Chef Jirka Šoura: Marie B will be the glamorous sister of La Degustation
Marie B – a relaxed restaurant without a menu
Here, head chef Jiří Šoura serves up a gastronomy experience like no other, combining traditional Czech cuisine, creativity, and quality ingredients. The Vin de Marie wine bar sits alongside the restaurant.
Jirka, how do you remember your beginnings at La Degustation?
I remember the day I came for my internship and met Olga Sahajdák. At that time I was still working in Alcron and they would hardly release me for a whole month, so I took my holidays and interned in stages. At the very first meeting, Olda took me through the restaurant and thoroughly explained the workings of the kitchen. I entered a different world. Everywhere I had cooked before, order was maintained and the same techniques were repeated. But nowhere had I experienced such a sophisticated system as at La Degustation. I remember being surprised at how tasks were written on spreadsheets and printed out before each shift.
I was equally fascinated by Olda's approach to cooking and his uncompromising decision to cook Czech cuisine with local ingredients. It sounds like a standard nowadays, but seventeen years ago this was not the norm. I was quickly convinced by his idea. I liked the fact that we actually follow the season and can rewrite the menu several times a week. Also new to me was that all the chefs rotate through all the positions so they don't succumb to routine. I just knew immediately that I was in the right place.
Did you go in with the vision of becoming a chef one day?
No way. I didn't think I could make it at La Degustation. I wanted to get as much experience as I could and then try my luck elsewhere - and I stayed for seven years. All that time I learned from Olda, but also from my colleagues who took turns in the kitchen and influenced it in some way each time - we work as a team. Shortly after joining, I suggested a component for dessert - it was combined with mushrooms. And that's how it works to this day. Olda creates the complete dishes, but we all sign off on them. So you can usually read the name of the chef who contributed to the recipe.
What kind of teacher is Olda?
He doesn't give advice, but when he sees that you care about your work, you gain his trust. He respects your actions, even when he knows you're making a mistake, and he likes to talk in riddles - often just telling stories that give you an afterthought that you should have done differently. He has taught me precision and shown me the variety of ingredients, even though we are essentially confined to a region within 250 km of the restaurant. For a long time I had admired and cooked mainly in France, and at La Degustation I learned how beautiful Czech cuisine can be. And that French cuisine is not so far from it. Thanks to him, I also changed my attitude towards people.
How do you mean?
I used to be very impulsive and then I used to blame myself for my behaviour. At a certain point, I realised I couldn't be as hard on others as I am on myself. Besides, I had to start communicating more and better. I never minded saying criticism out loud. I wanted the best to come out of the kitchen, and when someone did something wrong, I spoke up. I guess I wasn't popular with the team. As a chef, I realised that the goal is not to criticise people, but to motivate them to improve. That's exactly how Olda does it. He always stood behind me and waited for me to realise that this was not the way.
When did he suggest you become chef at Marie B?
It happened in 2019. We were cooking at an event in Austria and in the evening over a beer, together with the general manager Tomas Brosch, he told me that they were planning a new pub and that I should be the chef. They surprised me, but I didn't hesitate for a second. I was incredibly happy. We had originally thought of a freshwater fish restaurant, but soon afterwards the pandemic broke out and our ideas didn't develop any further. The covid period was challenging for us and I admit I felt a lot of stagnation. I was all the more pleased when last September they offered us a space in Dlouha street and we could finally get started.
How far have you moved away from the original idea?
Quite a lot. The concept was developed on the fly and we ended up building it on the same foundations as La Degustation - the recipes are based on Marie B. Svobodová's recipes and, given the address, we will logically use the preparatory kitchen in Haštalská. But Marie B is profiling in her own direction, although we are still defining it. I grew up alongside Olda, and that is naturally evident on the plate. I'm sure a lot will change, though, which is why we're only hinting with the trailer for now - we'll release the film after it opens.
How far can Marie B go in her creativity?
She shouldn't go off the rails, which we see the point in, however, as the glossier sister of the two, she can afford to do quite a bit. We'll put exotic ingredients on the menu, but they have to be of the quality we're used to. I'm talking about freshness. At La Degustation, we see it as an independent flavour and the potential of the raw material, which we try to modify as delicately as possible so that it can show off in its full glory.
We want to entertain our guests. I'm thinking of a dinner in Marseille where we were served a raspberry sorbet with chilli as a pre-dessert. All of a sudden, for a few seconds, our mouths were burning. We didn't understand what was happening, but it made us laugh. Sometimes all it takes is something stupid, like powdered sugar in dessert, to make a meal unforgettable.
What exotic foods inspire you?
I'm looking at Marie B's cookbook. There's a lot of exotics there, too, that used to belong to Austro-Hungarian cuisine. For further inspiration, I go to France. On my last visit to Paris, I saw yuzu everywhere, whether we ate at Anna Sophie Pic or at Pierre Gagnaire's restaurant - the Japanese fruit was paired with fish, beef and asparagus. When testing for Marie B, I used it with dill pickles and it worked great.
At twenty-one, I told myself I only wanted to cook in haute cuisine, without being able to describe what that meant at the time. Today I think of it as the art of thinking about food simply and combining basic ingredients with interesting flavours.
Why can't I find out what you're bringing to the table at Marie B?
To make it even more fun. Guests can enjoy a good meal and guess whether they just finished the pork or the veal. But the carte blanche format has a lot of advantages for the kitchen. We can be more creative, and what's more, we can process all the ingredients completely. Without a fixed menu, we can change the menu in a matter of hours and play around with it so that we have nothing left at the end of the day.
We'll be more flexible, so we don't have to decide what quantity to buy from farmers. We are only interested in quality. If Mrs. Hanka calls and says she has ten rabbits, we'll cook a rabbit and just replace it with chicken halfway through the evening. Our dinner at the Parisian restaurant Septime convinced us to go for carte blanche. It was in a similar vein, and we left with the knowledge that we were really only interested in making our guests enjoy themselves and feel comfortable. A powerful experience is one without words.
Do you see Maria B as a personal opportunity to find your signature?
I do. Initially, I'll follow in Old's footsteps - I think almost every chef who leaves La Degustation does. We keep mentioning Maria B. Svoboda, but most of us are spreading the legacy of Olda Sahajdák. Only with time do we become independent and find our own style. I take it that I've been able to play the Champions League so far, and I'm proud of that. Yet I was still just part of the team and the success that Olda is most responsible for. In Maria B I will finally get to experience what it's like to play for my own team.
