NOA Restaurant's head chef: Michelin star chefs must be artists
Cooking has become and artform and nowadays customers want to see those involved, said Tõnis Siigur head chef at NOA's Chef Hall, which secured its Michelin star for a third year this week.
NOA's Chef Hall is one of only two eateries awarded a prestigious star in Estonia in 2024. Raadio 2 show "Päev" asked Siigur on Wednesday what winning the star means to him and his restaurant.
"Cooking is certainly an art in a way, as long as the chef sees it as art," Siigur told Raadio 2 show "Päev". "If you already have a star, the pressure is even greater, because if you do not have a star you cannot miss out on anything."
The Viimsi-based restaurant was awarded its first start in 2022. But this honor also brings its own problems: how to keep it and how to move forward.
Siigur said, in the past, the star was linked solely to the chef, but today it is connected to both the chef and the restaurant.
"If a chef moves on for whatever reason, one of the stars is not immediately taken away, but it is given a chance because it might be able to carry on with a new chef and maintain their level," he said.
Nobody knows the magic formula to get a star today, he said. "It still requires expertise and skill, you have to have enough experience, there are so many details of how to create an emotion in a person in the first place, food is definitely a component of it," he told the show.
The guide reviews restaurants anonymously every year. Siigur said the staff keeps an eye out for solo dinners, as generally, people do not eat out alone at their restaurants.
Planning the menu is important, and each course must add to, and elevate, the whole experience like a concert's repertoire. "You cannot just have 10 really good minutes and 20 minutes of something that absolutely doesn't fit with it," Siigur said.
The chef has a lot of experience with French cuisine and feels it is close to his heart, but he is also always on the lookout for something new. "I'm always eavesdropping on exciting ways of serving food, what ingredients are used to make the food, thoughts are always running around in my head," he said.
One of the changes the restaurant has made in recent years is to move the kitchen into the restaurant.
"I think that's a very important part of the evening, that you get to see the artist. We do not want to go to a concert where we cannot see the singer. Michelin-starred chefs have to be artists, otherwise they don't stand out," Siigur said.
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Editor: Annika Remmel, Helen Wright
Source: Raadio 2 "Päev" interview by Tarmo Lehari
