2016 revisited Nepo Kitchen Consulting
NEPO
Kitchen Consulting AB
Goodbye to 2016 and hello to 2017, all the
best for the New Year near and far.
We had a full-packed 2016 with lots of
interesting projects and challenges, here’s a little recap.
January-March
Waxholms
Hotel, Vaxholm Sweden
An intense November and December 2015
meant that there wasn’t much time to look for consulting work for the start of
2016, luckily I could fall back on my work experience and contact net and pick
up some extra work at the newly renovated Waxholm’s hotel. Vaxholm is the
gateway to Stockholm’s archipelago, a must see both the archipelago and Waxholm
if you’re in the neighbourhood.
February-March
A
mixed month
Started
discussions with Fritidsresor the Swedish subsidiary of TUI charter,
preparations are underway for an executive chefs training week & congress
in Mallorca in April.
I also start to get involved as an under consultant to Preopening AB www.preopening.se, We’ll be combining our networks, Preopening is a fantastic little hotel & restaurant experienced based development company working with planning to implementation in the hotel and restaurant industry.
March
New York
 |
| On the boat out around the Statue of Liberty |
March was topped off with a week in New
York, wandering around the city eating and taking in the sights, every thing
from vegetarian to upmarket, record shops and old ships, basketball and theatre
shows, here you can indulge yourself with anything, I was very impressed with many of the markets,
supermarkets and restaurants that focused on lifting local and ecological
produce stating the origin of their produce and presenting their suppliers. I
thought we were pretty good at it in Sweden, but here in Manhattan it seemed
more naturel & informal, less forced but mainly its all just Big Time.
 |
| the cheese section at Eaterly, New York |
April
Preopening
Got my first “gig” through Peropening at a
local boule bar, Ugglans Boule, check and assess the quality, solve service
issues and logistical challenges, small assignments at Ugglans have been
dropping in all year, it feels good to be able to come back to an ongoing
project and to help and follow it as it develops.
Barbecue Blues grill team
We started our 2016 “season” in April we
established two goals for the summer the Swedish national championships in May
and the European championships in August. We started practicing and finalising
our competition dishes in April a top 3 in Sweden and top ten in Europe were
our goals.
Alcudia Pins, Mallorca, Spain
 |
| vegan chocolate and avocado petit fours |
One intensive week filled with two
executive chef congresses at Fritidsresor destination Alcudia Pins in Alcudia, a big focus on vegetarian & allergy dishes.
 |
| street view in Palma de Mallorca |
May
Kerkyra, Corfu
Situated a short taxi ride from the centre
of Corfu town not much of a beach but with ample pools for everyone, a
fantastic long view all the way to Albania, nice garden lawn and landscape area
and a great little Asian crossover restaurant.
 |
| Aubergine salad at Karkyra, Corfu |
Alkanyas village resort Zakynthos
A few days at Alkanyas village resort in
Zakynthos, great sunsets and beaches make this a favourite destination, new
pools, hotel rooms and landscaping make for a relaxing Greek holiday
Hipotels Coma Grand resort at Sa Coma on
Mallorca’s east coast. A short walk from a great beach, I spent a few days here
working with the kitchen team, a big buffet with big volumes of mixed European
customers
Cala Bona, Mallorca
Grupotel Cala Bona resort also situated on
Mallorca’s east coast, another big resort with an all inclusive concept built
on to a super beach front, I spent a few days here with the kitchen team, another
big operation with guest focus.
 |
| baby gem salads at Carla Bona |
Mar de Menorca, Capparot, Menorca
Another Grupotel run resort on a little
rocky beach village, close to the airport, Menorca with its stone fences and
low bushes, great pizza’s here with a couple of Italian pizza chefs in house,
pools galore and a central location to explore the island, don’t forget the
local Mahon gin or famous Mahon cheese.
Barbecue Blues team
 |
| Swedish grill championships |
We competed at the Swedish national
championships in Gothenburg and came a respectful third place overall, a stable
result as per our earlier goal.
June
Tarida Beach Ibiza
Insotel Tarida Beach Sensatori resort,
located on the west coast of Ibiza, this was the first time I’ve worked at a
Sensatori, a real luxury resort built into a little sandy cove a great place
for an escape, fantastic sunset bar and Spanish grill restaurant, drenched in
holiday relaxation.
June- September
Pane Fresco
An expanding Italian restaurant concept, I
got the opportunity to deep dive into the Italian restaurant culture, at Pane
Fresco the focus is authenticity not only do the ingredients come from Italy,
but the chefs and many of the waiters do as well, my task was to create menu
and recipe uniformity that would allow the planned expansion to be able to
deliver Italian food of high quality in their new restaurants. That this
assignment was through Preopening was an extra bonus.
 |
| Antipasta platter at Pane Fresco |
July
Caribbean theme at Glommens seafood restaurant, west
coast Sweden
 |
| The aptly coloured sign at Glommen |
Jumped in to help my friend Bobo recreate
his previous St Lucia restaurant “The Edge” on Sweden’s wast coast at he little
seaside resort Glommen, a couple of days of typical Swedish summer weather
which should’ve been much nicer to us.
August
Trosa Stats Hotel
Re acquainted with some old friends from
many years ago, Trosa is one of many quaint seaside villages that has become a
destination in itself, many of these small towns have a a long established
“city hotel” not many of these hotels are better run, maintained or have higher
ambition than Trosa Stats Hotel, I picked up a few days work here which
complimented my pane Fresco assignment.
Barbecue Blues team
 |
| Jonas, Bobo & I in Bremen |
We competed at the Grill and Barbecue
European championships in Bremen, Germany a big trip without a travel sponsor,
although we hade a big help from BBQ scout in Germany who sponsored us with
grills and barbecues without them it wouldn’t have worked.
Beef
brisket, chicken and side dish, dessert, fish and side dish, home country
cooking, pork shoulder and pork ribs were the competition criteria our brisket
tightened up and was a let down, we managed to fight back with the other dishes
and managed to win the fish competition, totally we managed a fourth place in a
field of thirty plus, a result above our expectations and with the win In the
fish challenge as icing on the cake.
 |
| our winning fish, european champions |
September-December
Idre
Fjäll
I was contacted
and together with some colleagues we were contracted for the winter season
2016-17 to Idre Fjäll one of Sweden’s largest winter skiing resorts.
 |
| Idre Fjäll, the winter playground |
Not only is Idre
Fjäll a winter play ground but the resort has over the past couple of years
developed a summer seasoned rivalled by few, mountain biking, trekking &
rafting are on the activity list during the warmer months.
December
Copenhagen
 |
| chocolate mousse filled chili at Taller Venezuelan gourmet restaurant in Copenhagen, a wow moment at the end of the meal |
Goodbye 2016, welcome 2017 and whatever
challenges you bring.
Or
check out out home site
in
English at. www.nepokitchencomsulting.com
and Swedish at. www.nepokitchenconsulting.se
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