For the first time, the Nobel Prize banquet chef consists of a duo
This year, chef duo Tommy Myllymäki and Pi will be in charge of the first and main course for the 1,300 guests in the Blue Hall on 10 December. They are joined by Frida Bäcke, who for the second year in a row will create the evening’s dessert. The menu will include mushrooms and berries from the forest, with a focus on unexpected taste sensations. A new piece of cutlery is also introduced during the evening – a butter knife made of carved oak from the south of Sweden.
Pi Le and Tommy Myllymäki run the restaurant Aira in Stockholm, which has been awarded two Michelin stars, as well as Bobergs Matsal and Nordiska Kantinen at the NK department store. The two chefs are used to working together and find that being a duo comes with many advantages.
“Being a duo is beneficial, not only at the conceptual stage but also when it comes to implementation. We complement each other very well – Tommy contributes with his enthusiasm and never says ‘we can’t do that.’ At the same time, we tend to say that I’m the one making sure that the ideas are turned into concrete results. I believe that this combination is incredibly valuable,” says Pi Le.
How do they view this task?
“What’s unique with this task is that it comes with such an incredibly strong historical heritage, while at the same time showcasing gastronomic innovation. For us, this is always ultimately about creating an amazing taste sensation – and preferably with unexpected taste combinations. We tend to say that we move on a scale between safety and innovation in our work. Comfort gets to meet creativity. The food should feel familiar but with a twist, something unexpected,” says Tommy Myllymäki.
The menu is secret until the guests sit down at their tables on 10 December. However, the laureates and guests will, for example, get to taste what the Swedish forest has to offer. The first course includes dried porcini mushroom, which offers an intense taste sensation and sets the tone for the dish. The dessert will include wild raspberries and blackthorn berries.
Frida Bäcke runs the patisserie Socker Sucker in Stockholm and has been named the Swedish Pastry Chef of the Pastry Chefs several times.
“It is a great honour that I have once again been asked to do this. Working with the Nobel Prize banquet last year was one of the most exciting things I have done in my life. This year, we have decided to be inspired by nature and the Swedish forest. I love wild raspberries and have fond childhood memories of how I used to pick them together with my grandparents. I enjoy drawing attention to blackthorn berries. It is a berry that ripens late and is picked at the first frost,” she says.
She is very familiar with the chefs from previous jobs.
“It feels great to once again work together. Tommy and Pi make up a really good team in terms of both technique and creativity, and I share a lot of their ideas. We have created dishes together at Aira, and doing it again for the Nobel Prize banquet feels great,” says Bäcke.
The current Nobel tableware was created more than 30 years ago and has looked the same ever since. A new piece of cutlery is introduced this year in the form of a hand-carved butter knife, developed by Pi Le’s brother Van Le in collaboration with the chef duo. The butter knives are made of oak from the south of Sweden, and each knife has been sanded by hand. In total, no fewer than 1,300 butter knives will be ready by 10 December.
Facts
- The menu has been developed in close collaboration with the Nobel Foundation’s gastronomic advisors Fredrik Eriksson, Långbro Värdshus and Restaurang Nationalmuseum, Ulrika Karlsson, Krakas Krog, and Gert Klötzke, professor of gastronomy at Umeå University.
- The menu will not be revealed until all guests sit down at their tables at 19:00 on 10 December.
- The tables will be set with the Nobel tableware, which was created in 1991 for the 90th anniversary of the Nobel Prize by the three Swedish designers Karin Björquist (Rörstrand/Gustavsberg), Gunnar Cyrén (Orrefors) and Ingrid Dessau (Klässbols Linneväveri). This year, a hand-carved oak butter knife made by Van Le is also used.
- The approximately 60 tables in the Blue Hall will be covered with some 800 metres of linen tablecloth, and the meticulous table setting will comprise no fewer than some 9,240 pieces of porcelain, 5,230 glasses and 9,240 pieces of cutlery.
- The dessert requires a total of 45 kilos of wild raspberries and 20 kilos of blackthorn berries. The wild raspberries have been picked by hand in northern Sweden in the summer.
About the chefs and pastry chef
Pi Le moved to Ängelholm from Vietnam together with his family when he was two years old. Between 2011 and 2014, he was part of the Junior National Culinary Team, where he won a Culinary Olympic gold medal in 2012 and a Culinary World Cup silver medal in 2014, as well as coming in second individually in the 2011 Nordic Chef of the Year. Following that, he was part of the Swedish National Culinary Team between 2014 and 2016. Pi Le currently operates several restaurants together with Tommy Myllymäki, including the two-star restaurant Aira, where he is also a partner, as well as the traditional Bobergs Matsal and the salad bar concept Akvileja.
Tommy Myllymäki grew up in Katrineholm in Södermanland and has been a prominent figure in Swedish gastronomy since 2007, when he was named Chef of the Year. He has successfully competed internationally in the Bocuse d’Or, winning a gold medal in Bocuse d’Or Europe in 2014 and a silver and a bronze medal in the world finals in 2011 and 2015. Tommy has since 2023 served as a judge on the television show Sveriges Mästerkock (Swedish Master Chef), and he has also written and published seven cookbooks. Tommy currently operates a number of restaurants together with Pi Le, including the two-star restaurant Aira in Stockholm, the classic Bobergs Matsal at the NK department store in Stockholm and the salad bar concept Akvileja.
Frida Bäcke grew up in Västerby outside of Hedemora. She has served as the pastry chef at restaurants such as Franzén and Aira. She was part of the Swedish National Culinary Team for five years and has competed in both the Culinary World Cup and the Culinary Olympics. Frida has, for four years in a row, been named the Swedish Pastry Chef of the Pastry Chefs. The patisserie Socker Sucker, which she operates together with her colleague Bedros Kabranian, has also been awarded the Swedish Patisserie of the Patisseries for three consecutive years.