference this year it was at Kolymbia in Rhodes.

Two groups 40+ executive chefs and food & beverage managers from Turkey to Spain, great to catch up with some of the returning chefs and meet some new members in the TUI family.

Healthy food, vegetarian, vegan, buffet presentation, children’s buffet, desserts & themes- Asian, Italian, Mexican were on the menu.

Kitchen support chef at TUI’s Family Life resorts

My first trip out was Mallorca visiting the Alcudia pins resort, we did some work on their Spanish taverna menu, some general observations and feedback, great fried chicken there, also a new pizza restaurant with super Pizzas. Then down to Kos for some hands on a la carte work in Mamari beach’s Greek Taverna and their Green and Grill theme restaurants, it was nice and hot at Mamri beach resort luckily, it’s blessed with one Greece’s picturesque iconic beach fronts.

Caldera beach resorts at Gerani, Crete, two resorts in one, coaching in the new executive chef at the start of their season, some work with their Greek taverna concept and stone grill restaurant. Then down to Oliba In Sardinia for a week if you are looking for a tranquil & relaxing get away destination set in a natural environment. For me it was buffet selections, quality and guest expectations were on the menu here, and of course great pizza and pasta as one would expect.

Then another week in Kos with more hands-on hands on a la carte work in their theme restaurants, great to see the progress that the team has continued on with since my previous visit. These island destination resorts are full of pitfalls and challenges for the unsuspecting or un experienced executive chef with their multi food & beverage outlets, staff and supplier complications.

Visiting ADH hotel’s Islantillia resort in Andalusia, during their high season, the whole coast is full of Spanish tourists down to enjoy the family orientated coastal resort, an interesting resort destination with no exploitation or party scene, only family holidays. While there we did some work on the Spanish taverna menu and general buffet work.

A few km down the road we visited Isla Christina’s fish market, a hub for the local tuna, mackerel and sardines fishing fleet.

Cornwall

Squeezed in the middle was a quick study trip to Cornwall linking together Stockholm’s newly opened Fiskhallen Sorunda and Flying fish at St Columb in Cornwall. Local caught Cornish seafood at its very best being shipped to England’s best eating houses, we also squeezed a visit to Newlyn fish market.

Truffles

The long-awaited Truffles from Manjimup, Western Australia started to arrive, the visit in January followed by follow up meetings here in Stockholm started to pay dividends with some fresh produce arriving, excellent truffles 24 hours after sorting they’re out of the forest and for sale in Stockholm. New delivery’s every week during August, Truffles a great new venture for Nepo Kitchen Consulting, now we’re building on continuality. The end of August bought the last of the season’s truffles, but they’ll be back again next year.

Åre 2019

I received confirmation and approval of my participation at the FIS world alpine ski championships in February 2019, 4-5 times bigger than in March earlier in the year. Through late autumn and early winter, it was Åre 100%, meetings and planning, Global knives, Broil king BBQ, Audi, Barilla, wine tasting, sous chef recruiting, equipment lists, purchasing meetings and the list goes on. It’s all downhill from here.

Kitchen support chef at TUI’s Family Life resorts

Finishing of the year with a visit to Flamingo Beach, resort. Check in for the opening of the winter season, meet Nordotels new corporate ex chef, it’s always easy to work with good people.

A corporate meeting and a new restaurant direction with some cooking classes thrown in for good measure.

And lastly a brief change of scenery back in Khao Lak to meet the new executive chef, concept coaching and hands on cooking training for the new pool menu and Thai taverna seafood menu.