Author: Velimir Cindrić
Photography: Private archive
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At the moment, I’m having a blast preparing a festive menu of ten courses. It’s like when a composer creates a symphony or when a painter paints on canvas, fitting everything perfectly together with the help of the golden ratio… I gotta run now, I’m expected by shrimp tails, fresh basil, honey, and lime juice – Damjan Bistričić told us when we were on the phone setting up this interview.
This 49-year-old man is the chef of three restaurants of the Hotel Neptun on the Brijuni Islands, with the flagship Galija located right next to the central pier. Galija presents an opportunity to enjoy creative Mediterranean cuisine with its gourmet menu – a selection of fish and meat dishes, all cooked up by the chef Damjan Bistričić.
Right from the very first meeting with Bistričić, it is fairly obvious that he is certainly not your run-of-the-mill Croatian chef since his way of thinking is completely original and often unusual, and the kitchen he runs clearly reflects that. Even his moniker – The Outlaw Chef – suggests that he’s a person who thinks outside the box. Free of these rectangular mindset restrictions, he has been able to come up with a rich repertoire that also includes dishes such as scrambled eggs with grapes or rump steak sandwiches with strawberries and blueberries, which some consider crazy, but for Damjan, it is all just a matter of balancing the ingredients without being a slave to the established practice.
Therefore, it is no wonder that Bistričić is also the father of l’Art Brut Cuisine, a cuisine that connects a renowned art movement and gastronomy.
That all this is far from a “stunt” is confirmed by Bistričić’s numerous regulars, admirers of his cuisine, among whom there are many politicians, artists, statesmen, royals, dignitaries… Some of these prominent people for whom Damjan has cooked are the famous actor John Malkovich, the Qatari prince, and even Pope Francis himself. But how did it all begin?
– I come from a middle-class Croatian family. My mother worked as a teacher at a nursing school all her life, and my father was an electrical engineer, who later retrained and engaged in investment studies. My whole family and I have always been devoted worshippers of the cult of food. I could say our denomination was lunchism – since that was the meal where we all had to sit together at the table… Then on the weekends, for example, or after kindergarten and school, I’d go with my cousins to our nonna’s place, where we ate traditional Istrian dishes – gnocchi, fusi… And that will always be imprinted on my memory and my palate, all those flavours and combinations: marjoram, a combination of basil with meat; homemade eggs, cheese omelette… Those flavours stayed with me and slowly, let’s say, like slow food, came to a boil in my soul – Bistričić recalls.
– Even though Damjan wanted to be a cook, he graduated from the Hotel and Tourism Management and Hospitality School, qualifying as a waiter. All his friends went on to work as waiters, so he followed suit. After high school, he enrolled and graduated from the Italian language and literature programme. However, he always felt bad for not having graduated as a chef, so after completing his studies, he returned to the Hotel and Tourism Management and Hospitality School to pass the supplemental exams and qualify as a chef.
After that, he held cooking workshops at the Children’s Home Ruža Petrović in Pula, and since he took up photography, he also held photography workshops. In the end, he landed a full-time job there, and started cooking more and more at home, too. He would often get up at three or four in the morning to cook, and in addition to his work at the Children’s Home, he also worked in digital marketing for fifteen years. And then his career took a different turn…
– In the summer of 2019, when we were on holiday, I told my wife, “I’m done with social media; I’m going to focus all my efforts on cooking. I don’t want to spend my life doing something I don’t truly love. I’m going to start my own business.” She replied, “What made you decide this? You’re already a made man, you have a great job.” But I told her I just couldn’t do it anymore… I had to do what I love. I gave a call to chef Deniz Zemba at the Hotel Amfiteatar in Pula and asked him if I could come and work for him after the holiday, telling him I was willing to work for free for two weeks so he could see what I’m made of. I told him, “If you think I’m any good after that, hire me, and if not, I’ll throw in the apron. So, I worked alongside him for two weeks. After this trial period, I asked him if I met his criteria as a cook, and he replied, “You’re not cut out to be a cook. But you’re cut out to be a chef.” I started working with him then and there. I really liked it, and that was the beginning of my true career – Bistričić reminisces.
At that time, they also cooked for Pope Francis. The pandemic was raging, so they packed the food they prepared for him, and a special car from the Vatican came to pick it up. Along with the food, they also sent video instructions on how the Vatican chef should put it together.
After working for Zemba for a while, Damjan started writing articles for Glas Istre under the pseudonym the Outlaw Chef, and he did that for about seven years. It was a sort of culinary recipe school. Every Saturday, he would come up with a new, completely original recipe. Damjan’s life was a box of chocolates, but all of them were the same flavour, so he realised that it was time for a change. Thus, he went to Labin, to the La Loggia restaurant. The owner, a Croatian man in New York, who was also an interior designer, read Damjan’s published recipes, came to the Amfiteatar and said he had a project in mind that included both a hotel and a restaurant, and asked him if he could come up with an interesting menu.
