Go with the flow
Gulf Air Sky Chef Mark de Voest likes to introduce passengers to new tastes
Where are you from, and how did you get into cooking?
I’m from Pretoria in South Africa. I always enjoyed food as a kid, and both my mother and grandmother are very good cooks. I started baking with my mother when I was about eight, and by the time I was 17 I was taking cooking seriously.
Where did you work previously?
I did my training at a hotel school in Neuchâtel in Switzerland, then went to Indonesia and set up three restaurants as a food and beverage manager. After that I was executive chef at a private island resort called Quilalea, off Mozambique. It has nine villas, and I prepared three meals a day. Everything came from the sea and a helicopter arrived once a week with the vegetables.
What does being a Sky Chef mean to you?
The best bit for me is making a guest happy over a five- or six-hour flight. Some say it’s the best food they’ve ever had. A lot of them are frequent fliers and experiment with the menu,
which I love. It’s very rewarding when someone gets into proper food rather than junk food, and I hope it rubs off when they get back home. I also thoroughly enjoy travelling and the excitement of being away.
What are your favourite three places to eat in Gulf Air destinations?
In Frankfurt there’s a restaurant in a church grotto called Der Andechser im Ratskeller (6 Schlossplatz, Wiesbaden, +49 (0)611 300023). It serves traditional German food, such as dumplings, schnitzel and brat-wurst. It’s got stone walls, benches and wood fires. I don’t eat in restaurants when I’m in Paris; I head off to a little market in La Défence and buy a baguette, some olives, cheeses, meats and pâtés, take it all to a bench and watch the world go by as I eat. In Manila, I always seek out little sea-food restaurants. I go with the flow and ask the waiter what he would recommend. That’s how I learn about food – you find something you like, then you incorporate it into your own cooking at home, and all of a sudden you have these fantastic dishes. |
