Chefs
Fourteen Greek chefs from Greece and abroad have been invited to participate in the Sani Gourmet 2011. Those outstanding masters of gastronomy will highlight the core theme of this year's festival, the "New Greek Cuisine" and urge us to explore new culinary horizons with a scent of modern Greece.
Nikos Karathanos
‘A kitchen is like the army, it has to have discipline’, says Nikos Karathanos, the young chef who entered cookery school without even his own father believing in him. But with perseverance and determination he learned the secrets of his craft, working in the Octoberfest Restaurant in Agia Paraskevi to help pay the fees at cookery school. He then went on to do an apprenticeship in Varoulko, and then at the Spondi, where the famous chef Jerome Serres placed him in the patisserie section, a vital experience he claims, because ‘A chef needs to know how to make sweets and desserts too’. Recognition came quickly: he was just 28 when the Hytra Restaurant was awarded its first Michelin star.
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Water RestaurantWhen
13-14.05Ticket price
115 €
Yannis Baxevanis
After studying in Greece and France, where he also worked for five years, Yiannis Baxevanis is now one of the leading Greek chefs, with many distinctions to his credit, including awards from the International Academy of Gastronomy. He describes himself as ‘fortunate’ to have been able to make a living from his hobby, and believes that a good chef must travel in order to convert his experiences into creative ideas. He has a great affection for the products of Greece, which he uses to create ‘paintings’, as he describes his culinary inventions. He has worked in major hotels and restaurants (Elounda Beach, Mirabello, Grecotel Mykonos Blue, Hytra, 12 Apostoloi, Kitrino Podilato, Hytra etc) and is currently the owner of Catering Baxevani, of the restaurant 2Mazi (Nikis 48, Syntagma). He is also a special gastronomic advisor to the hotels Grand Resort Lagonissi in Lagonissi, Dubai Majestic in Dubai and to the Kyrimai in Mani. He is the author of a book – Yiannis Baxevanis – My best.
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Water RestaurantWhen
18-20.05Ticket price
115 €
Constantin Erinkoglou
For thirteen years now chef Konstantinos Erinkoglou has been introducing the people of Brussels to Greek cuisine, providing creative dishes with pure ingredients from Greece at his restaurant, Notos. Born in Kavala, with roots in eastern Romylia and Constantinople, he draws on the legacy of the multicultural cuisine of northern Greece, and has done much to showcase local dishes. He has won numerous awards, one of which was as best ambassador for Greek cuisine in Belgium.
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Water RestaurantWhen
21-22.05Ticket price
115 €
Asterios Koustoudis
Born in Thessaloniki, Koustoudis studied cooking at the School of Tourist Professions. Entering a cooking competition opened the doors of the Makedonia Palace Hotel, where he stayed for six years, two of them in the Porfyra Restaurant. He then took his distinctive creative talents on to the Ayioli Restaurant at the Electra Palace Hotel. His first great challenge came in 2008 with his collaboration with the Pentelikon Hotel in Athens and the Vardis Restaurant, where he ventured on a major change from French to Geek-centred cuisine, winning a first Michelin star in 2009 and a second in 2010. He has won numerous other awards, was a member of the Greek Olympic Cooking Team in 2003, and has been teaching cooking since 2005. Last February he took up a position as chef at the Roof Garden Restaurant in the Hotel Grande Bretagne.
Check out their menuWhere
Byblos LoungeWhen
14-15.05Ticket price
115 €
Yorgos Venieris
Executive chef at the Golden Hat-winning Electra Restaurant at the Electra Palace Hotel, and an instructor at the Chef d’Oeuvre School of Gastronomy, Giorgos Venieris is one of the most frequently awarded Greek chefs, whose CV includes spells at the award-winning restaurants Beau Brummel (executive chef) and Spondi (1st chef), the Astir Hotel on Paros, the Hilton, Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, the Vardis Pentelikon Hotel, the Peters and Hohlidaki restaurants in Athens and at Pounta on Folegandros, and the Private Catering company. He also advises on menus for the restaurants Veggera (Patmos), Cavo Tagoo (Mykonos), Delfi (Utrecht, Holland) and Echo (Athens). In recent years he has taken part in the Sani Gourmet and Cinema on a Plate festivals. He has won international awards in competitions for fine cuisine and appeared as a guest on many TV programmes.
