Filip Gemzell

Chef Filip Gemzell's culinary philosophy is deeply rooted in a profound reverence for nature, place, and the inherent quality of ingredients. His ethos centers on proximity, seasonality, and sustainability, manifesting in a 'garden to table' approach where everything served at ÄNG is grown on the farm and personally harvested by his team. This commitment extends to meticulously sourcing from local suppliers; he collaborates with specific individuals for particular ingredients—be it a unique berry, mushrooms, or all pork and langoustines—ensuring transparency and promoting responsible, caring farming practices. This direct relationship with producers, cultivated since his time on Svalbard, instilled in him a deep respect for produce and a conviction that there is 'no other way of cooking than that.' A core aspect of his vision is to maximize the potential of local ingredients throughout the year. Recognizing the dramatic seasonal changes in Sweden, Gemzell and his team employ traditional preservation techniques like pickling, fermenting, and smoking to create a larder that supports the menu year-round, turning summer's bounty into ingredients for all seasons. This, coupled with a significant dose of creativity, aims to create 'new and memorable forms of flavour expression.' Gemzell views dining at ÄNG as 'a journey rather than a dinner,' a multisensory experience that moves guests through different areas of the restaurant to evoke varied impressions and emotions. His overarching goal is for guests to leave with a unique, lasting experience. This philosophy of deep respect and connection to the environment permeates not just the food but also the entire operation, including a sustainable approach to staffing, fostering a supportive team environment, and finding peace and inspiration in the surrounding nature, allowing him to cook 'what I really enjoy rather than pleasing someone else.' Chef Filip Gemzell's technical mastery is characterized by a cosmopolitan vision, informed by years of training in London and an exploration of global culinary techniques, yet always anchored to the Nordic larder. His style blends the precision honed during a career as a pastry chef with influences from working with various Japanese chefs, resulting in dishes that exhibit both intricate detail and profound depth. He approaches flavor with an emphasis on extracting and intensifying the natural essence of few ingredients, aiming for 'umami bombs' that are intense in color, flavor, and aroma. His dishes often appear simple on the plate but are the culmination of lengthy, complex processes, sometimes taking up to a year and a half to perfect, involving extensive experimentation with fermentations, reductions, and varied preparations. Key techniques include slow cold fermentation for preserving texture (e.g., pickled asparagus), and extreme reduction to create intensely flavored bases, such as mussel broth reduced for 24 hours from 10 kilograms of mussels to just a few grams. He is adept at creating different textures from a single ingredient, exploiting its full potential. The restaurant also utilizes the vineyard's produce, with unripe grapes providing core acidity and even leaves transformed into sorbets. Among his legendary signature dishes are: * His 'signature dish,' a recreation of stinging nettle leaves, featuring crispy nettle chips fried in butter, a pancake-like leaf shape made with nettle puree, egg, and flour, filled with a salad of sorrel and podagaria, a spicy green chili and vinegar dressing, and small pieces of green asparagus pickled using slow cold fermentation. * A complex blue mussel dish, an 'umami bomb,' built on an emulsion base made from mussel broth (steamed for 14 hours and reduced for another 24 hours). This is topped with mussel tartar (with dill cream, pickled chili, and caramelized onion), sourdough breadcrumbs for texture, and finished with a spongy foam, also derived from the mussels. * An Edulis oyster dish, a non-raw preparation designed to intensify the oyster's natural 'taste of the sea.' It combines wild Edulis oysters with their own sieved seawater and farm-produced vinegar, finished with a sprinkle of shrimp shell powder, served in the oyster's shell.

Career

• Head Chef at Ästad Gård (ÄNG), Varberg
• Head Chef at Huset Svalbard, Longyearbyen
• Head Chef at Kragerø Resort, Norway
• Executive Pastry Chef at ROKA Restaurants, London
• Executive Pastry Chef at Kurobuta, London
• Head Pastry Chef at Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, London
• Pastry Chef at Operakällaren @ Friends Arena, Stockholm