Purity, place and process

For the coming year 2026, my motto in the world of food will be Purity, Place, and Process. To be precise, these three essential Ps elevated above a fourth: Pomp. This year, having had many lunches and dinners and several tasting menus lasting several hours, I’ve concluded that the moments I enjoyed most combined these crucial elements. In a way, the triple concepts of purity, place and process also define the essential elements of quiet luxury in gastronomy.

Quiet luxury is a rising term that defines understated elegance over flashy displays of wealth. It defines refined taste, a knowing eye appreciating timeless design and skillful craftsmanship. When applied to architecture, it is definitely somewhere in between Arts & Crafts Movement or Modern Minimalism over Baroque and Rococo. When it comes to gastronomy, we are going through a different phase globally. Like in fashion and architecture, gastronomy is going through phases that influence chefs globally. The playful, tech-driven, wildly creative plates of Heston Blumenthal and Ferran Adria might already seem like a thing of a bygone past era, but their legacies remain strong in the culinary circles with countless chefs revisiting and recreating their iconic creations. Both Blumenthal’s Fat Duck and Adria’s El Bulli are closed now, but they definitely defined new horizons for gastronomy. Both had been revolutionary, creating new paths to follow. Many chefs follow in their footsteps, but sometimes it goes beyond inspiration and becomes pastiche, pretty much like vernacular architecture-inspired housing devoid of its original context. At this point, when I see a plate mirroring an original creation like a copycat, I cannot help but I quote the famed Turkish artist Bedri Baykam’s iconic picture titled “This has been done before!”

Looking back to memorable meals of 2025, two stand out in the context of purity, place and process. Asador Etxebarri was one example of such purity and process in a remote place in the Basque country in Spain, in Axpe, Bizkaia. The place, in that case, is also totally reflected in the food that is served, the best meat in the countryside, the best seafood that comes from the ocean. Every single food is grilled by chef/owner Victor Arguinzoniz, the fire master who masterfully controls each morsel of food to the right degree of doneness over the grill with his own techniques. Born in the same village, he himself must be the icon of the place, a self-taught chef who focuses only on his food on the grill. During my visit in late November, the lunch was packed with quiet customers, mostly Japanese, admiring every single morsel they eat with silent admiration.

Master Victor is also a very silent man; he seems to speak only with the fire, and nothing else. Our table was assisted by Mohamed Benabdallah, one of the best sommeliers in the world, who was charming in every possible way, while Victor solely remained down at the kitchen, not visiting the dining room to greet customers, an attitude which I respectfully admire. After all, his food speaks for itself; chefs need not to be entertainers at the same time. But when we conveyed our wish to visit the kitchen to Mohamed, he quietly led the way to us, and I met the loveliest person, in his right place against the fire, so friendly and so warm. Well, after all, it must be the fire that makes him so warm. With the smoky tastes still lingering in my mouth, I did what is not normally expected from me, I could not help but give him a hug. Luckily, he did not stand remote and hugged back!

In Türkiye, one particular dinner I had at Ayla by Aret Sahakyan, inside the Maçakızı Otel in Bodrum, totally fits in that concept of quiet luxury. Actually, the place is like a manifesto against wildly popular Bodrum, where all the money flows to the seasonal pop-ups. Maçakızı, the only hotel in Türkiye that made it to the 50 Best Hotel list in the second 50, is a laid-back, quiet place, carrying the bohemian chic vibes of once-upon-a-time Mediterranean times. Chef Aret is a silent man who does not like to tell a lot of stories about his food, he lets the food talk for itself. His choice of ingredients also reflects that. Caught fresh fish right from the sea, fresh greens, sun-ripened tomatoes and seasonal fruits from a nearby village. All ingredients reflect the purity, but the purity is also in the no-frills plates he puts on the table, where the process comes forth. Every single dish displays his skill in cooking and his determined decisiveness in plain simplicity. The place is also unmatched in Ayla. Right in front of the sea, setting only a few tables, it is a stolen piece of heaven among the hellishly loud, showy Bodrum venues where the new money rules, and the conspicuous consumption defines their target customers. Just the sea breeze in your cheeks, enjoying the fish cheek in your plate.

But sometimes we need a bit of pomp. Attending the show-dinner of Gaggan Anand in Bangkok reminded me of that. That story is for next week, but as a spoiler: Gaggan is everything in the opposite of Victor and Aret, but attending his interactive dinner for a second time, which is staged pretty much like a theatre show, reminded me of another essential element in dining: Conviviality. But for now, let’s focus on quiet luxury in dining. It is also possible at home: A perfectly matured artisanal cheese, a good bottle of your favorite wine. Just light candles and just savor your stolen quiet moment from the wildly hectic 2025.