L'Alchimista | Milan.
Chef Misha Sukyas calls his style techno emotional and with a wave of avante-garde dishes, he twists your tongue and tricks your senses.
Always doing something unexpected, Misha likes to keep inventing, calling his restaurant, l’Alchimista a “trattoria” compared to what he’s doing next.
An instructor at the Food Genius Academy, chef Misha Sukyas brings his students into the small kitchen with him at his restaurant and shares his untraditional approach to cooking. He sees his ingredients like he does his students, not as a one-dimensional entity, but as a multidimensional whole that is the sum of it’s parts, each one having multiple characteristics and endless potential.
The chef still uses a collection of rare copper pots and pans left to him by his grandmother that are centuries old.
CGC: How would you describe your cooking style? What is your approach to cooking?
MS: Eclectic, and with no frontiers, a mix of cultures. I want to give experiences of colors and flavors
CGC: Why is your restaurant called “L’Alchimista?”
MS: It comes from alchemy, that transforms things in gold. Because of the concept of transforming something raw, unrefined, in gold, in something special.
CGC: What do you want people to experience when you cook for them?
MS: A 360 degree experience of food and flavors that takes people to places around the globe.
CGC: How did you become a chef?
MS: It was a lot of work - a lot of training around the world, in a lot of places.
CGC: If you could cook for anyone in the world who would it be?
MS: Gandhi, a light person, I never thought about it
CGC: What’s a new trend in cooking technique you think is cool?
MS: I can't say because there are so many. The use of liquid nitrogen, crystallization, I think is pretty cool.
CGC: What is always in your kitchen at home (what ingredient/s can you not live without)?
MS: Chilli in general - and meat – but I really like pork...and asparagus
CGC: When you want to make something simple, quick, and good, what do you make?
MS: Eggs benedict
CGC: What is something people should know about you?
MS. I love my job and I have fun doing it.
CGC: Any upcoming projects/collaborations?
MS: A new restaurant called The Garage that is coming up soon
CGC: What is the Food Academy?
MS: It’s a school for gourmet cuisine that gives students the opportunity to experience cooking gourmet cuisine in restaurants and with chefs that may not be possible in another place.
CGC: What do you like about teaching?
MS: With teaching you give someone the chance to develop what they want to do, I find it very rewarding, giving possibilities to people, sharing what I know.
CGC: What artist/designer/musician inspires you?
MS: Yves Saint Laurent, for his elegance
CGC: Who would be your top choice to design the ultimate chef’s uniform?
MS: Yves Saint Laurent, elegant, and classic at the same time. I think he could do something really modern.
CGC: When you think about your childhood, what dish comes to mind?
MS: Baba ghanoush from my father.
CGC: What ingredient/dish are you bored of seeing?
MS: Tomato, it's really everywhere in Italy! Do something different!
CREDITS:
Bracelet: MIA'S Anchor Bracelet
Editor-in-chief: Melissa Lupo
Photography and Art Direction: Simone Martucci
Styling : Denise Zanetti
Production Assistant: Camila Salles
Comments