World renowned chef Mark Best joins Holland America Line’s Culinary Council

During an event onboard ms Amsterdam earlier this month, it was announced that celebrated chef Mark Best is joining Holland America Line’s Culinary Council.

The Culinary Council is a team of top-name chefs from around the world. The team guide the fleet’s culinary experiences and initiatives, plus each chef on the council will present their signature recipes to be added to restaurant menus.

Mark Best will be joining Council Chairman and Holland America Line’s Master Chef Rudi Sodamin, Jonnie Boer, David Burke, Jacques Torres and Elizabeth Falkner, who are all members of the council.

For the special event, Best designed and exclusive dinner menu for attendees. The sumptuous dishes were served in the Pinnacle Grill, the ship’s alternative fine dining restaurant. Guests enjoyed smoked eel with parmesan gnocchi; bass grouper with fish milk, green tomato and potato paper; mango mustard and coconut dessert; and Red Gate Farm quail with carrots and miso.

Rudi Sodamin (the Council Chairman) speaks very highly of his new colleague:

“The Culinary Council is a collaboration of some of the greatest international chefs, and Mark brings imaginative ideas from a part of the world that is very inventive with cuisine. Mark has great energy and creativity, and our guests are really going to enjoy his dishes.”

About Mark Best:

In the 1990s, Best worked at a bistro in New South Wales, Australia where he found a passion for French cuisine. During his time with the company, Best won the Josephine Pignolet Award for best young chef in New South Wales.

After, Best worked overseas in some of the world’s most famous French restaurants, including Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir Aux Quatre Saisons in Oxford, England and Alain Passard’s three-Michelin-star L’Arpege in Paris, France.

Best returned to Australia in 1999 and opened up own restaurant, Marque in Sydney’s Surry Hills.

The restaurant has won a number of top accolades and awards over the last few years, including the 2011 restaurant of the year award from the Sydney Morning Herald’s “The Good Food Guide” and the 2012 Australian Gourmet Traveller restaurant of the year award.

In addition, Marque has held the prestigious Three Hats award from The Good Food Guide, the highest of the iconic symbols the organisation awards, for a whole decade.  Marque also holds the maximum three stars, awarded by Australian Gourmet Traveller magazine in its annual top 100 list.

Before joining the Holland America Line Culinary Council, Best published a cookbook, “Marque: A Culinary Adventure,” and appeared on the television show “MasterChef Australia” both as a guest chef and a judge.

Image © www.timbauerphoto.com via Holland America Line