Marko Petrović – Sous Chef Interview
What’s harder: creating a great dish or making it exactly as good for the fiftieth time?
Making the same dish exactly the same way for the fiftieth time is definitely harder. You might achieve the perfect balance on your first attempt, but the real skill lies in maintaining that same standard every single time, regardless of how busy the kitchen is, the pressure you’re under, or the working conditions.
Which part of a sous chef’s job do guests never see, even though it takes up most of your time and energy?
Being the link between the kitchen and the front-of-house team. Guests only see what comes out of the kitchen. They don’t see how much time goes into organising the team, preparing for service, communicating with the dining room staff, and solving a hundred problems on the fly, all to make the final result look completely effortless.
How much room is there for ego in a serious professional kitchen?
You need to know your worth, but you also need to know when to listen, admit your mistakes, and put the team before yourself.
If you could permanently eliminate one thing from modern fine dining – foams, tweezers, edible flowers, overly complicated dish descriptions, or something else, what would it be?
Fine dining itself. It’s gone too far and is starting to lose its meaning.
You’ve been working with Nedeljko for ten years. What do you understand about him today that you couldn’t understand when you first joined ENSO?
His need for everything to be perfect. Today, I understand why it matters, and I see the bigger picture much more clearly than I did back then.
What is it about Nedeljko that has kept you working alongside him for ten years, in an industry where chefs frequently change kitchens and mentors?
The way he demonstrates what true leadership looks like. He listens, pays attention, and genuinely understands the needs of the people he works with.
What’s the most important thing Nedeljko has taught you that has absolutely nothing to do with cooking?
That you don’t need to know everything right away. Patience.
If the Marko who first walked into the ENSO kitchen ten years ago tasted one of your dishes today, what do you think he would say?
Nothing. He’d know that Marko couldn’t have turned out any other way. 🤪
Is there a traditional Bosnian dish you’d love to reinterpret through ENSO’s culinary approach?
No. Tradition has its own value, and we shouldn’t mess with it.
What was harder: learning fine dining or accepting that a portion doesn’t have to fill the entire plate?
The hardest part is accepting that your work will be judged by people who often don’t even know what’s on their plate, yet have very strong opinions about how it should have been prepared.
The particularly interesting ones are those who have only just heard of a certain cooking technique but already have a full expert analysis ready.
Guests have every right to say they don’t like something, but confidence without knowledge doesn’t make criticism credible.
If you had to sum up your ten years at ENSO through a single dish, what would it be and why?
Steak. It takes time to learn not to overcook it or lose your temper. And both have come dangerously close to the edge more than once.
