Today, Wojciech Modest Amaro is a culinary artist. The creator describes his cooking as “modest cuisine” -a portmanteau of “modern” and “honest”. His way to the top of the culinary mountain was long and complicated. Born in 1972 in Sosnowiec, a Silesian city in the south of Poland, his culinary adventure started at home, as a child.
In 1993, he left Poland and went to Great Britain to search for a job and for money. He worked in London, Chicago and Berlin. To his good fortune, he had a chance to meet masters who were willing to share their experiences with him. The crucial moments of his career were when he met Nigel Davis from St. Quentin Brasserie in Knightsbridge,and when he visited Le Gavroche – Michel Roux’s famous three star restaurant – and Rene Redzepi’s Noma in Copenhagen.
After coming back from abroad, and until 2010, he was the chef of cuisine of the Polish Business Roundtable Club in Warsaw – the elite association of presidents and owners of Poland’s largest companies and international companies operating in Poland.
Thanks to the prestigious Chef de L'Avenir award, which is granted to outstanding chefs by the International Academy of Gastronomy, Amaro received training at Ferran Adria’s famous El Bulli restaurant in autumn 2008, widely acknowledged as the best restaurant in the world.
The concept he developed for his own Atelier is the effect of a few years of hard work and thorough research. The chef travelled all over the country searching for the best products, visiting local producers, taking hunting classes, and spending a lot of time in forests.
In the meantime, he wrote two great cookbooks presenting Polish cuisine in a modernist way: “Polish Cuisine of 21st century” (which was awarded the “Grand Prix de la Littérature Gastronomique” in Paris) and the “Nature of Polish Cuisine” which focused on local and unique Polish products.
Atelier Amaro was opened in 2011. The restaurant does not have a fixed menu - it changes every day. Amaro does not serve dishes – he serves culinary “moments”, pieces of edible art. Atelier has its own farm outside Warsaw which produces plants, herbs, and meat for the restaurant. The Chef recommends typical Polish alcohols to accompany the dishes: luxury and unique vodkas and liqueurs. Today, after winning his first Michelin star, and following the Polish edition of the "Cook it Raw” event, many young chefs want to work at Atelier. Amaro is more and more recognizable in the world. He gets numerous invitations from all over the world. The most renowned culinary magazines and TV channels publish interesting and complex materials about this star of Polish gastronomy
He does not usually take part in any professional competitions or events. However, this year he decided to be a juror in the first edition of TOP CHEF, the culinary TV show for professionals.
Want to visit Atelier Amaro one day? No problem, just make sure to book your table a couple of months in advance.
Author: Magdalena Kasprzyk – Chevriaux, Janury 2014
