Elephant’s Chef Packs His Trunk and Heads to the Alps

Chef Simon Hulstone is heading to the Alps to dish up a high altitude culinary treat for holidaymakers this summer.

He is one of the UK’s most decorated chefs and with wife Katy runs the Michelin-starred south coast restaurant of The Elephant.

Simon has been chosen to take part in the annual Culinary Jakobsweg in the Paznaun valley villages of Ischgl, Galtür, Kappl and See in the Austrian Tirol and will be joined by four more Michelin-starred chefs from Portugal, Austria, Germany and The Netherlands.

On the weekend of 8-9 July, Simon will be going from sea-level to 2,165m for the launch of the programme, and from then his dish of braised pigs cheeks with creamed celeriac will be the summer lunchtime special at the Jamtalhütte lodge in the mountains above Galtür. The lodge is one of five on the ancient pilgrims’ path of Jakobsweg as it crosses the Silvretta mountain range of The Alps and is used by hikers and bikers all summer long.

Said Simon: “This will be my first visit to Austria and I’m very pleased to be taking part in this exciting event. I enjoy foraging for mushrooms and wild herbs so it appeals to me to use local ingredients as found in the mountains.”

Herbs feature strongly in the lives of Simon and wife Katy – who runs The Elephant with him – as their daughters are named after herbs. There’s Tansy, aged 11, Cicely, nine and five-year-old Betony.

Simon is the 4^th UK chef to take part in the Culinary Jakobsweg, which is the creation of the Gault Millau Chef of The Century Eckart Witzigmann and Austria Chef of the Year Martin Sieberer. The other four chefs for summer 2017 are Konstantin Filippou from Austria; Frédéric Morel, Germany; Dieter Koschina, Portugal; and Jacob Jan Boerma, The Netherlands.

Holidaymakers can visit each of the five lodges when staying in any of the Paznaun villages of Ischgl, Galtür, Kappl and See by using the all-inclusive Silvretta card which gives guests free and unlimited use of cablecars, chairlifts, buses and other facilities. Use the accommodation search facility on www.paznaun-ischgl.com to book from a range of properties from simple b&b to 5* luxury.