Raùl Garcia, 21, sous-chef at Focus (18/20), will be a finalist in Milan. With Guy Ravet as mentor.
SWISS HOPE
Sous-chef to Patrick Mahler at the Focus (18/20 and 2* Michelin) in the Park Hotel Vitznau, Raùl Garcia qualified last year for the final of the S.Pellegrino Young Chef cooking competition, to be held in Milan in early October. For the young man (21), it’s still a long way off: “Right now, I’m not nervous at all. But when I get there, things will certainly change”, says the candidate.
EFFICIENCY AND PERFECTION
These are the two qualities that unite Mahler and Garcia. Raùl understands me 100%,” says Patrick Mahler. His motivation and determination are remarkable. So much so that we sometimes forget that he’s only 21 years old.” After his apprenticeship, Raùl interned with Andreas Caminada (19/20) and worked with Pascal Steffen at Roots (17/20) in Basel.
TRIP TO JAPAN
Now, Raùl dreams of studying with a Japanese sushi master: “Their precision simply fascinates me”, he says after spending two weeks in Tokyo and Kyoto, where he dined at the three-starred Sushi Yoshitake: “It was even better than I’d imagined”. For the time being, however, Raùl is a finalist in the S.Pellegrino Young Chef competition, with the same dish as in the Brussels semi-final: stuffed pike-perch fillet, mussels, pike-perch ceviche and artichoke. “I’ve refined this dish further, in particular with a little saffron,” explains Raùl. As Mahler will not be able to travel to Milan, he will be mentored by Guy Ravet, President of the Grandes Tables de Suisse.
