Crafting gastronomic excellence: an interview with Chef Martin Simolka

Martin Simolka: I had a small garden patch when I was eight or nine, where I grew potatoes, strawberries, raspberries, a few herbs… I loved it, even though the raspberries were a bit trickier. My grandmother also had a little field, where we’d plant strawberries each year to refresh the soil. 

When I left school at 19, I didn’t really know what to do with my life. Since I liked baking, I considered becoming a pastry chef, but it’s not that well recognized in Germany. So I thought – why not go into cooking?

Martin Simolka: At the hotel where I did my apprenticeship, there was a chef named Thomas Neeser who headed the Michelin-starred fine dining restaurant. He noticed me because I was always running around, extremely motivated. At Christmas, he gave me a small book, encouraging me to keep going and telling me I was on the right path. That stuck with me.

He also helped me get my first job in France. I actually wanted to go to Switzerland, but he said, “No, Martin, that’s not the right move. You need to learn French cuisine and a new language.” He was right. We always look for the easy way out, but we need to push outside our comfort zones.

Martin Simolka: It takes about two months to build a full menu. We always start with a core product – the protein or the vegetable, like asparagus, eggplant, artichoke or peas. Then we look at the season, and we find a condiment that will give the dish a bit of a kick. We test it, taste it and adapt depending on the result. Sometimes we change everything; sometimes it works on the first try. 

It’s often better to do something simpler, but really well: a beautiful sauce, a strong idea – rather than too many ingredients that end up losing the essence of the dish.

Martin Simolka: For breakfast, La Haute Croissanterie, which our guests really enjoy. The croissant is typically French and deserves to be properly showcased – well filled, well garnished. Which is why we reinvent it every single day, exploring ever more surprising flavors – like our latest creation: a rhubarb compote croissant adorned with delicate verbena flowers. 

At Rivages, we love working with raw dishes, so for lunch, I’d say a raw meager fish with peach-chili sorbet and leche de tigre sauce. For afternoon tea at Scribe&Cie, our tea lounge, I recommend the homemade flan with croissant dough, which is really moist.

We create dishes with beautiful French products. It’s a creative process with a French Zest, and I always add an ingredient people may not be familiar with.

Martin Simolka: We cook sea bream very hot on the plancha, then turn it into a sausage with a mix of chopped flesh for texture. We season it with spice blends typically used in charcuterie, and color it with squid ink. It’s made without a casing. Then we think about what to pair it with – flavors people might not expect, but are impressed once they taste it. Sea bream is common, but paired with fennel, which people tend to like less, it becomes something different. The goal is to make the ingredient lovable through balance.

I love working with seaweed like samphire or sea lettuce. We also create condiments made with currants, ginger, onions, black garlic, squid ink… We’ve used tuberous chervil, black lemon, za’atar (a Middle Eastern spice) and dehulled oats. There are plenty of tricks for creating a dialogue between our French savoir-faire and other cultures.

Martin Simolka: Absolutely essential. Every dish that leaves the kitchen – whether it’s mine or from the team – has to look beautiful and vibrant. Visual presentation is extremely important. Guests eat with their eyes. They want to take pictures. When I do my dining room rounds at each service, guests often remark that the food was both delicious and beautiful.

Martin Simolka: Sustainability is the top priority. We choose local, seasonal products and use them 100%. If we order a fish, we work with the head, bones, skin – nothing goes to waste. There’s always a vegetarian option on the menu, and lots of fish. For mains, about 60-70% are vegetarian or fish-based. I want to show people that you don’t have to eat meat at every meal, while still giving them a choice. What matters is creativity, taste and guest satisfaction. A great sauce, a well-seasoned dish, served piping hot.
 

My wife and I go to the market on Saturdays. That’s where I discover seasonal products: cherries, apricots, zucchini flowers…

Martin Simolka: We aim to bring in a condiment that really wakes the dish up. For example, roasted white asparagus with a smoked, airy mayonnaise, a herby condiment, an aloe vera sauce and a lentil tuile. We work a lot on technique: homemade ravioli filled with Swiss chard and house-made ricotta, paired with a tomato condiment, charred tomatoes, an emulsion, tomato ketchup… We take each idea as far as it can go – then push it further.

Once, we made a dehulled oat risotto, very nutritious, with Jewish-style artichokes cooked the classic way, then folded into flower shapes for visual appeal, served with charred breadcrumbs. We also make vegetable-based jus – aubergine, courgette – like we would meat-based ones.

Martin Simolka: Of course. For breakfast, we work with Olivier Brosset, a charcutier who provides us with cooked ham, cured ham, sausages and sliced pork belly. For cheese, we partner with Beillevaire, and we use organic products for yogurts. Most of our fruits and vegetables come from Dynamis, mostly organic. It’s really important to me that the products are minimally treated.

For fish, we avoid anything that comes from too far away. All our meats are French: lamb, guinea fowl from Gâtinais, yellow poultry from the Landes. Using free-range and organic for these kinds of products is essential. And for bread, we work with Frédéric Lalos, Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best Craftsman in France), who's based in Sèvres, in the suburbs of Paris.

Martin Simolka: Yes, we offer a very nutritious bowl at Scribe&Cie: quinoa, sashimi, wakame, fresh ginger, turnips, carrots, avocado… It’s the most complete dish on the all-day dining menu. And at the restaurant, almost all the dishes are balanced. I’m athletic myself – I run 15 km on the weekend. So it’s important to me that people leave the restaurant feeling good, not too heavy.

Martin Simolka: My team is essential to the success of everything we do. We have a really positive dynamic here at Sofitel. We’re making progress in sustainability, reducing food waste and improving product quality. Luxury today isn’t about excess – it’s about doing things right, with excellent ingredients, no waste. That’s the spirit I try to convey in my cuisine: it’s better to put a little less on the plate, but make it beautiful, delicious and respectful.

My goal is to make people happy. Over time, we learn our guests' preferences – and we know how to delight them.