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Byblos LoungeWhen
20-22.05Ticket price
85 €
Theodore Kyriakou
Born in Athens, the first part of Theodoros Kyriakou’s career was spent as a captain in the merchant navy. After travelling the world he became involved as an activist on Greenpeace missions to Iceland and the Antarctic. In 1990 he decided to jump ship in London and devote himself to his first love, cooking – a passion inherited from his restaurant-owning parents. In 1995 he opened his first venture, Livebait, as co-proprietor and head chef, and was then bought out by a large group of restaurants. It was now time for his next restaurant, Real Greek, which opened in 1999 and did much to change perceptions of Greek cuisine, not previously appreciated by serious diners in the British capital. His chain now numbers seven restaurants, winners of important awards, and he himself has time to engage in related activities like writing on food and cooking.
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Sea You UpWhen
13-15.05Ticket price
115 €
Yannis Loukakos
Born in the USA in 1973, Loukakos grew up in Athens and studied mechanical engineering at Penn State University. While still a student, he worked regularly in restaurants, at first just to earn some extra spending money. But he soon realized that cooking meant much more to him than a casual occupation or hobby, and so he signed up for courses at the Culinary Institute of America, and then did an apprenticeship at a five-star hotel in Phoenix, Arizona, where he stayed for two years. He also worked at the Waldorf Astoria and the Park Avenue Café in New York. In 2000 he returned to Greece, to work first as sous chef, and then as chef, at Boschetto. In 2004 he entered on a collaboration with the Yes Hotels & Restaurants Group (Semiramis, Twentyone, Periscope) as executive chef, in which position he won a number of important awards. In 2009 he went freelance, opening the Bread & Salt Restaurant.
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Sea You UpWhen
16-18Ticket price
85 €
Christoforos Peskias
Christoforos Peskias was born in Cyprus and studied business administration at Boston University. He became fascinated by cooking while still a student, and this fascination soon turned into a veritable passion. Returning to Greece, he worked for three years as chef at the Dash Restaurant in Kifisia, leaving for America again in 1992 to study alongside chefs Charlie Trotter and Jackie Pluton. From 1997 to 2002 he worked in the kitchens of the Puerto Colina, Rock n’Roll and Balthazar, subsequently studying in Europe under Ferran Adria, Mark Menaux and Joel Robuchon. In 2003 he took over the kitchen at the 48 Restaurant, remaining there until 2008 and securing it a place in Restaurant magazine’s top 100. In 2010 he opened the first Πbox, in Kifisia, and recently a second at the Periscope Hotel in Kolonaki. Πbox is his latest concept. He works regularly with the Gastronomos magazine, a supplement with the Kathimerini newspaper, and has been the recipient of many awards.
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Sea You UpWhen
21-22.05Ticket price
115 €
Chrysanthos Karamolegos
Chrysanthos Karamolengos brings a big heart and a keen intelligence to the creation of dishes which combine past and future, the histories and cultures of many countries, many different memories and feelings. A champion of the redefinition of Greek culinary traditions, Karamolengos is the inspiration behind ‘green cuisine’, in which pure materials are the absolute prerequisite for each dish. At his restaurant Apla in Athens, and at the Domata in the Sani Resort, he creates as if from nothing breathtaking mosaics of flavors, with recipes sometimes inspired by people, countries, and trends, sometimes by moods or feelings. Whatever the dish, Karamolengos applies to it all his knowledge and imagination. The quality of the result is so superb that he is now regarded as perhaps the main exponent of creative Greek cuisine – a status confirmed by the frequency with which he receives commendations and awards.
