Jan Punčochář on Sushi & the Unreachable Meta

Chef Jan Punčochář is known for his love for honest Czech cuisine, but he also likes to go to exotic tastes. In an interview, he tells of a record culinary holiday in Singapore, why he long resisted his own restaurant, how he perceives rivalry among cooks and what his view of the young gastronomic generation is. He will also reveal what the Michelin star means to him and what challenges the new Hell’s Kitchen show brings.

Honza, what was your holiday?

Great and especially full food. My wife and I have traveled and I probably experienced the biggest gastronomic porn in life. It was in Singapore, where we have friends who invited us and prepared us a gourmet program. In seven days we tasted about 205 types of meals in six people – from Indian to Asian to Japanese cuisine. It was fantastic!

And although I go to food for virtually every holiday, this was completely different. The most beautiful was that you eat there on the street, you enjoy it, you like it and it is for reasonable money.

But we were also in the Japanese sushi restaurant, where Master Kuchař prepared 22 courses for only eight guests. Something was very specific and not everyone would like it. I tasted different kinds of algae, part of tuna or sea hedgehog. We were there with children who also tasted everything, so I am proud of them – they have a good foundation.

Where do you have boundaries about gastronomic specialties?

I don’t have a boundary nowhere, but I don’t always enjoy it. Sometimes I just put it in my mouth and say, “This will never again.”

I didn’t eat. Or maybe yes, but I don’t know about it. I will taste almost everything, because it is hard to say that you do not like something if you do not try.

We once tried the Nordic specialty on the radio. Do you remember that?

Yes, I immediately remembered it when I came to the radio for filming today. It was Surströmming – fermented herring fish that ripened in a can for several years.

Already after opening the can I thought it was not possible to eat. And you insisted that we have to.

There she eats, but I don’t believe they like it. They put it on fresh bread with butter and onions. Honestly – I didn’t like it at all. In addition, when opening, you have to immerse the can in a bucket with water so that it does not fold.

What food do you remember first from your childhood?

Cuttings. In our family they were made of everything – from celery to rabbit. The rabbit cutlet marinated in marjoram, garlic and salt, fried on lard. You just don’t get that in the restaurant.

Have you been able to cook at the time?

I have been cooking since I was six. There were no gastronomy parents, but his brother is a confectioner. We probably all enjoyed it all. We went a lot to my grandmother in Moravia, where there were pig slaughtering, everything from the garden was processed and animals were behaving. There was a relationship to food.

When did you decide to be a cook?

I knew it right away. I never wanted to do anything else and I never regret it. Although my grades were more of a school, I just wanted to be a cook. I finished my graduation later. No one will take what you boil and experience in the kitchen.

Maybe nobody knows it yet, but I didn’t want my own pub at all. I knew how much work and sleepless nights. I just wanted to be chef and cook. Then I was asked by the shareholder to come to see the pub at Hanspaulka. I came and felt like in paradise – mature trees, greenery, a house like a village. At that moment I thought I’d try.

It wasn’t certain that it would work. I signed a contract and in fourteen days the offer came to Masterchef. When we opened the pub, the show just ran. Now we are opening the second restaurant on Anděl and at the same time starts Hell’s Kitchen. Maybe there is some connection. I look forward to it.

Doesn’t it take business from cooking?

I will always cook. I don’t sit behind the computer at work, I need to be in the kitchen. Rather, it is difficult to have 36 employees who are waiting for a paycheck every month, even if they fail. That’s a big risk, especially today.

How did you get used to the business regime?

I did one smart thing – I surrounded myself with people who understand business better than I do. My wife takes care of finance and holds it firmly. I would scatter everything, she brakes me. Manager Jakub Čebiš has been with me since he was seventeen and he grew up in a professional from a boy who was almost ashamed. He leads the restaurant and we open the second. It’s good to have people around you than you are alone – then it works.

When you say boomer, what can you think?

I know what it is. I have children and you already take me as a prehistoric man – I have something behind me. The son who also cooks also advises me in the kitchen that I should do it a little differently.

Do you feel like a boomer?

Certainly in cooking. I decided to make Czech cuisine. When I saw the restaurant at Matěj, I knew I wanted to do things honestly. I do not like food laminated at a height just to make it look. Cooking is about taste. Some chefs use tweezers, put food for effect and don’t care how they taste.

I am older and I know that if I want a duck, a proper, confit, long salted – according to traditional recipes. I always have three things on my plate: meat or vegetables, light side dish and sauce. I try to make the tastes clean so that the guest can have a glass of good wine and enjoy simplicity. I enjoy it.

Do you go to colleagues’ restaurants?

Clearly. A lot of cooks make a mistake that they don’t go anywhere and think they’re the best. I love gastronomy – I go to food, watching from the other side as others do, and I notice a little thing, even if the staff smiles at you.

