In Portugal, Lucas Kaminski Sampaio grew up in a food-passionate family - always with three meals a day and mostly fresh products.
From a young age, Kaminski Sampaio experimented with flavours and at the age of 11 knew he wanted to be a chef.
At 15 years old, Kaminski Sampaio entered cooking school and by 17, was the youngest crew member of the restaurant Villa Joya - at the time the best restaurant in Portugal with two Michelin stars. After two years here, the chef decided to move to Germany, to explore his culinary skills in Frankfurt and grow on a personal level.
During his time in Frankfurt, a chef from Villa Joya invited the young chef aboard the opening of a new restaurant, Amolite. Within just two years of opening, the Amolite team achieved two Michelin stars.
After working at such a high calibre and within such successes, Chef Kaminski Sampaio was drawn to create a better work/life balance for himself, and moved to New Zealand. In his current role, he works as Head Chef at Christchurch’s Miro.
Miro is a cosy spot located in one of Christchurch’s few remaining heritage buildings, offering views of the city and the quaint river Avon. The art deco establishment is open for breakfast, lunch and brunch seven days a week. Every item is crafted in-house by hand with the utmost skill and passion.
Kaminski Sampaio does not have a determined style when it comes to his cooking.
“I keep changing according to new techniques or to new trends and new life experiences; I always try to adapt to the restaurant style and goals.”
At home, the chef keeps to the classics with a real Mediterranean diet.
“A must have in my pantry is garlic, garlic, and more garlic.”
The chef enjoys pushing and provoking the boundaries of food with creativity and flavours, inspired by multiple outlets from painting and sculptures to the art of nature itself. Having mastered traditional techniques, the possibilities of what Kaminski Sampaio can create feel infinite. Old and trusted flavour combinations can be transformed into new dishes when a chef has the fundamentals down.
Recently, Kaminski Sampaio created two fish dishes for Miro, of which he particularly enjoys the flavour profiles. One, a classic dish with earthy Mediterranean notes, is based in French cuisine and has a vichyssoise sauce with a pan-fried fish and olive potato brandade. The other is a little more technical and fits with the season using chestnuts foraged by Miro owners Francesca and James. The Miro team fermented the chestnuts into a miso that they baste onto a snapper and serve on a celeriac puree and smoked celeriac juice, with bianchetto truffle.
Kaminski Sampaio is no stranger to truffles, having recently had the pleasure of collaborating with the Miro Group’s Executive Chef Leam Summers. The pair worked on a five-course truffle lunch in partnership with Pegasus Bay Winery, coming up with a refined and conceptual menu.
To the chef, one of the most important aspects of working in the hospitality industry is the sharing of knowledge. His favourite part of working is collaboration - teaching young chefs new techniques, products and flavour combinations and seeing excitement brought from it.
“Teaching what I know - even if it is not much - is the biggest pleasure I have. I hope that I help the next chefs in their own path.”
As the hospitality industry has faced instability in recent times of global insecurity, Kaminski Sampaio has seen professionals in the sector lose passion and inspiration. For a time himself, the chef stepped away from the kitchen and worried his interest was lost. Encouragement from family and friends eventually won out, though, and Kaminski Sampaio again fell in love with all the possibilities in cooking food, the infinity of flavours, and the joy of having such a great young team with so much passion to learn and improve.
Kaminski Sampaio sees an importance in reigniting excitement for the industry, both in its workers and guests. The chef truly believes in having good, fresh and nutritious options available and is taking on the challenge of stoking happiness back into hospitality with the tools of passion, love and dedication.
“From receiving a perfect mushroom, to dropping an egg on the floor - we should laugh and enjoy as much as we can.”
