Chef Tziovaras Dimitris- Salonica Restaurant

Tziovaras Dimitris, Chef at Salonica Restaurant and Brand Ambassador of La Chef Levi discusses about his career and cooking, his great love.

Tziovaras Dimitris is a Chef with great passion for his work. His life’s path drove him to become the right hand of the Executive Chef, Evangelou Sotiris, an emblematic figure in Greek’s gastronomy at the prestigious hotel of Makedonia Palace.

H.A: What was the most important business accolade that made an impact on your career and why?

T.D: My professional  accolade is until today Makedonia Palace and the distinguished Chef Evaggelou Sotiris.I am of the opinion that this specific hotel, always a pioneer, has written and will continue to write its own history. I consider it to be the jewel of Thessaloniki and most importantly the property’s executive chef, Evangelou Sotiris. He is the man that has paved the way for Greek gastronomy so as next generations of Cooks to follow.

H.A: What is your favorite Greek product?

T.D: Τhere are so many favorite produced here in Greece which make us proud of abroad that I am afraid I will be unfair towards quite many of them.However, I consider olive oil to be one of them.

H.A: What was the most peculiar incident that has happened to you during your career?

T.D: The most peculiar incident was, as also to the whole world, the beginning of the pandemic health crisis.The way that everything stopped, things that came upside down and the way we gradually came back for work to the businesses was something I will never forget.

H.A: What were the reasons which pushed you to deal professionally with cooking?

T.D: The reason I chose cooking is that I liked to create.I stem from Panteleimona in Pieria and since my early teenage years, I found myself on food industry working as a waiter until  passion and the zeal to create food ,which will provide images, flavor, scents and evoke memories, pushed me to study and deal professionally with cooking.

H.A: What does it mean to the reward with a Michelin star or a Golden Chef’s Cap on a Chef’s collection?

T.D: I think it is the reward and hard work’s recognition that a Chef and his team have done in order to achieve each one of the goals that every cook has from the moment that takes the decision to deal professionally with cooking. Additionally, I believe that as hard as the team works in order to achieve this kind of recognition and reward, it needs afterwards to work even harder so as to be able to maintain these achievements up high and on a top level.

H.A: What was the most positive and the most negative moment during your career?

T.D: The most postive moment is when I got an offer by an awarded Chef to take over one of his restaurants. The most negative is when my first daughter was born and I was unable to be there because I had to work.

H.A: What’s your point of view regarding TV cooking shows?

T.D: Cooking shows I believe are good up to a point. They provide you with a small step of recognition but that’s it. It needs a great deal of work to be done in order to be recognizable and trusted.Even if you win in such a competition does not mean that doors will be everywhere and always wide open.

H.A: What was the most eccentric demand of a client you served?

T.D: To cook food for him that he had savored in another country without him knowing all the ingredients requiring from me in order to produce it and demanding to do the same that was showing me to the picture.

H.A: Many things have been heard and mostly written about the “special” relationship between a kitchen and the service. What’s your angle on this?

T.D: As I mentioned before I have been a waiter before a cook so I am perfectly aware of both sides.I think that we need them the way they need us.An impeccably well cooked and well presented dish can become unnoticed if not properly presented by the waiter and in a way giving the aesthetic to its food recipient that this dish is something unique. As well as the exact opposite.

H.A: What is a Chef’s everyday life and the relationship with family and friends?

T.D: A chef’s every day life is pretty much the same every single day. Starting in the morning until night he has to deal with the kitchen and whatever follows it. Even at night on his way home he does not really leave from the kitchen but merely steps up. His mind is in the kitchen planning the moves and next day’s proper operation.He cannot enjoy it with his family and live moments with them. He has usually friends from the workplace. 

Ambassadeurs Cookbook- Flavors of Greece

Byraki Flavor: Cretan Raki

Vary Peponi- Greek & Mediterranean cuisine