restaurants

From working at his family restaurant in Vienna, Austria, to training at the legendary Fat Duck and finally becoming the Executive Chef at Novus, the 28-year-old Chef Stephan Zoisl has come a long, impressive way. After all, in the culinary arena, it’s the experience that really counts. His resume, which reads like a seasoned veteran’s, includes touring with the F1 catering team and working in St Moritz with the venerable Reto Mathis. He was also a part of the culinary team at Vienna’s Steirereck, the 2 Michelin-starred restaurant (ranked the world’s 21st by the San Pellegrino World 50 Best Restaurants list this year).

After training at the Fat Duck earlier this year, Chef Stephan has returned to beguile the taste buds of diners at Novus. We took this chance to chat with Chef Stephan about his incredible experience working at Britain’s most celebrated restaurant.

What was the most important lesson you learnt from your time at the Fat Duck?
I’ve learnt the importance of being a perfectionist. Chef Heston Blumenthal is a complete genius. He fine tunes a dish for 1.5 years until it is perfect, before putting it on the menu. He will spend 8 days making a consommé. I’ve learnt from him to be patient with the products, to let time reveal their most brilliant qualities. I now cook my beef sous vide for 48 hours!

I’ve also learnt that the restaurant needs to focus on the entire dining experience for the guest. Hence, we’ve introduced little menu cards to be placed on the table just before their dish arrives. These menu cards entertain and inform the guest about the ingredients and processes behind the dish, just the way I’d explain it if I have time to speak to the guest.

What was the toughest aspect of the whole experience?
The hours were long—we were on our feet from 7.30am until after midnight. We got a 20-minute break, but we pushed ourselves so hard we did not even want to go for the break. 35 people were squashed into a space half the size of Novus’ kitchen, standing elbow to elbow and not turning unless absolutely necessary. The ceilings were low too, especially for a tall person like me (he is 1.88m). However, compared to all that, the most difficult part was leaving at the end of the stint.

Are there any items or elements in Novus now that are inspired by your time at the Fat Duck?
The triple-cooked fries! The fries are first steamed, put into a blast freezer, and then moved into a chiller. They are then deep-fried at 150 degrees until a hint of crust forms and put back into the chiller before they are finally deep-fried at 200 degrees just before serving. This two-day process is completely worth it; the fries will be amazingly fluffy on the inside but crispy on the outside.

Also, every guest at Novus now leaves with a complimentary box of petit fours or a small cotton cheesecake. This is inspired by the Fat Duck, where every guest leaves with a paper bag of specially-crafted treats to remind them of the meal experience. Especially in Singapore, people do not have enough time to have petit fours at lunch, so I would like to give them something to take back to the office or home.

Finally, what characterizes your cooking style at Novus?
I play around with textures a lot. Having a love for architecture, I experiment with different ways of cutting to create more artistic presentations of the food. I also place a huge importance in being exact and detailed—a difference of 3 degrees means I am not accurate and also means that the dish is no longer perfect.