Q&A with Schilo van Coevorden
Schilo van Coevorden is busy. Extremely busy, because he currently works as chef at Taiko in the Amsterdam Conservatorium hotel and travels back and forth to London’s Café Royal every week. At this English five-star hotel, besides being chef, he is also manager of the pop-up restaurant by Albert Adrià, the brother of top chef Ferran Adrià. The pressure and expectations are high. Within twenty-four hours, all covers for the pop-up, which will be open for 50 days from February, had sold out.
Which food trend should we put an immediate stop to?
I really think nouveau frituur is bullshit. We should assume that if we make fries or a croquette, it should be good. Apparently we have sunk so deeply, and the quality of the regular snack bar has declined so sharply, that we now need fancy snack bars to eat something as simple as good fries.
Most memorable dining experience?
I’ve eaten so many delicious and special things that I find it difficult to choose one. But I must say that once, in the first week of August, I ate in Rosas (Northern Spain) at the most famous restaurant in the world, El Bulli. There are two tables outside where you can sit, and all you hear is the sea. Towards the end of the evening, the water is so still that it only breathes a little. And then you get everything from Ferran Adrià. At that moment, as a self-proclaimed creative chef, you realise how small you are, because it is so insanely good. So insanely well-conceived. Such an insane experience. Everything you thought it was, it was precisely not. It was a complete mind-fuck.
Favourite drink?
I love Japanese whisky. Twenty years ago, I was at an event when someone asked what my favourite whisky was. I told them it was Suntory Whisky. They all looked at me as if I was out of my mind, whereas twenty years later this whisky is so popular that it is impossible to find anywhere. Everyone really wants to drink it. But I’m also crazy about Champagne from small houses such as Boulard-Bauquaire. My guilty pleasures are a banana milkshake and a piña colada; I’m completely crazy about both.
Essential kitchen gadget?
A microplane for shaving everything very thinly. And of course a good knife, a razor-sharp Japanese knife. It makes such a difference in the kitchen. I’m sure ninety percent of the knives being used are blunt, but if you work with extremely sharp knives, you cook very differently. You work more delicately, and you can taste that in what you cook.
Which country is your favourite when it comes to food?
Spain and Japan share first place. Japan is the ultimate food country; everything you eat there is amazing. During prime time on Japanese television, you only see shows about food. Japan is food, food, food. But I must say that a country like Spain, where I worked for four years, is also a favourite. Food is so important there at every level of society, from the street worker to the bank director; everyone is occupied with food all day long.
What should everyone have eaten at least once?
Real Japanese Wagyu. The meat market has been ruined by traders, because they made us eat fake Wagyu from Australia and America for years. If you compare that meat with the holy grail, real Wagyu, the difference is enormous. It is a disgrace to sell fake Wagyu as the real thing. It has a completely different mouthfeel, and the fat tastes so different. That is incredibly beautiful. But I also think everyone should have eaten truffle. I find truffle one of the most complex flavours the earth has given us, both the black and white varieties. I personally prefer black truffle, because I find white truffle tastes too much like garlic, but that is my personal opinion.
What is the best supermarket product?
My favourite thing from the supermarket is Chocomel. I think our Chocomel is truly brilliant and incredibly delicious.
What is still on your culinary wish list?
I would really love to go to Chicago and San Francisco. I’m very interested in Asian cuisine, and in these two cities you see many Japanese-Asian influences reflected in the cuisine. But the flavours of Mexico, which are very complex and spicy, also appeal to me greatly.
Which cookbook should everyone have on their shelf?
I grew up with Escoffier, the bible and foundation of French cuisine, but nowadays there are so many beautiful books. Two years ago, Ferran Adrià published a book containing all the staff meals. All the recipes are described in a very enjoyable way. These days, I rarely look at cookbooks anymore. In the past, you heard about a particular restaurant through a feature in a magazine or newspaper, and it usually included a small photo of a dish. Then you would look for the restaurant’s chef, who sometimes happened to have a cookbook of their own. You ordered it immediately. Nowadays, journalists eat at a restaurant and a second later everything is online. As a result, all the magic has disappeared. You go to restaurants now and often already know exactly what you are going to eat.
What do you like to make at home when you want to eat quickly and well?
I have two very sweet children who are extremely fussy about food. That is frustrating for both me and my wife, but I do cook at home occasionally. I like to make simple dishes such as vegetable soup, osso buco, chicken curry, and things like that. And I can make really delicious thin crêpes. Yes, that is something they do like.
Which dish do you have no self-control around?
At the moment, Alain Ducasse’s chocolate. If you think of the best chocolate you have ever eaten and compare it with Ducasse’s chocolate, it is certainly twenty times better. I was sent a box and became addicted immediately. The next day, I ordered €250 worth of chocolate.
Text: Nora van den Heuvel
Image: De Fotomeisjes
