Chef interview: Heinz Beck

In addition to your restaurant on The Palm Jumeirah, you’ve also opened a casual dining outlet? Tell us more.

Yes, I opened Social by Heinz Beck in Waldorf Astoria, and I decided to open a second one — Taste of Italy by Heinz Beck, with Marka. The new one is casual dining, very Italian, and we will have a bakery and a chocolaterie.

Describe the style of cooking?

It’s light and healthy cooking with Italian flavours.

How involved are you with setting up your restaurants?

I look into everything because you cannot only make a good plate, and not be involved in how it will be served.

Challenges with Italian cuisine?

There are a lot of interpretations of Italian cooking which is not really Italian, which is the biggest problem. Also, worldwide there are many ingredients used which are not really Italian. At Taste of Italy we make pizza and let the dough grow for 48 hours, but if you go into 99% of worldwide pizzerias, they don’t know how to make it traditionally.

How important are Michelin stars?

Michelin stars are like going to the Olympic Games and winning the gold medal. It’s difficult to get them, but it’s as difficult to keep them.

If you weren’t a chef...

A painter... but 35 years ago, parents were not open minded like today!