Made by us, by our family... it's just ours: Tomáš Valkovič and Linda Novohradská on the new restaurant Skô

Tomáš, we are all looking forward to the Slovak cuisine you will be cooking at Skô. But you tend to avoid the term "Slovak restaurant" yourself. Why is that?

Tomáš: The reason is simple. Slovak cuisine is incredibly rich and diverse, and I wouldn't want to raise expectations that ours is the only proper and traditional one. A thousand people would say yes, a thousand others would say no. It's going to be Slovak cuisine, but I'm going to cook the dishes that I know from home, from Tekov region. At the same time, I realise how much our cuisine is influenced by Austria and Hungary and this will of course be reflected in the menu. It's just food that I love and grew up with - from my grandmother's tomato soup to ham. Amaso will be making that for us, based on my dad's recipe.

Which element of this "home cooking" is most important to Skô?

Tomáš: Definitely fire. We have a big fireplace in the kitchen, connected to the chimney. We'll try to cook most of our meals on the fire - meat, vegetables, stews, soups....
Linda: Tomáš cooks on the fire at the cottage, he's completely fallen for it. Recently he even made jam on it, we will have it in our restaurant.

How are you getting on with your suppliers?

Tomáš: Sausages and smoked ham according to my dad's recipe will be from Amaso. We'll make our own pagáče, and we'll take bread from Eska. The cheese will come from a small family-run workshop called Cheesio, and pork from the Góra organic farm, where they mainly breed mangalica pigs. We will also have excellent aged unpasteurised cow's cheese from the Hyacinth farm in Slovenská Lupča.
Linda: We will also offer our own table wine - Tomáš' dad grows grapes and the year before last he made a great light red. This year we picked the grapes together and the wine is already finished.

Linda, you'll be focusing on wine and restaurant operations at Skô. What will the wine list look like?

Linda: The main focus will be Slovak wines. We want to show that they are excellent, and incredibly diverse. Slovakia has a diverse background, ranging from all the way to Tokaj, and there are a lot of unknown winemakers who make excellent wines. We'd like to broaden our guests' horizons. But of course they can also enjoy good wines from Italy, France, Hungary or Austria.

How many wines will be on the list?

Linda: Approximately twenty-five, every day the menu will change. But there will be many more bottles in the cellar, so I may offer those as surprises to guests. I would also like to eventually start a little archive, mainly with Slovak wines, so we can show that they age beautifully. And we will also have bottled wine.

Many restaurants are attracted to wine pairings. Are you planning something like that?

Tomáš: I don't like the discipline in general, I see it more as a relic. We want to simplify everything - after all, it's just food and drink. We tell the guest something about the food, and let the wine speak for itself.
Linda: Exactly. When I was in Paris the other day, I liked the fact that there they don't make a science out of wine. They only have French wines, they don't feel ashamed of it and the guest doesn't feel pressured or stressed that the sommelier might put them in an uncomfortable situation. We won't have a pairing on the menu, but if someone wants one, of course I'll be happy to do it.

And if a guest chooses a wine that doesn't go well with the dish?

LindaA: It depends on the type of guest. If they're interested, I'll be happy to advise. But some people know exactly what they want, and I won't persuade them.

You mentioned bottled wine. That sounds interesting, can you tell us more about that?

Linda: We want to be honest about it. Bottled wine has a bad reputation sometimes, and and we want to give it back its credibility. It will be accessible, simple, good.
Tomáš: So far we will have two types - one white and one red. A glass under a hundred, more for refreshment, nothing complicated.

A credenza, a few people and no secrets

In the future you plan to add a buffet to the restaurant, right? How will it work?

Tomáš: The buffet will run all day, through lunch and in the evening, while the restaurant will have a break between lunch and dinner. It's nice that if someone goes primarily to the restaurant but hits a time when it's closed, they won't leave hungry because they can always choose something from the buffet. I would also like to mention that there will only be 28 seats in the restaurant. So I always recommend making a reservation.
Linda: We also want our guests to feel welcome from the first second - that's why they are greeted by the hostess or one of us. The first contact is very important.

How would you describe the atmosphere of Skô?

Tomáš: Homely and informal. When you come to the restaurant, you are immediately greeted by a unique solitary sideboard by architect Josef Pleskot, with everything you need for service, from cutlery to napkins to glasses. Everything will be at hand. We want to create a similar impression as when you come to visit someone and immediately know where everything is. Make people feel at home. The spaces are small, but that's what gives them their charm. It's common in Paris - small tables, people close together, and yet the whole thing feels cosy. There will be music playing, it will never be quiet. We'd like it to be alive.
Linda: And at the same time, everything will be Slovak - china, chairs, vases... it will be our world.
Tomáš: The goal is to make the restaurant feel our presence - that we're behind it, me and Linda. As a chef, I also want to be out front a lot, in contact with the guests.

Who else makes up the team?

Tomáš: The team will be quite small, there are only a few of us so far. Me, Linda, and Josef Majirský as general manager. We met Josef at UM when he joined as a producer. I had a great time working with him, he was smart and always did everything right away without blinking an eye. Even though he's only been at Ambiente for two years, I knew I wanted him at Skô. Especially since he has experience from managerial positions in Slovakia. We recently expanded the team with Bianka Salaiova, who worked as a manager at Eska.

And what kind of team would you like to create at Skô?

Tomáš: First of all, I would like to create a relaxed environment and build respectful collaboration from the start - with the guests, and within the team. Since Skô is built on our family, and on the Ambiente family too, it should be a place with good relationships and open communication.