Production manager of “Grand SPA Lietuva” T. Mockūnas: “Naturalness should be searched for in the plate of a good restaurant”

Lithuanian Association of Chief Chefs and Confectioners (LVVK) held their business contact meeting “Ideas for Tastes” which was already the fifth this year at restaurant “Lietuva” located at “Grand SPA Lietuva”.

Tomas Mockūnas, the production manager of the company, who has been a member of the association for many years, was happy that a place managed by him won the sympathy of LVVK.

“It is a privilege that the association decided to organise their event at one of the restaurants of our complex, by the way, such a decision was made not for the first time. Every time the location is selected after very careful consideration – the environment, the equipment installed in the kitchen, spaces used for preparation and tasting of the dishes made during the meeting – all of these components must meet certain criteria. The trust shown by the association is a great honour for us and also a huge responsibility,” claimed T. Mockūnas.

The event was attended by more than 80 chefs from all over Lithuania. The best professionals of their fields in the country shared their knowledge, experience, creative buffet ideas, food culture tendencies. Whereas 10 out of top chefs, including T. Mockūnas himself, chef Bernardas Anužis from “Gastro standartas”, BBQ master Laurynas Valutis from “Sinners Burgers”, confectioner Rima Tataurovė from “Bijola” prepared impressive dishes: from trout to vegan chicken curry.

“This year, the main focus of the event was on the grill and the dishes prepared on it. Our restaurant was one of the first in Druskininkai to use kamado-type grills, which are now extremely popular, for preparing the food, thus, the topic of the meeting was relevant and familiar. Alas, I had the task of making pancakes myself, which is much more complicated than it seems at first glance,” joked production manager T. Mockūnas.

When asked what one should look for in a plate of a good restaurant, T. Mockūnas revealed that the main prevailing trend in food preparation at the moment is to pay as much attention to naturalness as possible.

“The time when it was aimed to surprise the guests with the strangest possible combinations and create a wow effect on the plate is already in the past. Now, exceptional restaurants and chefs choose natural, seasonal, region-specific ingredients for their dishes, focusing on ecology. That is why one restaurant in neighbouring Estonia, recently awarded the prestigious culinary guide “Michelin” star, offers such dishes as an onion prepared for 24 hours on their menu. Simplicity and naturalness prevail,” revealed T. Mockūnas.​​​​​​​