Jef Foster, Executive Chef at the Hyatt hotel in Belgrade - Serbian tastes spiced with Hawaii

(Jeff Foster)

He was 18 when he saw a chef making flames in his pan. Then he decided to become a chef. He joined the Hyatt family in January 2003. He worked four years in America just as m any on Hawaii and for the last eighteen months Jef Foster has proudly had the title of the Executive Chef at Hyatt in Belgrade.

- I waspleasantly surprised with the warm hospitality of the Serbian people when I came to Belgrade. I immediately felt the city was a safe and fun environment with rich history and culture. I still enjoy it today – he said at the beginning of an interview for eKapija.

The first time he experienced cooking was in his mother’s kitchen who, as he said, was a great cook. He enjoyed helping her in preparing food because he enjoyed it very much then and still very much enjoy cooking today.

It is not possible not to be fulfilling when a room of customers enjoy your meal – he says.

Alwaysin the kitchen

He went to Los Angeles Trade technical College – Culinary Arts Division and he started earning as a teenager. It was enough to keep his car running and to help his parents out around the house.

- I have never had a job out of the kitchen – Foster jokes while remembering his career start.

- I made the decision to become a chef when I was working as a in a restaurant in Northern California. It sparked my interest when I saw the cooks cooking and making flames in the sauté pans and controlling everything that went on in the kitchen.

He joined the Hyatt family in 2003 in at the Hyatt Regency long Beach, California where he worked as Sous Chef Tournad and additionally helped managing restaurant shifts. This is where he focused on his wish to become the Executive Chef one day.

Two years later he was promoted to Deputy Executive Chef, in the last quarter 2005 he was named manager of quarter and in 2006 he was named manager of the year.

In that period, he assisted in the Food and Wine Masters project in the Park HyattCamel Hotel and in the Quartet of Chefs Park Hyatt Los Angeles.

After fouryears of working in California, Foster got an opportunity to prove his culinary abilities in a much more exotic destination. In March of 2007 I was promoted to Executive Sous Chef at the Beautiful Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa on the shores of Ka’anapali on Hawaii.

- The resort had 800+ rooms and a $41.0 million dollar a year food and beverage operation with 7 outlets. My team consisted of 7 Sous Chefs and 65+ employees. It was really an enjoyable experience to work in that environment.

He replaced Hawaii with Belgrade in the beginning of 2011, when a long wish of this forty years old man of becoming the Executive Chef in Hyatt came true. He did not have the slightest dilemma to come to Serbia.

- I always wanted to work internationally and when the opportunity presented itself while working in Hawaii I was excited at the new challenge and opportunity. I had several other opportunities to work in other states in the USA but, I was more excited to learn new methods and cuisine in Europe.

Belgrade days and nights

He immediately liked the life in Belgrade. He spends most of his day in the hotel where he coordinates a team of more than 30 people. In his leisure time, he plays tennis and golf, goes running especially enjoys the Serbian capital nightlife. He learnt only a couple of Serbian words but he found his favorite Belgrade restaurant – Communale at the Sava river.

- I would only like to keep the spring and summer months longer – Foster says.

Apart from Belgrade, he visited Novi Sad, Tara and Mokra Gora and a few other small towns and villages in Serbia. He is most interested in the domestic cuisine.

- I Serbian cuisine and the quality of the meat (lamb, veal, beef, chicken,pork) available is fantastic. I only wish there was more seafood available.

Hawaiiat the end

He added domestic food to the menu of the hotel he works in and gave his personal touch witha few Pacific Rim dishes he learnt while working in Hawaii. He creates the menuon the basis of the nutritions available on the market, fresh and in season,and always think “farm to table”.

Privately,Foster enjoys eating original, Mexican food and seafood.

He said he learnt the most from Manfred Lassahn, who hired him into the Hyatt family and admits he can be strict when estimating dishes prepared by others.

- Cookingis a profession full of successes and failures and a chef always has to be critical of all the dishes prepared to ensure consistency & quality.

Although being a chef can be very difficult, Foster thinks he will never get bored with cooking. He points out he pretty much enjoys life and work in the Serbian capital but that in the future he would like the Executive Chef in some of the largest international Hyatt hotels. And, eventually return back to Hawaii to finish his career and retire in Hawaii.

I.B.