Do you know a well -led pub?

Yes. You will know it by the environment, smell, menu, staff access. It all tells it.

When was the last time you disappointed?

Last week. Ivan Vodochodský and I go to gastronomy and went to Brittany. Oysters, mussels, shrimp – all excellent. But normal food in restaurants? Ten pubs and neither good. We didn’t get the whole fish well. Maybe bad luck. You can eat there on the market – Seafood, pate, cheese. Even in one fish restaurant recommended by Michelin’s guide it was misery: Fish redesigned, unsalted, attachment. Great disappointment, I was looking forward and left disappointed.

Maybe they just need oysters.

I thought France was a gastronomic superpower. The waiters were not very friendly to tourists, and we can only “ovar” in French.

Is there a great rivalry in the industry?

Yes. Chefs have a large ego, do not admit a mistake and do not like to see that someone is better. But cooking is not a sprint. Everyone likes something different and hard to say who is better. It depends if people taste. Přemek, Radek, Zdeněk and others – we are more friends. We talk about work, staff, expensive ingredients. We complain and then say that we are actually well.

They are ambitious and want to overwhelm everything. They think that if you make an ordinary confit duck with side dish and sauce, it’s not enough. We have a lot of clever young chefs who will definitely make it somewhere, but they should realize that not everything must be trends. In Vienna I know a restaurant where they still cook the same thing and are full. When you go there, you want a classic – a strong broth, a marrow bone, meat. If Tafelspitz did as a dice in a slip, you wouldn’t like it.

How much money is needed to open a restaurant?

Much. Only the kitchen at Matěj cost 16 million crowns. Overall, it is in tens of millions, if it is to be a big restaurant that wants to do everything honestly and without semi -finished products.

What are Czech chefs a reputation in Europe?

It depends on whether these people really came to us and had the opportunity to eat here. But I think we are fully comparable to the rest of Europe – we have great chefs and restaurants, some even at the level of the European top.

What does a Michelin star mean to the chef?

It used to be a meta, I really wanted her. But it brings huge costs and pressure. You get a star, you will increase your attendance, you are a king, but the work is just starting. Today I have goals elsewhere. It is motivation for young people, but I know there are other things.

Is there anything similar, more achievable?

New Gomio (Gault & Millau), very prestigious, especially in France. Many Czech guides will advise you on how to eat normally and nicely. Lukáš Hejlík is doing it very well, not only the capitals but also the icing all over the Czech Republic.

The new Hell’s Kitchen show is starting. When the offer came, you hesitated?

Hesitated. I was wondering if I wanted to be rough if I wanted to scream if I could do it. On the other hand, I thought that I was doing chef for twenty -three years, leading a large restaurant and led one of the best in the Czech Republic. So why wouldn’t I do what I do every day, just on the screen?

The advantage is that I have not seen the previous rows. I know Radka well, but I have a different style of leadership. I won’t be like Gordon Ramsay who humiliates someone and scolds. In the kitchen you will also look at the kitchen. But of course I bang on the table, throw away someone, confronts – to clear who the boss is. And those who go through will be more durable. There are great chefs, some may work with me. But I will not reveal more.

Can you address one of the participants to cooperate?

This has the rules determining how the person can reach out and if the whole series is broadcast. It’s not that I like it and I offered him to work with me.

Were there even those who just thought they could?

I got 17 selected participants. They weren’t finished chefs, but at least they knew how they were on the knife. There were amateurs and pros, which was a change and I think good. I enjoyed working with them every day.

Over a month, every day. It was especially challenging for the contestants, because after filming I went home to sleep for a few hours, but they were all the time. I can outline that they walked into each other from the first moment. I have ever worried that they will stab. It was sometimes escalated.

Do you follow similar foreign programs?

Yes, I love cooking shows. For example, Chef’s Table – freezing. It’s beautifully filmed and with a story. I enjoy such things, there is nothing like this in our country.

Which world cuisine is difficult for you to prepare?

Certainly sushi. This is art. It’s not just rice and slice of fish. Who ate perfect sushi knows that it is art – from vinegar, rice, washing, scrolling. When you see it, it’s a concert of hands and knives. This is a meta that I probably will never achieve.

In addition to Czech cuisine, what do you like?

Fish, seafood, vegetables. For example, Cambala – to slash the bones, roast in butter slowly, put in the oven and remove the beautiful fragrant fish. Or veal knee – to salt, bake slowly for 3-4 hours at 140 degrees, then just knock the bones and the meat is left. Simple, juicy, great. Just salt, onions – the simplest things are the best.

What food did Honza pantyhose order in Singapore? How important is pairing for him? What cheese does he consider a delicacy? What do you think of beer culture? And do women in cooking have an advantage over men? Listen to in a podcast that you get hungry!