A Vegan Revolution

Vegan fine dining is not just a trend; it's a culinary revolution. 

I have been looking into vegan fine dining for quite a while and have noticed remarkable differences in their approach to high-end cuisine. It is a topic that has yet to be discussed, especially in the fine dining industry. Nevertheless, it is a new coming trend and a fundamental and necessary change in today's kitchen.

For my research, I talked to Matthias from Oukan about their concept and interpretation of vegan cuisine. Oukan is a high-end restaurant in Berlin that has been a pioneer in the vegan fine dining universe for many years. The original concept was by Tran Mai Huy Thong, who owned a fashion store in Berlin Mitte. His life as a Buddhist connected him to veganism for all his life. Therefore, he decided to turn his popular fashion store into a restaurant inspired by the Japanese temple restaurant. The concept evolved over the years, and when Oukan opened its doors after the first lookdown in 2020, the kitchen presented a much broader spectrum of open and progressive cuisine. Today, Oukan is known for its highly advanced kitchen and fascinating fermentation lab, which is one of the best in Berlin, if not Germany. 

For those reasons, I compared Oukan with some of the most influential vegetarian and vegan restaurants to analyse the impact vegan restaurants have and how they can change today's kitchens.

If you have some basic knowledge of the restaurant world, you must be familiar with Eleven Madison Park, one of the most influential restaurants in the world. Shortly after the lockdown, EMP changed its concept to a 100% vegan restaurant. The press reacted more than negatively; however, they kept their three Michelin stars, and until today, Eleven Madison Park is known to be one of the best in the world. It is an idea people have yet to be ready to agree on, but it is necessary in the revolution of kitchen. Vegan fine dining faces challenges that must be tackled to compete against the beloved carnivore restaurants. It goes from the difference in products, the critical stigma of veganism, the need to attract carnivore customers or the long hours it takes to innovate vegan dishes. However, the result can mean tremendous success if all those challenges can be dealt with. It might be hard to understand, but the different approach makes today's kitchen so interesting. A gastronomic kitchen, as we know, comes with high-quality meat and fresh fish. Vegetables are the colour on the plate but are not of great importance.

This is why I looked further into the famous Arpège in Paris, a fine-dining restaurant run by Alan Passard, who in 2002 decided to turn his restaurant completely vegetarian. In France, the food culture was and still is heavily influenced by its traditional cuisine, and new approaches are much less acknowledged than in Berlin. The three-Michelin-starred restaurant struggled with shocked critics but was later praised and cited for working with the “happiest vegetables in the world.” Without the popularity of Chef Passard, his restaurant would not have made it. Visibility is even more crucial, and the effort to gain a community can be challenging for restaurants that are not ranked or own Michelin stars. 

By putting innovative cuisine first, Oukan permits its clients to discover something they have never tried while also being vegan. Only a few of our guests come because they want to eat vegan; the others are simply there for the great food, Matthias explains. Most clients are overwhelmed by the different flavours and often change their approach to vegan cuisine. I should note that Oukan does not represent itself as a vegan restaurant. The idea behind this is not to be known for their choice of ingredients but for their excellent food. The word vegan is a humble side note instead of a bold headline. 

In many fine-dining restaurants, quality and visual stand over flavour. In a traditional gastronomic restaurant, a steak of good quality, well grilled and seasoned with sea salt, can already be a fantastic dish and a memorable experience. Vegan fine dining works differently. Quality is also essential and evident in vegetarian and vegan restaurants; however, quality does not bring out the best in vegetables. Innovation is needed, procedures highlighted, and the amount of prep is much more enormous. The difference is that the steak ends where the steak ends; however, the creativity of creating something not written in every cookbook gives room for imagination. 

A great example is the asparagus dish included in the Oukan tasting menu. Until recently, the famous dish was served alongside a vegan sauce, reminding of a hollandaise. The flavours were of great depth, but the asparagus season is short, so a new product had to be found. The sauce was too good to be left behind, so they created a dish not about the asparagus but around the sauce. Oukan chose cucumber. The process was long, but the result was incredible. The cucumber was marinated in a dashi sauce by vacuuming the filled bag several times. Afterwards, the cucumber was again marinated with coconut milk and cumin, grilled on a charcoal grill and glazed with chamomile butter. Celery was fermented, smoked, dried and grated over the cucumber dish like cheese. Imagine the smells in the kitchen and the flavours melting on your tongue. That makes everyone's heart beat stronger.

The asparagus dish

All those preparations take time, primarily when techniques like fermentation and marinating are used. Such restaurants may have to increase their kitchen staff and surveillance hours while maintaining their unique dishes. Those challenges are seen in any restaurant, yet the solution to adapt your menu and cut prep time is much more accessible in traditional cuisine rather than in vegan ones.

The many health and economic benefits of vegan or vegetarian food are a great reason to be hooked, but those reasons aren’t enough to sustain a vegan fine-dining restaurant. In progressive cities like Berlin, such a concept has the best chance of making it. It can even be of great advantage to differ from your competition. While gastronomic restaurants are found on every corner and have to battle each other, restaurants like Oukan attract because it is different. 

Oukan is one of the few pioneers who committed themselves to a new kitchen, one that has yet to be seen. We have to understand that regardless of how great the traditional kitchen was, is, and always will be, if we don’t reinvent ourselves, new and unordinary flavours and aromas will always be hidden from our innocent palettes. We need more restaurants that teach us about redefined cuisine. Who knows, maybe we just found our Eleven Madison Park of Berlin.

A look into Oukans kitchen during service