A Star of a Chef
Part of the my success in loosing weight at the spa is due to the executive chef Oliver Glowig at the Capri Palace Hotel & Spa.
I asked Caroline Courteau the guest manager relations to have a talk with him as I apart from wanting to take a few of the delicious recipes at home, I wished to understand how the philosophy of the Mediterranean cuisine could be so simple and yet one of the most balanced of all diets.
Caroline sends me immediately through her new blackberry a message with an appointment for tomorrow at the terrace after my lunch and before my treatments. Coincidentally, and to my surprise, my friend, photographer Umberto D’ Aniello is there and as usual I took advantage of his kindness and asked hm to shoot a few pictures while Oliver and I were talking.
To my surprise, Oliver is German. Blue eyes, and extremely serious. Not the typical Italian exuberant chef. It’s very hard to extract a smile from him but easier to get a Michelin star (on it’s way to the second ) for the hotel he chose to work for after having married a Neapolitan woman six years ago.
We sit while Umberto’s at work and Oliver Glowig tells me he has spent 15 years in the restaurant and hospitality business mainly focusing on Mediterranean influenced cuisine.
His first relevant experience was with German Master Chef Otto Koch at “Le Gourmet” restaurant in Munich, a two Michelin star restaurant, where he learned the different cooking techniques of pasta, fish and meat. In 1995 he joined the “Acquarello” restaurant in Munich, an Italian gourmet restaurant with high ambitions. Chef Oliver learned new techniques and started to focus on appetizers and desserts.
One year later, he had the chance to improve his knowledge of Italian cuisine with the world famous Italian Chef Gualtiero Marchesi. After the Italian experience, he returned to Germany to the “Acquarello” restaurant with the leading role of Executive Chef. In only one year he was able to get his first Michelin star, being described by newspapers and magazines as the ambassador of the Mediterranean cuisine in Germany.
In 2001, the Capri Palace Hotel & Spa offered Chef Oliver the opportunity to come back to Capri and measure himself with international luxury leisure customers.
Chef Oliver now leads a team of 22 cooks and offers a wide selection of traditional Neapolitan dishes, personal interpretations emphasized with low calories and the use of organic ingredients. In the prestigious 2007 Condé Nast Traveller Gold List, the Capri Palace Hotel & Spa was voted one of the “Best Hotels In The World For Food”.
Finally, after enumerating his long currriculum, he explains that the Mediterranean cuisine which represents the traditional way of eating for the populations living in the Mediterranean basin is an absolutely balanced diet based on local products of the region: cereals, vegetables, olive oil and fish.
Wisely combined they give life to delicious and light dishes which are in line with the most demanding requirements of today’s nutritionists. You must eat a bit of everything! No limitations of carbohydrates nor proteins even less fats. Olive oil is good for your health so is an everyday intake of red wine. But all must be in reasonably balanced quantities.
He then confides me that he never worked just for the Michelin star: “The star is something you acquire naturally, paying attention precisely to detail, quality, but most of all working with devoted passion.” His suppliers, that he makes a point to visit and source during the winter season when it’s more calm at the hotel restaurant, are mostly from Naples.
In the Summer, after such a firm understanding of quality, they already know what he likes and send him his favorite ingredients with no need to even speak over the phone. The menu is dictated by the catch of the day and season. Quite frankly, this is how it should be.
Oliver’s dietetic kitchen of the Capri Beauty Farm is a combination of refined art, a rigid technique (German origins) and a holistic philosophy of life where the nutrition gives back balance and energy to body and mind. The characteristics of every single ingredient combined especially with the way of cooking preserve the nutritional quality and at the same time guarantee the principles of a high gastronomy.
One of Oliver’s favorite combinations, believe it or not, are the mixing of fish and dairy. (Both my favorites too) Alici (Anchovies) with Ricotta is one of them. Oliver tells me very seriously (proving the previous point), that the Alici must absolutely not be purchased when the moon is full as they are hard to catch at this time and would not be totally fresh. (I will try to remember that on my return to New York City)
The art of Oliver and his team of chefs consists of creating culinary experiences of a high standard, personalized and innovative by preserving the aromas, colors and scents of the different dishes.
My customized diet was created by the Professor Francesco Canonaco in conjunction with Dr. Cinzia Grassi, the nutritionist, as I don’t eat meat, a certain kinds of sea food for religious dietary laws (Kashrut).
My menu was handed to me every morning in my room with my name on it on together with my breakfast so that I could psychologically prepare myself before meals to what was coming–knowing that it had been based to my advantage on the most recent and scientific researches in the field of nutrition.
Apart from being surprised by the exceptional taste of the “diet” dishes within the range of an average of 900 calories daily diet, it was really an essential component of my weight loss program; in fact, in association with specific treatments, it definitely represented the perfect formula to achieve my well-being and psycho-physical balance.
Coming back home, I really felt much better. stronger and healthier. I adopted the diet that Professor Canonico and the nutritionist Cinzia Grassi gave me as follow up advice through email during the following months in New York City.
Thank you Oliver!
Joelle’s Tips:
Restaurant L’Olivo just got awarded with two Michelin Stars: Check the Press release November 20, 2008
l-olivo-restaurany-awarded-second-michelin-star
Menus:
Lunch
- Beauty Farm Cocktail: Fennel, Celerey, Pinapple, Melon (42 kcal)
- Steamed assorted vegetables (53 kcal)
- Stewed Scorpion Fish with Vine tomatoes( 192 kcal)
- Plums in red wine ( 45 kcal)
Dinner:
- Crudites (20kal)
- Vegetable Soup (24 kcal)
- Turbot with mint sauce and crunchy celery (255 kcal)
- Green Apple Sorbet ( 39 kal)
Lunch:
- Beauty Farm cocktail : Carrot, orange, ginger and mint (51 kcal)
- Zucchini and Asparagus pudding with Basil and Mint sauce (64 Kcal)
- Saffron scented gurnard fish with assorted vegetables
- Fruit Kebab with Yougurt sauce and cocoa beans ( 63kal)
U r the best keep it alive
Bobby
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