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It's a new town. A new restaurant. The beginning of a new story.
My name is Roel Lintermans, and my role at the Waldorf Astoria here in Berlin is Head Chef of the casual fine dining
restaurant Les Solistes by Pierre Gagnaire. What inspired me to become a chef was as a
child with my parents, the travels that we made to France, to Spain, we often had dinners
in fine dining restaurants, so that's how I wanted to become a chef. The relationship
with Pierre started when I applied for a job for him about 7 years ago. To become a job
with Pierre Gagnaire was a dream come true. Roel is a very hard worker. He had all the
qualities needed to be a very good chef. And Berlin was the town for him.
Berlin for me, as a French man, is incredible. It's an incredible town. It's like a new New York, Berlin, loads
of things happening, culturally and socially too. I think we're going to do great things.
The style of cooking that we bring is something different to the city. It has been a learning
experience because it's an opening, it's a different culture I was used to. Every 2,
3 weeks, we change a dish or we add something, or we use another product, so it's a constant
changing. It's very motivating to work for Chef Gagnaire because he always gives you
something back. He puts the food that we cook under another angle, something you never thought
of before. Different way of cooking, different textures, different combinations, so it's
every time a discovery. It's the little touches. It's cooking from the heart, the passion,
the detail, and the detail comes from the products you use. We discovered this great
pork you can find here in Germany, it's actually the bred pig that you find in Spain, but it's
raised here in Germany then and we use that now on the menu. The one that I like the most
is the langoustine. It has been on the menu since we opened and it has been very popular.
Food is emotional. We prefer to refer to it as an art. It's genuine. It's really a discovery.
A restaurant like this is really to discover a different kind of cuisine, to experience
something different than you're used to.