Restaurant of the Month, Denmark
A life of food Per Thøstesen holds an award as Kokkenes Kok (Chef of the Chefs) and has four cook books and more than three decades of experience under his belt. Scan Magazine spoke to the iconic chef about his award-winning French restaurant, Bistro Boheme, his thoughts on the Danish food industry, and the story behind his success.
my own restaurant and have been nominated Chef of the Chefs. I don’t think I had even thought anything like that was possible. My dream was just to become a chef, and everything that has followed has just been completely amazing,” says Thøstesen.
Thøstesen’s first job in the food industry was at Hotel Kong Frederik in Copenhagen, where he swept the floors and helped out in the hotel’s gourmet kitchen. He was 13 years old. “My mother was a good cook, and so was my grandmother who lived in the countryside. We used to go to her place every summer to pick fresh strawberries and dig up potatoes, so food was always a part of the family, but no one had ever worked in a restaurant before,” explains the now 48-year-old.
Restaurant Boheme is the only restaurant to have won the prize as Denmark’s best brassiere three times. It is also one of the largest buyers of caviar in the north. That almost says it all, but the man behind it has plenty more to say.
Thøstesen soon went from sweeping floors to helping out with the food and then, step by step, his hard work and dedication took him to his goal: the job in France. But working in his dream job under the famous chef Paul Bocuse also
By Signe Hansen | Photos: Claes Bech Poulsen
When Per Thøstesen was just 15 years old, he knew that he wanted to be a chef. He knew that he wanted to work for the famous French chef Paul Bocuse, and he knew that he would have to work hard to get there. What he did not know was that, 31 years later, he would have the title of Chef of the Chefs from 2015 under his belt. “I had read a book called Paul Bocuse, and I said to myself, ‘that’s where I want to work’ – and eventually I did. But I would never have thought that I would be here today, as the chef for the national Danish football team, have 98 | Issue 106 | November 2017
I started out sweeping floors