standing still for too long. I’ m always, slowly pushing forward and I really believe that in any business you have to keep continually looking at small ways you can improve your product. With restaurants there are so many areas that need you to focus your energies on from the food to the service, the décor, the ambiance and the whole experience that you are trying to provide. Not to mention the staff training, the marketing and keeping an eye on the finances. At the end of the day, I know I will never be satisfied and I will always feel that we can do better … but I’ m fine with that as long as we keep slowly moving forwards.
Congratulations on winning your third star at your Palma flagship restaurant Marc Fosh at the Convent de la Missió Hotel – how does the cuisine there differ from your two new restaurants? Marc Fosh restaurant is where you can enjoy some new, exciting dishes or some of our signature dishes that have become so popular over the years. Fosh Kitchen is more casual and the Lab is all about the creative process and discovering new flavours.
Does this farm-to-table, healthy style of cuisine reflect changing attitudes to food in London and Mallorca? I think it definitely does and I feel it’ s going to become even more prevalent. We strongly support local produce and admire the values of the Slow Food Movement, which defends responsible consumption, organic farming, seasonal foods, avoiding the use of genetically modified products, and the use of local ingredients within a 100-kilometer radius. This is now known as Km 0 and it’ s pretty hot right now.
The goal is basically to limit the human impact on the environment – less flying, driving, and fuel consumption( all of which leaves a smaller " eco-footprint "). Farm-fresh produce is also packed with nutrients and generally doesn ' t have to be sprayed with chemicals to protect it for the long haul to the restaurant kitchen. Thinking globally and sourcing locally is not just politically correct; it ' s also personally rewarding for the farmer, the chef and the diner. Everybody wins.
I believe that here in Mallorca we have always relied heavily on KM 0 produce from our beautiful Island, we just didn’ t fully realise it and we certainly didn’ t know how to sell it to the outside world. I guess the fact that this has always existed here to a large degree has resulted in a lack of urgency to tell our story well and sell our wonderful local produce in an effective way to the outside world. Just a quick glimpse around a restaurant like Marc Fosh and you’ ll see that around 70 % of the wines on our list are from the Island. On the table our organic olive oil is from the village of Montuiri and our sea salt is from Es Trenc. Our menu is littered with local ingredients from Sóller prawns, young almonds, sea fennel, scorpion fish from the Mediterranean and local lamb from the surrounding fields etc, etc. Locally we have so much to offer.
Your wife Iris is German, she recently started working with you. How do you manage to stay happy at work and at home? I really wanted Iris to join me for a long time but she was busy running her own business. Luckily she was finally persuaded and it has been wonderful working together for the past year or so. Off course, you can’ t really switch off at home and invariably we always end up talking about business, but that’ s ok, at least we share everything now.
What does the future hold in terms of restaurant trends? I think the trend is for more vegetable based menus and a reliance on locally sourced products. We recently introduced a vegetarian tasting menu at MF restaurant and it has proved to be extremely popular with everyone who has tried it, not only vegetarians.
What’ s next for you? We at the Fosh group have a lot of plans. We are in the planning phase of opening our first outside of Palma. It’ s going to be something very different and we are all very excited about the next phase of our journey. We will keep gently pushing forward.
Thank you for talking to us.
Photos: nando esteva | inteRview BiRgit UngeR ReseRvations at maRcFosh. com
Fosh Kitchen opened in September, the rmore casual restaurant is located in Calle Carrer d ' Orfila 4 in Palma ReseRvations on tel. + 34 971 721 354
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