"Meeting, listening and creating is my life's opium"
Iosif Sikianakis grew up in Athens, but the breeze of the Aegean nourished him. His mother is from Mykonos and his father from Crete. A brilliant student with gold medals in rowing, Iosif chose to break the waves of the seas of gastronomy. Starting his career as a pastry chef, he reached the shores of Paros and, at 26, he became a partner in the famous Barbarossa Restaurant. That was just the beginning of a blossoming career.
The Moments
In-between his comings and goings to Paris, he meets the President of the Olympic Games Committee Athens 2004, Mrs Gianna Angelopoulos- Daskalaki and is hired as her private chef, building a strong gastronomic relationship that lasts to this day. Moments that become experiences and everlasting stories. He never stops adding a bit of his Aegean heart in his art, as he proposes menus for restaurants or cooks privately with organic ingredients to find the most creative expressions of tradition in today’s gastronomy.
The French Affair
Advancement came fast, and continuous pursuit of culinary discovery flew him to Paris and the legendary cuisine of Alain Ducasse. In Paris, he meets Eric Roy who secures a place for him in the restaurants of Alain Ducasse. The French Affair becomes stronger with training at the Le Centre de Formation Alain Ducasse (Culinary Art Training) on Cuisine sous-vide and on Poissons et crustacés. In Paris, also, he participates at the Galeries Lafayette, as Executive Chef for the presentation of Poga Olive Oil Winter, and he works at Hôtel Costes, under Chef Didier Coly, at the Hôtel Plaza Athénée under Chef Philippe Marc, at the Canal + under Chef Gérard Sallé, at the Restaurant L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon under Chef Eric Lecerf and at the Restaurant Le Taillevent, awarded with two Michelin stars, under Chef Alain Solivérès.
The Evolution
Today, Iosif divides his time between Cooking Cube Catering in Mykonos, his very own venture, and his involvement as a Consulting Chef for Amigos Restaurant, Forty Astir Beach Restaurant in Athens and Nerai Restaurant in New York. He approaches learning as a never-ending journey contributing to the James Beard Foundation, an organization that celebrates fine cuisine and top-tier chefs. He continually seeks inspiration in travelling. He offers his New Consulting Experience for restaurants while enjoying Private Cooking and he often appears on television and radio, on various cooking shows. At the Kitchen Studio and the Seminar series, he aims to initiate lovers of gastronomy to new paths of taste and wellbeing.