Check out their menuWhere
Tomata RestaurantWhen
13-17.05Ticket price
95 €
Dimitris Dimitriadis
Dimitriadis studied cooking at the Tourist Professions School in Rhodes, and began his working career in 1994. He has worked as chef in restaurants such as Nabucco, in Ekali, the Byblos Porto Sani, winner of a Golden Hat culinary award, and Sea You at the Sani Marina, as well as the Amymoni Restaurant at the Nafplia Palace Hotel, etc. He trained under Jacques Chibois (Michelin 2** winner) and Alain Parodi (Michelin 1*), and at the Noma Restaurant – named best restaurant in the world in 2010. He is currently chef at the Cibus, producing dishes rich with the colour and fragrance of Mediterranean cuisine, further enhanced by his own passion and originality. He has received a special commendation from the Lions Club and has taught cooking at the Palmier Vocational Training Centre.
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Tomata RestaurantWhen
18-19.05Ticket price
85 €
Argyro Varda
Having established a name for herself in the culinary world, Argyro Varda set up the restaurant Elia kai Dyosmos (Olive and Spearmint) in Skalani, Irakleio. The restaurant was the natural progression from her career to date in the field of creative gastronomy. Visitors to the restaurant can follow to their source the memories of a little girl who was studying the mysteries and secrets of Cretan cuisine even before she had learned to read and write. The dishes served here awaken memories charged with the warmth of a grandmother’s smile and the family meal on Sundays, combining the sensations of traditional cuisine in a venue that blends the highest aesthetic standards with the cosiness and warmth of the family home.
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Tomata RestaurantWhen
20-22.05Ticket price
85 €
Dimitris Skarmoutsos
Skarmoutsos was born in Athens but left for America at the age of 18, studying economics at UCLA and then cooking at the Culinary Institute of America. He began his working career in 1993, and in 1996 began to work at major hotels and restaurants in America. His favorite is the LA French Laundry, where he worked for two years alongside the renowned Thomas Keller. His recruitment by the Sheraton to join the corporate executive chef team for 100 of the chain’s hotels gave him the chance to travel to all corners of the earth – an unforgettable experience. He is currently chef of the Alatsi Restaurant and enjoying a new fame for his role on the TV reality show Master Chef.
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OuzerieWhen
14-15.05Ticket price
85 €
Katerina Syrou
Aikaterini Syrou began her career – in which the emphasis has always been on traditional Greek cooking – in her home town of Arnaia, Halkidiki, serving food for the demanding customers in an ouzo parlour on the ground floor of the family home. She then moved on to work for more than ten years at the legendary Krikelas Restaurant in Thessaloniki, where the regular customers included artists, businessmen and politicians. Konstantinos Karamanlis himself would visit the restaurant to enjoy her famous spinach pie. In 2002 she moved to Cologne, where she runs the kitchen at Sofia’s Restaurant, voted Cologne’s best restaurant in 2010.
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OuzerieWhen
16-18.05Ticket price
85 €
Manolis Aslanoglou
Aslanoglou was born and raised in Athens, where he was initiated into the world of catering at a very early age, working first as a waiter and then as an assistant chef. His passion for cooking led him to the Le Monde school in Athens, and later to Switzerland, where he worked until 2007 in a number of luxury hotels and restaurants. He also practised his art in France, Italy and Spain (in the latter at the Arzak Restaurant, winner of 3 Michelin stars, beside chef Juan Mari Arzak). On his return to Greece he worked as executive chef at the Elounda Gulf Villas & Suites Hotel and the Rodos Park Suites & Spa Hotel, and then at the Vasilaina in Piraeus. He is currently working at the Gaspar Restaurant alongside Chronis Damalas, blending western and oriental cuisine with fascinating results. Already the recipient of a number of significant awards, Manolis Aslanoglou is best known for his experiments in developing modern versions of Greek traditional dishes, producing sophisticated menus of rich and varied flavours.
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