World traveler, well-traveled

Roland Trettl plays host to the “Ikarus” guest chefs eleven months a year. But in December, it’s his turn to cook up a storm.

In May of 2003, a guy just 32 years old took charge of what was and is probably the most demanding job on the international culinary scene: the mission was to realize the vision of a culinary world tour at “Ikarus”, the restaurant that had just been opened in Hangar-7. Month for month, according to the idea, a different world cooking star was to give a guest appearance in Salzburg; the young man’s assignment was to accompany, assist and inspire them, as well as to interpret their cuisine.

Since then, Roland Trettl has been visiting the world’s best chefs month for month, cooking together with them, making recipes of their creations and seeing to their exact execution back in the kitchen at “Ikarus”. It’s been about three dozen so far, from New York’s Jean-Georges Vongerichten to China’s Jereme Leung, from Mexico’s Martha Ortiz Chapa to Luxemburg’s Lea Linster, from Gianluigi Bonelli of Hong Kong to Frank Zlomke of South Africa, and from Robert Feenie of Vancouver to Ryuichi Yoshii of Sydney and Alex Atala of Sao Paulo. So the culinary world tour at “Ikarus” has been quite literally a world tour for Roland Trettl.

Trettl received his basic training at “Parkhotel Holzner” in Bozen/Bolzano. After that, he went to fine-tune with the most appropriate teacher one could think of in the German-speaking world: Eckart Witzigmann took him on at his own “Aubergine”, where Trettl advanced with characteristic speed to become the first German three-star chef’s best pupil. There followed “Tantris” with Hans Haas, before the young upstart received his first own assignment from Witzigmann at the age of 26: at “Ca’s Puers” on Mallorca, he perfectly implemented Witzigmann’s highly refined concept of a small, exquisite high-class resort eatery with inspiring cuisine, after which he went to the restaurant “Marine Terrace” in Tokyo as a trainer.

Finally, in 2003, he took the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to manage the guest-chef concept at “Ikarus” as Executive Chef. A job which he – together with head chef Martin Klein and the team – has mastered so convincingly, that he was awarded (together with Ferran Adrià and Günter Grass, by the way) the “International Eckart Witzigmann Prize” in November 2005; not by its namesake, of course, but by an institution that stands well above any suspicion of favoritism: the “German Academy for Culinary Studies”.

As the host at “Ikarus”, Trettl not only stages the appearances of his guest chefs, but is also responsible for his own accompanying set menu each month. Since 2005, the South Tyrolean has also been stepping into the spotlight for his own month – acting as host and guest in one, so to speak. Thanks to the enormous range of culinary expression that Trettl has at his command – from the subtle, highly nuanced Mediterranean style he developed at “Ca’s Puers” all the way to uncompromisingly modern creations – his appearances always hold some surprises in store.

Last year, for example, he enchanted guests with his autobiography in four set menus: “Homeland” (including, for example, tagliolini aglio-olio with spring leeks and seafood), “Eckart Witzigmann” (baked sole with clams and saffron fennel), “Mallorca” (sea bass on bean purée / olive pesto and chorizo sausage) and a vegetarian set menu called “Lifestyle” (braised zucchini blossoms with eggplant and chanterelles). Trettl’s plans to conclude the year 2007 at “Ikarus” will, true to tradition, remain secret until the last minute. But that it will be a fireworks of creativity, virtuosity and pure cooking joy, laced here and there with a fine pinch of irony – that’s a given.