Preview Guest Chefs 2024
Top chefs at Restaurant Ikarus
Guest Chef November 2023: Simon Rogan
Simon Rogan has always been passionate about the connection between food and nature. He is recognised as one of the pioneers of the farm-to-table movement, using farmed and foraged produce in creative ways. L’Enclume represents Simon Rogan’s extraordinary gastronomic vision. The three-Michelin-starred restaurant is intertwined with and deeply connected to Our Farm, which the enthusiastic chef set up to supply L’Enclume and his other restaurants with high-quality, sustainable vegetables, fruit and herbs.
It is Our Farm’s vision to strengthen the link between food, its development and the environment, and to promote the relationship between cooking and growing. Using only produce at its ideal ripening point, Our Farm covers most of L’Enclume’s agricultural needs. What cannot be produced here is sourced from local suppliers and from nature itself. “Ingredients that change with the seasons inspire my menu development and ensure a truly traceable dining experience that reflects my farm-to-table philosophy,” says Simon Rogan, who focuses on hyperlocal and seasonal ingredients and sees the farm as an extension of the kitchen, with the same ethos, drive and attention to detail.
As a child, Simon Rogan was exposed to unusual foods from an early age, as his father, who worked in a fruit and vegetable market, brought home exotic delicacies every day. Although the boy was not particularly keen on trying new flavours, he developed an interest in ingredients and seasonal produce. After briefly toying with the idea of embarking on a football career, he decided to pursue a more solid education at a catering college. Once he began working in luxury hotels, the young chef’s passion for foraging in the woods and fields was ignited. He set out to explore his immediate surroundings in search of wild mushrooms and herbs. Over the years, he gained experience and inspiration working in various top restaurants alongside accomplished chefs in England and Paris before opening his debut business, L’Enclume, in the Lake District village of Cartmel in 2002.
Today, Simon Rogan is the chef-owner of nine restaurants around the world. His flagship Cumbrian restaurant, L’Enclume, currently holds three Michelin stars, the top spot in the Good Food Guide and five AA Rosettes. In 2017, Simon Rogan was recognised as the AA Chef of the Year and is currently vice-president of the Bocuse d’Or UK team. Two of his restaurants – L’Enclume and Roganic Hong Kong – were awarded the newly introduced Michelin Green Star for their sustainability efforts in 2021.
Farm-to-fork is at the heart of Simon Rogan’s take on cooking. Taste your way through the imaginative creations of his art and let flavour become an emotion and ultimately a delightful memory. A unique three-Michelin-star experience that will once again make Restaurant Ikarus a top culinary hotspot in November 2023.
Each month at Salzburg’s two Michelin-starred Restaurant Ikarus, a different top international chef creates the menu. For this globally unique concept, Hangar-7 executive chef Martin Klein visits the cream of the crop, takes a look behind the scenes of haute cuisine, and is let in on some exciting culinary secrets. “Culinary Heights at Ikarus” offers a unique glimpse into the world of high-end cuisine and provides an interesting portrait of each guest chef, their culinary philosophy, and the food culture of their country.