– I accepted his offer because I wanted something more. I ate, slept, and breathed this new culinary style that I myself came up with and named it l’Art Brut Cuisine. You see, I wanted to spice things up in the kitchen by preparing complex and interesting meals. While I was still at La Loggia, two Kuwaiti sheikhs came to the Brijuni Islands, rented a villa, and asked me to come and cook for them as a private chef. I stayed with them for two weeks. Then I caught the attention of the administration of the Brijuni Islands, who wanted me to work with them with the aim of bringing the local gastronomy to its former glory. At first, that seemed like biting off more than I could chew, but being a gastronomy devotee, I couldn’t help but say yes. It’s like in the movie “Seven Samurai”, when you are sent on an impossible mission. You know, ever since I decided to become a chef, I feel like I’m on a never-ending holiday. I’m happy every single day because I’m doing what I love. It makes me feel fulfilled, and I can’t stand the idea of going back to the grind, if you know what I mean. That’s what working on the Brijuni Islands for the last two years has been for me, and I think I’ll stay there. There’s never a dull moment in our kitchen – says Bistričić, adding that opening his own restaurant is not on the agenda yet:
– Maybe at some point in the future, though I do already have an idea – I’d call it Space: The Final Frontier– and I’d like for it to be in a rural area. It’s all still very vague and distant… I’d first like to fully work out my own culinary direction, the aforementioned l’Art Brut Cuisine, i.e., cuisine based on the art movement l’Art Brut.
Damjan went to an exhibition in Varaždin called l’Art Brut by mere chance, and he was intrigued. He thought about whether or not he could apply something similar to cooking and come up with a new culinary style. That is how l’Art Brut Cuisine came to be. As part of his culinary movement, Bistričić recently presented a whole range of dishes in Ljubljana at an event that was also covered by the Japanese press.
– I apply the principles of l’Art Brut to my dishes rather simply. L’Art Brut is a technique based on the subconscious. The people who let it stir their minds open the door to their subconscious, to their true selves. And the preparation of the dishes of l’Art Brut Cuisine is not governed by the conscious, but rather by the connection between consciousness and asymmetry. Hence, we don’t rely on symmetry, but asymmetry, and the meals have the appearance of works of art, yet are still conceivable to the artistically untrained eye.
It’s important to note that we don’t use any chemicals, only natural ingredients. There are plenty of essential oils and herbs here on the Brijuni Islands, and that’s what we use in making l’Art Brut dishes. When I prepared those dishes in Ljubljana, I used their local products. So, for example, instead of sea fish, I cooked with trout – Bistričić explains.
Damjan describes his cuisine as “in the moment and connected to the space” that surrounds it, as well as based on “the relationship between him and the guests, i.e., their energy”. Before he starts cooking, he always talks to the guests (“Only when we establish a connection do I start cooking. My cuisine entails cooking in front of the guests, over an open fire,” he goes on to explain).
Damjan Bistričić is the chef of all the Hotel Neptun restaurants: the gourmet restaurant Galija, the hotel restaurant, the beach restaurant, and the three villas for VIP guests. He says that they don’t serve instant soup even at the hotel restaurant, pointing out that everything is home-made and fresh, as fresh as the young, talented chefs with whom they work every day in their attempt to achieve perfection.
Damjan’s recipes include scrambled eggs with grapes and a rump steak sandwich with strawberries and blueberries. We cannot help but conclude that he is obviously a zealot for unusual combos.
– You’re darn right, I am. And you know why? Because these are, in fact, not unusual combinations at all – they just might appear odd to people who are not familiar with them. The goal is to master that structure and material. Who says strawberries have to be part of a sweet dish? They often are, of course, but just because they’re processed that way. But if you process the blueberries and strawberries to pair with meat, it’s a match made in my heaven of a kitchen. First, you have to taste what you get, and then assess the chemical processes in order to achieve a balance of flavours. You know, nothing’s off my table. Even pizza was once considered an unusual dish – if you had tasted it 300 years ago, you would have found it very odd. But everything has to be done for the first time at some point – finding out which spice to add as well as what else is needed to achieve the right balance and taste – Bistričić explains.
Damjan’s moniker, the Outlaw Chef, was brought to pass due to the fact that he likes to do unusual and original things, outside of the norm. The name Outlaw Chef suggests cooking outside the lines.
– Exactly. In fact, it all came to be of its own accord. I had never grown a beard before. Since I was already on social media, I started posting unusual experiments. Then people told me that I was not exactly playing by the rules. To that, I replied, “Well, of course – I am the Outlaw Chef, that is, someone who doesn’t go by the cookbook. That’s why I assumed that moniker. And I grew a beard, just like that. I didn’t change my way of thinking, but I let go and let myself become who I really am. I felt that call inside of me, and I answered without hesitation.
Ever since that day, it feels like I’m on a never-ending holiday. It’s as if I’m young again; I’ve reconnected with my inner child. And I’m happy every single day… I don’t know how to put it into words… It’s wonderful. It’s like when a surfer goes out with their board during stormy weather and enjoys the adrenaline rush, somewhere between space and nature. That’s what it’s like for me to step inside the kitchen with my cooking utensils, surrounded by spices, the scents of alchemy, and the guests who come to eat my food. You know, they are just as important as I am. The food has a sort of frequency that connects us – says Bistričić.
