Translator: Dries Van der Smissen Reviewer: Denise RQ
Cuisine is only three things to me: technique, product, and emotion.
I am Sang Hoon Degeimbre,
I'm the chef and the owner of the restaurant L'Air Du Temps
situated 50 kilometers away from Brussels, in the countryside.
My first inspiration to create dishes was wine
because I used to be a sommelier before I opened my restaurant.
[Technique is important to improve products]
For me, techniques came first.
In terms of product, I searched around in the surrounding farm,
in this beautiful place, in Éghezée,
to find the basis of my creations.
I think you can't speak about products
without experiencing how to grow them yourself.
We searched around, we started to learn,
step by step, like a chemist:
try, fail, try, fail again.
I think some of my first guests remember this -
or not; they're not there anymore.
We were missing something in this area.
We were missing a garden, we were missing nice vegetables.
When we started, I never could have imagined
what the impact of the garden would be on my philosophy.
The most important thing is to be open-minded;
and to be aware, to push boundaries.
If I had to name my cuisine style,
it would be something like 'terroir contemporain, ' contemporary terroir.
We have to care about tradition,
we have to care about our producers and all our local providers.
But we also focus on our roots.
My roots are in Belgium and in Korea, too.
'Terroir contemporain' means tradition,
but there is no tradition without modernity,
and that's why I focus on technology, and modernity,
caring for whatever is at its best now,
and caring for our comfort zone and tradition.
We have many foreigners in the restaurant, and this means
(Video starts)
(Voice-over) Do you hear me?
Sang Hoon Degeimbre: ...we create dinners together with international chefs,
with some of my friends from all around the world.
We focus on the garden to create a nice dinner for our guests.
The dinning room only covers for 40 guests
but cuisine is like a party.
We invite them to have an aperitif, to have a drink,
and to party along with us afterwards in the kitchen.
You have to be open-minded and keep focusing on your own style,
but caring for what is happening around the world.
I want to explain you the different steps
I needed to take before I could have my own style.
I am really passionate about science,
and this kiwi-oyster is our kind of signature dish.
I focused on aromas because I used to be a sommelier.
As a sommelier, I think, the best tool is my nose.
I started to combine different foods
depending on the major aromatic flavors they had in common.
Kiwi and oyster have more than 14 flavors in common;
unbelievable.
It looks nice, but it's even better when you taste it.
You have to; maybe one day.
Kiwi and oyster are only two ingredients,
but I have to speak about my emotions.
My emotions mean
I just want to give you new combinations, a new taste, a new experience.
It's the same for this lobster.
Step by step, after 15 years of experience in the garden--
My garden is my first inspiration.
There are a lot of problems in a garden.
Water is the main problem.
Sometimes it rains too much - we are in Belgium -
and sometimes, we don't have enough.
How can I cook my stuff - my vegetables, my lobster,
this fabulous lobster coming from Belgium -
how can I cook them without water?
I use the steam of the vegetables I didn't use because they weren't pretty,
I use the steam of the vegetables to cook my potatoes, my lobster, and my carrots.
Have you ever seen a recipe with ugly leaves?
We'd only take the best.
But the best for me doesn't have the same meaning than it has for you.
For me, the best is a question of taste.
And that's why we use ugly leaves to cook carrots without water.
Water, once again:
to avoid waste in my garden, I create these kinds of water.
And as a technique, I use a processing machine
to extract the flavor of all the components.
And my emotions in this--
I just wanted to offer yet another experience to my guests.
Pairing it with wine -- I think every restaurant can do that.
But pairing it with water, that's pretty new;
and you'll have an unbelievable experience.
And you have to taste it again.
I love having guests in my house, in my restaurant,
but I love to see them coming back.
Avoiding alcohol is sometimes good for security reasons.
The same for my garden.
I have Korean roots, and it's common in Korea to ferment food,
ferment the vegetables to preserve them for wintertime.
During the summertime we have too much vegetables,
and we try to avoid waste.
That's why we started to ferment.
At the beginning of the winter, we had over one ton of vegetables
lying in the cellar, waiting to feed people.
I think the right word for this is sustainability.
This dish is really important for me.
I'm politically engaged.
I just want to fight against excessive tuna-fishing.
Imagine this dish: the main component is beetroot.
It comes from my garden.
And when you see it, it looks like tuna flesh.
I use this to replace tuna.
I use some Korean ingredients: fish, anchovy, and some shellfish.
It's like a nice life in the blue sea.
This blue sea is made with cabbage
and anchovy dashi.
Imagine this perfect life:
lying on the sea, quiet.
But imagine the aggressiveness of men
who have put a drop of fear in this blue sea.
Each time you dip your spoon into this dish, it turns into blood;
the blood of the tuna in excessive fishing.
It's a nice message,
but it's edible, too.
The last thing that is really important to me
is I have never learned to manage a team.
I have never learned how to cook, I have never learned to taste wine,
but I've become one of the best sommeliers in Belgium,
I have two Michelin stars, but how do I manage my team?
Everybody used to take care of the entire kitchen,
but do you know what's the reality?
That used to be the tradition, it used to be the reality,
but a lot has changed.
To manage a team I used the model for my garden.
I do 'permaculture', and now, I want to do 'permanagement';
to manage my team is like having different plants in my garden.
There is a certain richness in my garden.
Imagine this: I have 45 people in three different restaurants,
and this is my way to manage them:
I take care of each human as if each were a plant.
They have to care for the other plants behind and right next to them.
You have to keep this in mind.
They look quite happy, don't they?
I have to give one last example.
I created an R&D department in my restaurant.
I thought about incorporating this R&D chef in the classical kitchen.
But I wasn't convinced by my approach.
And so I wondered what was the best example of an R&D chef in my garden?
The best R&D chefs turned out to be the bees.
Imagine bees going from flower to flower
and leaving a trace of each flower in the next.
And the pollen becomes a fruit.
It's the same with our R&D chefs: they go from position to position,
asking advice from each of the chefs.
What do you think it takes place inside each of these chefs?
It grows a fruit, the fruit of importance.
It's just a minor example, but we need to reflect upon this.
For me, 'emotion' means 'human.'
It will be the next trend.
And cooking, 'la cuisine,' is not only cooking.
Thank you very much for your attention, and if you want to hear more about this,
I could keep talking about this for many more hours.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)