"When I say tradition, I think first of local products and their producers," reflects Slovak chef Jozef Breza
Jozef, where did you get your experience before you became the chef at Gašperův mlýn?
I don't have that much. I trained as a chef, but after graduating I studied pedagogy at the Matej Bela University in Banská Bystrica so that I could one day teach future chefs and waiters. All the time, however, I was drawn back to the field, so I earned extra money by cooking in various businesses. Before my state exams, it was clear that if I wanted to be a teacher, I still had a lot to learn myself. So after graduating, I went back to the kitchen. For four years I cooked at the Kempinski Hotel near Štrbské pleso, and in the meantime I went on internships to Germany, Austria and Italy. I often wondered what it would be like to work in a smaller, family-run guesthouse, where the cook is closer to the guests and nature. And then came the offer from Gašperův mlýn. It was a dream come true.
What about your teaching career?
Honestly, at the moment I can't imagine standing in front of a classroom full of students. Only occasionally does that thought cross my mind, like when I was holding a French cooking book the other day. If every culinary school graduate had read it, gastronomy would look very different here. It's not about French cuisine and techniques, but about the approach to the craft and the way the French value the cooking profession. I think students in general need more confidence, practice and opportunities to show what they have. At the same time, it would be good if we focused on regional cuisine in both schools and restaurants. We have a lot to be proud of.
What does the term regional cuisine mean to you?
Cuisine based on what is grown and raised in the region. And that's how we want to cook. Guests are pleasantly surprised by the result, often marvelling at how we can process commonly available ingredients. I would like to develop this, I care about tradition. Of course, when I say tradition, I first think of local products and their producers. In addition, our menu also reflects who we are and want to be as a team. I used to be hesitant to cook classics that people know or eat at home, but now we stand by what we do. It makes sense for us to serve traditional dishes typical of certain parts of Slovakia, including dishes we remember from our childhood.
Such as?
One of my favourite dishes is potato pierogi. I come from Snina, near the Ukrainian border, where a lot of Rusyns live, so the local cuisine has a specific character and is distant from my Slovak colleagues. Specifically, pierogi were cooked or baked in our home and filled mostly with potatoes, curd cheese or sauerkraut. Bryndza was scarce in the East. When we were kids, we enjoyed them mostly with sour cream, while at our place we make remoulade with lots of herbs, sauerkraut and wild garlic capers.
To what extent do you dare to change the shape of dishes such as pierogi?
We adapt recipes to a modern form and give them our own signature, for example, the aforementioned remoulade is flavoured with grated smoked veal heart. However, I do not like it when someone tells me that we should transform Slovak cuisine in any way. It certainly deserves a bit of lightening up, but why do we need gnocchi with bryndza espuma and bacon dust? Let's keep the traditional dishes traditional and preserve them for future generations with respect and simplicity.
Do you have a dish on your menu that more or less follows a traditional recipe?
We have included pierogi among the main courses, thanks to my wife who once after visiting for dinner said that we should finally take the plunge and simplify our cooking style. I thought of cabbage leaves stuffed with meat and rice. In Slovakia, they are traditionally served as the last dish of a wedding feast. We filled them with mangalica meat and buckwheat, which we get from a well-known grower, and cooked the finished "rolls" in the juice of last year's tomatoes along with sauerkraut. We immediately put them on the menu, even though we realise that not every guest sees the value of the ordinary.
Why do you think it's so difficult to find simplicity?
The difficulty is probably that we chefs often choose the opposite approach. When we feel that a dish is missing something, we try to add something, to give it something extra, instead of taking away from the components and letting the essence stand out. Sometimes we are stuck in our ideas, sometimes our egos get the better of us, and sometimes we succumb to the assumption that our guests expect more. This happens especially when the business is not thriving. I know what it's like to cook in an empty pub.
Gašperův mlýn has been open for ten years. How has the restaurant evolved?
The concept was clear from the beginning, but after I arrived eight years ago, many things changed. Among other things, we introduced a fixed tasting menu. Until then, guests could also order separate courses, which was not sustainable. The first months were very challenging for me. I was getting used to different volumes and preparation, which was very different from the routine in the hotel kitchen, and I had to adjust to a new system of work. On top of that, we were struggling with low attendance. The restaurant originally had a capacity of fourteen seats and it was common to serve only one table per evening. Fortunately, we had a great owner who encouraged us not to let the numbers break us and to hang in there. He believed in us, so we didn't lose hope, and success did come in time.
What would you not back down from in the kitchen?
Responsibility and precision are important to me, but also humanity. I'm not a boss who demands silence at work. On the contrary! The kitchen is supposed to be fun. I'm stricter about ingredients. Our only supplier is nature. We combine produce from smaller farmers with what we grow or pick ourselves. We may be located in a National Park, where the collection of wild herbs and fruits is forbidden, but the subtropical landscape offers a lot. Near the restaurant we have our own goat farm, a pond where we fish and a garden from which we harvest fruit. In addition, we use alternative energy sources. In short, we operate differently from the city. Nature is always in sight, so our menu naturally follows the season.
How do you build relationships with your suppliers?
I would be lying if I said that we only buy ingredients from farmers. But we are always looking for more small producers, so our list of contacts grows longer every year. We found a gentleman who collects berries and mushrooms for us, a beef and veal farm, two dairy farms and a tea farm. We want to buy mainly in our region, but the mountain conditions limit the supply, so we are looking beyond the threshing floor and approaching producers in western Slovakia.
How do you handle the logistics then?
We have thought several times about employing a driver to find raw materials for us across Slovakia. In the end, however, we managed to start working with the gentleman from whom we get our meat. On the way to Bratislava, he also handles orders for Gašperův mlýn. On Monday morning the farmers take them to the designated collection point and by the evening we have the goods in Batizovce.
In 2022, you were awarded the title of Chef of the Year. So what kind of chef should you be?
I'd like to point out that I'm not about winning competitions. I want my employees to enjoy working with me, to look forward to every shift, and to manage their personal lives at the same time. When we're happy, the guests are happy! But back to your question. In my opinion, a good boss is one who accompanies his team, invests in self-education and self-motivation, and passes on the commitment to others. It was only in my role as a chef that I realised that I lead people mainly by the way I treat the ingredients, the farmers, my colleagues and the guests.
You mentioned self-motivation. What goals help you grow?
Lately, people have been asking me if I feel the need to move on after all these years. I understand their reasoning, the turnover of chefs is much higher today than it used to be. But as long as I have something to learn and see room for improvement, I'm happy to stay where I am. And I'll do everything I can to make sure we're a strong team, working with ingredients we can stand behind and creating a hospitality experience for our guests. That's the only way the restaurant will work economically. At the same time, I believe the time is right to make our presence known beyond our borders.
The Hungarians and Slovenians have proved that every region has the potential to climb to the top, and now it is up to us to decide whether we, as Slovaks, will stop being ashamed of our cuisine and open up to the world. We just need to unite and gradually expand the community that strives for better gastronomy, whether we are talking about the Slovak, Czech or Central European scene.