Many contemporary chefs like to express themselves with a tasting menu, but Damjan says he loves everything – both the à la carte menu and the tasting menu, and even the hotel menu, which he says can also be splendid.
– Essentially, there is no difference. If you put your heart into what you do, the end result will always be the same. I like everything equally. I just love to cook. Tasting menus have their own sets of rules, but every dish can be modified, upgraded, and adjusted. You should see our all-inclusive offer! Take our breakfast, for example. It’s an ideal accompaniment to relaxing and chatting. There’s the natural food, the natural leaves, the scent of rosemary, the smell of bread, the smell of bruschetta… So, you see, everything can be beautiful, just about everything you do with food – Bistričić insists.
Since he was preparing a festive menu of ten courses the day before our conversation, we asked him if he could describe some of the dishes he came up with. He had let us know in advance that he was making Malvasia-steamed scallops with basil tops, tangerine blossoms marinated in honey for four hours, fleur de sel, and green pepper, all that on slices of French bread toasted over flame and rosemary smoke, along with some pumpkin pesto cooked in honey with sea salt and red pepper, which he garnished with truffles and cheese.
– When you bite into that, your heart sings – for it’s a symphony of flavours. As it enters your organism, your body temperature quenches the ethers that are passing through it. And that’s it. You feel good. You know, food should be good for the body, but also for the mind and the spirit. It’s a very holistic and psychological approach, as well as a very serious and purposeful one at that.
Likewise, I prepared an octopus tentacle on a bed of chard. I steamed the tentacle with bay leaf for about an hour and 45 minutes. After that, I let it sit for about five minutes, and then I finished it with a little olive oil, sea salt, and lime juice, topping it all with a little thyme. And I steamed the chard with rosemary. That’s how I crafted a new Mediterranean gastronomic tale, where these essential oils serve as the key characters whose interaction makes up the whole foodie plot. I put a little olive oil on top as the perfect finishing touch, to round off the flavour…
I could also, say, describe a fish dish I did. I took a sea bass, filleted it and put it in olive oil, with a dash of thyme, red pepper, sea salt, a sprinkle of lime and a bit of grated lime zest. I stirred it all in oil, dipped the fillets in it, and put it in the oven at a temperature that did not exceed 75 degrees, for about three to three and a half hours. As a side dish, I served potatoes, which I boiled whole in water with plenty of young bay leaves, a handful per kilogram of potatoes. When the potatoes were done, I cut them into quarters, fried them in olive oil, and seasoned them with fleur de sel. As per arranging it all on the plate, I placed a sprig of fresh rosemary on top of the fish fillet and lit it so that the aroma could penetrate the fish. I do all of that in front of my guests. It’s pure bliss and a near-spiritual experience – he tells us.
Damjan doesn’t play favourites with foodstuffs; he loves them all, both those he’s acquainted with and those he has yet to discover. He says that he’d hate to get to know them all because he enjoys constantly discovering new things. Every year, he fills two or three notebooks with notes and drawings of everything he puts on the plate. That is why he is also planning on publishing a book, for which he has already written the introduction, and its title will be “L’Art Brut Cuisine Libar”. He has prepared about 200 recipes, which he says he will reduce to fifty. The book will not only contain recipes, but it will also explain the entire philosophy of l’art brut cuisine, as well as include the training for chefs. There is also a meditative and physical aspect to this cuisine because the body must always be ready for a full day’s work in the kitchen. That is why Bistričić has developed entire training systems for both body and mind.
We have already mentioned that Damjan has cooked for many famous people. We asked him whom he liked the most as a person and whom as a gourmet.
– There were many famous, prominent, and important people, not to drop names. You know, I basically like everyone as a person, and I cannot hate on anyone. While working on the issues of disorders of the human psyche, I came to the conclusion that each of us has our own frequency. As a l’art brut chef, you have to catch on to the frequency of the guests. When you discover it, you realise that every human being is interesting and wonderful in their depth. So, I liked all those famous people equally – says Bistričić.
At the end, we also discussed his plans.
– I have a special event lined up for autumn, The Chronicles of the Brijuni Islands, which will take place in Munich. You see, I’ll be preparing dishes inspired by the Brijuni Islands… In the future, I’d like to organise three events in three world capitals each year. I’d call it The Flying Circus of l’Art Brut Cuisine and every year it would have a different theme. This year it’s The Chronicles of the Brijuni Islands, and the next one would be The Story of the Kraken.
Tickled pink by the stories of the old fishermen of Fažana, I came up with a story about an octopus that lived in the Fažana Channel, which, in addition to the narration, would also be told via the projection of images. A 14-course octopus-based menu, ranging from cold and hot dishes to dessert, would accompany the story In the end, the octopus would also find its way into chocolate… On top of that, the space where the people will enjoy my menu will be filled with a mist containing the scents of essential oils of rosemary, basil, and the like, so that the guests can smell these scents before the dish is even placed before them.
It would be a restaurant without walls, my pop-up or mobile restaurant. That way, my restaurant could be in just about any place – Damjan Bistričić concludes.
