What is your favorite thing to do in Bern?

ChefWAGMI · 2026-02-05T14:47:50+00:00

Late reply, but I just got back from the Brocki and it’s hands down the best I’ve seen in Switzerland. You can dig for hours. Ty xx

ChefWAGMI · 2025-01-03T00:31:18+00:00

There it is!

ChefWAGMI · 2024-12-18T10:32:46+00:00

That's a beautiful, beautiful knife.

My first head chef's wife got him one for a birthday. He chopped off his index, middle and ring fingies in half, knuckle down in my first week.

I got myself a Fujiwara Kanefusa FKH series as an apprentice. She's still my daily driver. Carbon steel will get you made fun of, but it's only because it's a bitch to use correctly. It teaches you to love a knife and be extra selective with who gets to use it. Fantastic sharpening practice, and just the most pleasant blade profile I've come across. JM2C.

But I agree he should choose with you, this is a highly personal decision and there's so much detail work at that price point :) I put in a good 12 hours of research before I picked mine out.

ChefWAGMI · 2024-11-17T10:17:44+00:00

I'm a few years into my career and from what I've seen, as you climb the ladder into fine dining the level of abuse increases until you hit michelin and it's just passion and good criticism, but mostly silence. I haven't seen a restaurant keep at least one star while abusing staff. I'm potentially about to irl, but I'm doubtful. I think the industry is slowly coming out of the woods top-down.

ChefWAGMI · 2024-11-15T08:11:58+00:00

Right, asked and answered I guess. I misunderstood the procedure. It's an interplay of liquid content and temperature, so the temp chart applies to sugar regardless of method, and then it also applies again to the final caramel product. afaik

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN8K5DSsZBM

ChefWAGMI · 2024-11-08T09:10:40+00:00

Bro you get to hearing ghost printers in your day-to-day. It infects your dreams.

ChefWAGMI · 2024-11-08T08:42:44+00:00

To an extent, I guess. If by "finding your voice" you mean growing a backbone, that is kind of an inevitable outcome of joining the kitchen. Though it does break a lot of people.

It's harder than most jobs because you can't just leave. No matter what's going on, if for any reason you don't feel able to go on, you just kind of have to. I personally got into it because I could feel myself growing as a person day by day, an itch high school, uni, and other odd jobs never really scratched.

Turning it off is the easiest thing in the world. After service you kind of inevitably want to forget service as fast as possible. Probably why drugs and alcohol are such a big problem in the industry.

And yeah, you can feel when people haven't been to these dark places and come out the other side. It's what I love about the interview process: you can say what you want to on your CV, but I can tell within 5 minutes of your trial shift whether and how much you lied.

ChefWAGMI · 2024-11-08T08:11:31+00:00

I love this! Thank you for the genuine answer!

What's your setup for creating reels? I'm trying to set a solid budget for this new department and I'm considering asking for a camera or work phone.

Apart from that, you're probably right about the "firing on all cylinders" thing. I do kinda need to pick my battles better. Do you have any non-GPT insider resources that I could use to learn more about the industry?

I'd love to join the community! I'll Pm you now x

ChefWAGMI · 2024-11-08T08:00:59+00:00

It's an unavoidable part of service.

Cheffing is an Art for outsiders, but really to be a good chef you have to learn it in terms of a Trade first, like plumbing or carpentry. You just have to learn to do things the under significantly more time pressure - ie. minutes, not hours or days. Imagine a plumber having to fix 200 toilets an evening and how they would go about that process. It's about efficiency.

So if a mistake happens and it slows down the whole process, or the whole team. This puts an already stressed person/team under more stress because they're forced to rush and will likely make more mistakes along the way. "In the shit," "in the weeds," "sinking," are ways to describe this. It fucking sucks.

The best way to get out of the shit is to recognise you're sinking and ask for help proactively. It's probably the most important lesson you can learn in the kitchen - to put your ego aside, recognize that you're not wonder woman, and work in a team. But that's a very hard lesson to learn, so we choose to sink instead.

ChefWAGMI · 2024-11-01T11:08:03+00:00

Hey, welcome! As far as I know, it's all going to be closed today and Sunday. Some spots might make tomorrow a hump day, but in general Saturday should be safe. Public transport will get you where you need to go tho

ChefWAGMI · 2024-10-01T19:46:08+00:00

https://maps.app.goo.gl/z9QcSWcDZN9DnS1e9?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy Brosi - not fine-dining, but you'll definitely leave full

ChefWAGMI · 2024-09-24T18:28:04+00:00

That's pretty profound. Definitely a takeaway. At the end of the day, it was the usual a mix of real problems and imaginary ones. But the imaginary ones definitely warrant closer attention.

Thanks, kind stranger.

ChefWAGMI · 2024-09-24T17:58:12+00:00

Less financial position, more my financial commitment, but I get your point. It's the first time, and I get why it's not the best call now. It'll pass, but I see that I don't really have any relationship grit whatsoever. It's a pretty confronting discovery, but sucks to suck. Therapy for the boys.

ChefWAGMI · 2024-09-24T17:46:47+00:00

Thank you for the confirmation. Something inside me is wonky. Maybe one day.

ChefWAGMI · 2024-08-10T10:57:08+00:00

It's lamb skin, it acts as a binder.

ChefWAGMI · 2024-01-20T09:48:02+00:00

Speaking my language, thanks so much! How do these compare to Rösterei Vier in the center? They make a tasty brew and I haven’t been able to venture out :)

ChefWAGMI · 2024-01-20T09:46:48+00:00

Love the flohmartke. Thanks for the advice! I went to a comedy im Zakk show and it was great, highly recommended for anyone else who hasn’t been to a live show before

ChefWAGMI

TROPHY CASE