Creative minds on home ground
Gerhard Wieser can present his homelandon a plate.
Some contemporaries would certainly claim that Gerhard Wieser has a unique relationship with the term work. The chef fromSouth Tyrol stands in the kitchen of the Castel hotel in Tyrol above Meran from eight in the morning till late into the night andtakes care of two restaurants at the same time: No, that is not work for him, he assures us with a smile on his face: “Cooking isa passion for me, not work. But what then, is work for him? “Mowing”, says he, without a moment’s hesitation, “that is work for me”.Gerhard, who was born in Rasen in South Tyrol has been working in the Castel hotel for 21 years, a timespan that seems a lot shorterto Wieser: “that is probably because of the fact that for the first 10 years the hotel was owned by another person before the familyDobitsch took it over”, explains the chef.
Everything changed when the Dobitch’s, who were former guests of the hotel, came. Everything became even better and the qualityincreased too. The gourmet restaurant, the Trenkerstube, was opened only after the arrival of the new owners: “Everything has turnedinto positive”, says Wieser, “family Dobitsch has brought a new philosophy and a budget.” A complete class of guests had changed:” thewhole was something like an establishment transformation.” Gerhard Wieser is delighted as always: “I can fully unfold myself here and thatis what I need to be creative. I have absolute freedom here.”
The confidence placed in the 45 year old Wieser is more then returned. The “passionate South Tyrolean”, as he describes himself, is responsiblefor the complete gastro-offer of the house. Everything from breakfast to the every-evening À-la-carte-food in the market-restaurantof the Castel bears Wiesser’s signature. He is more than the Trenkerstube, the South Tyrolean is responsible for everything going on in thekitchen of the Castel hotel. “ The whole offer of the seasonal kitchen is rich in both variety and quality, I do not want to cook in two differentclasses”, he explains his concept. According to his philosophy the art of cooking begins with the purchasing, and the daily fresh offer therefore dictates the menu. Onlythe highest quality is the dogma of Wieser’s kitchen. Giving a stronger taste to individual products through creative preparation is an everrecurring challenge for him. Wieser has a saying: creating well-being means healthy cooking. This applies to his passion for herbs. By theway: guests can observe the chef of the cuisine while he is preparing the dinner-menu. During the process, he often gives tips and tricksfrom creation to presentation. Gerhard Wieser began his cooking education from 1983 to 1986 in South Tyrol. He chose the kitchen as his workplace very early: “Ibecame a chef, because I used to help my mom, who was also a chef, in our kitchen and I realized that I am good at it. She was my firstteacher. As a little boy I used to strap...
