Celebrity Chef Wolfgang Puck returned to Bahrain to feed his passion for Formula One, sample the delights of fresh Bahraini farm produce and conjure up delights at a celebration lunch and F1 Lawn Party.
As well as cooking up special dishes at his signature restaurants at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay, and checking out the track action at Sakhir, he made a Saturday morning trek to explore the Bahraini Farmers Market in Budaiya.
“It’s my first time and what an impressive market, who would have thought a desert country could produce such an amazing variety of vegetables. I’m so excited to see this, I have visited local farms but I didn’t know they had such a big market here. It’s a great place for the home cook and for the restaurants too.
“I even found my kohlrabi. I love kohlrabi because it reminds me of my youth. My mother used to make soup with it, it was really delicious and then she chopped up the leaves, really fine, and made like a pesto, for on top.”
Kohlrabi, also called the ‘German turnip’, is a biennial vegetable, a low, stout cultivar of wild cabbage. It is another cultivar of the same species as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale and Brussels sprouts and can be eaten raw or cooked and Bahraini farmers have perfected its growth for the local market.
As fond memories were ignited by the discovery of his favourite vegetable, his sons Oliver, 16, and Alexander, 15, were enjoying a vacation in Bahrain too from their boarding school in Switzerland and joined him on the vegetable buying spree alongside members of his team in the kingdom, such as award-winning Brian Becher, executive chef of re Asian Cuisine and CUT by Wolfgang Puck.
Chef Puck, 72, met their mother, Ethiopian-born designer Gelila, in a restaurant. “As a kid my dream was to become a race car driver, like so many others,” he said. “But my family was poor so I figured cooking would be a great second option, that way I knew we could always eat well!”
During an earlier visit to the kingdom he spoke of his tough upbringing in Austria. At the age of 14 he lost his first job in a hotel kitchen after being blamed for not buying and peeling enough potatoes for the weekend rush by an angry chef. Frightened and with too much pride to return home to an abusive father, he stood for hours contemplating whether to jump off a bridge into the river below and end his misery.
Fortunately for food-lovers across the globe he plucked up enough courage to walk back to the hotel in the historic town of Villach and secure a job helping in the kitchen at a smaller sister property. And, as the saying goes, persistent Puck never looked back. He moved from Europe to the US and very quickly garnered the attention of the Hollywood elite as chef and eventually part-owner of Ma Maison in West Hollywood.
Wolfgang went on to create his flagship restaurant, Spago, and with signature dishes like pizza topped with smoked salmon and caviar, Michelin-starred Puck became a sensation, and Spago – Italian slang for spaghetti – a world-famous culinary destination.
He went on to open many award-winning restaurants, building a hospitality industry empire. Four Seasons extended its long-standing relationship with him with the opening of two signature restaurants and a lounge at its Bahrain Bay property.
The fact that Bahrain hosts the opening grand prix is an added bonus. “I love F1, it’s one of my favourite sports but I also love Bahrain because the people are friendly and always make me feel welcome,” he added.
His prediction for today’s big race is a sixth victory for Mercedes former world champion Lewis Hamilton although, with the changes of cars this season he expects a more open battle for the championship with Ferrari also challenging the Silver Arrows and Red Bull for the team challenge with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc taking the drivers’ crown at the end of the season.
“It would be nice to see someone-else win, I like it when there’s good competition,” said Chef Puck.
editor@gdnonline.com
&uuid=(email))