Q&A: Anton Mosimann, the chef who cooks for the British Royal Family

My first job was washing up. I was working in the kitchen since I was a little boy so doing dishes was my very first task.

Simple but good food [smiles]. I was always surrounded by basic, organic food so that was all I knew and tasted growing up.

There are many essential elements to good fine dining. Obviously, the fundamental key is good food. But a mix of other things like good company and good service also contribute to a perfect fine dining experience.

Just like us, they love good food! [laughs] I was in Japan and Italy for one year, and there, I learned how to make honest and simple food, all from humble ingredients grown from the ground, not in the lab. I was really inspired and so that was all I was cooking for them — simple yet fine food. They always let me surprise them with something new so I don’t really cook them the same thing twice.

Again: very good food! [laughs] I was cooking for 280 people and so the team and I cooked up an array of food — all under the concept of cuisine naturelle.

I was classically trained so we used a lot of cream and butter in cooking. Everything was full fat. But then I went to Japan, so there was no more butter and fat. That’s when I created cuisine naturelle — a cooking with no cream and no butter, because ingredients should taste the way they should taste. I also created this simple, honest style of cooking to benefit myself just so I could eat better and healthier — as we all should.

Rabbit cooked in tomato sauce with lots of fresh vegetables and fresh herbs. It’s wonderful. My father used to cook this a lot for Sunday lunch.

I love local food. I remember asking my taxi driver when I first arrived in Bangkok to take me where he would usually go for lunch. “I would love to go with you,” I said. He was a bit shy to show me at first, but ended up taking me to this place by the street where many taxi drivers stopped by to eat. We sat down and had a meal. To be around nice local people, eating real Thai food, that was one of the experiences I enjoyed very much.

I love creating. In a way, you have to somehow be born into creativity. It’s the ability that when you see an ingredient lying on the table, you’ll have fun and joy thinking of ways to play with it. I love to create and make new dishes all the time so to me creating has never really been much of a challenge.

300. [laughs]

Champagne! 

Pineapple on pizza is great!

Dried fruit, especially dried pineapple.

Quite often. My wife and I are a very good team in the kitchen and we often make a very healthy meal together.

Dedication, creativity, and a willing mind to work hard and to give service to people.

Food waste. I’m allergic to food waste. More should be done to save food in the kitchen and make the most out of it.

A bundle of mixed herbs, because they give wonderful aromas.

My book, Life is a Circus. It’s 400 pages long but it has got everything you need to know about food and cooking! 

First of all, congratulations on choosing such a wonderful career path! It’s hard work, but it’s also filled with fun and joy. There’s nothing compared to seeing people enjoying your food; the fruit of your labour at the end of the day. Go to a good school. Swiss Education is the one I often recommend to people since they’ve got an organised culinary system and skilled teachers who are one hundred percent committed to the students.

There’s always pasta somewhere. So a nice pasta dish with lots and lots of herbs served with a glass of good champagne would be absolutely lovely. Yum. 

We are having an alumni dinner with former students of Swiss Education Group who are based here in Bangkok tonight at Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok! Can’t wait to see what food they will surprise me with.