Anton Egger interview: 'Making people happy is the most important part of being a chef'

Born into a hospitality family in Austria, Seabourn's master chef and culinary partner chef Anton “Tony” Egger launched his culinary career via local apprenticeships before moving on to expand his horizons, talents, and tastes at 5-star venues across four continents.

After bringing those to Seabourn, chef Egger transferred to the line's headquarters, then based in Miami, as corporate executive chef. Within two years, he was a lead food and beverage partner for the entire fleet. He then teamed with chef Salein to expand the line's cuisine by conceiving and developing popular venues such as Sushi and Earth & Ocean.

Tell us a little about your new venture, Solis – Seabourn's new fine-dining concept – and how it came about?
Solis was developed in collaboration with my colleague and friend, senior corporate chef Franck Salein. We combined our years of experience, passion for travel and deep knowledge of Seabourn to create a new elevated fine dining restaurant. Solis has been designed to evoke every one of the senses and we will transport guests to the Mediterranean through a number of surprise-and-delight culinary moments.

What’s the inspiration behind the dishes on the new menu?
The dishes celebrate Mediterranean coastal cuisine inspired by the places visited by Seabourn’s ultra-luxury ships. Each dish will showcase flavours, artistry and stories from our travel memories, from whimsical cocktails and vibrant plating to flavour combinations that are both familiar and elevated.

Also, there will be a newly created Solis wine list which is tailored to the Mediterranean cuisine we offer and a new Mediterranean inspired Vintage Cocktail menu – each cocktail has a story to tell.

How or where do you find inspiration?
My inspiration comes from my passion for travelling the world and immersing myself in diverse culinary traditions, and the food I create is entwined with my experiences. I’m also inspired by the voice of our guests and what they love to eat, so we have worked very hard over the past few months to bring this new menu to life.

How important is sustainability when it comes to devising your menus?
We rely on high-quality, locally sourced regional ingredients by working with a wide range of suppliers around the world to create strong flavour combinations in dishes.

One of the experiences we offer is ‘Shopping with the chef’ whereby we guide guests through culinary destinations and help pick out the freshest ingredients to take back to the ship to use in our dishes. Plus, using fresh, seasonal food helps make our dishes more flavoursome for our guests.

How would you describe your cooking style?
I would say that my cooking style is global. I like to think that we offer dishes that are designed to satisfy a range of appetites, and all dishes are carefully prepared and plated with an artistic eye.

Who’s had the biggest influence on you?
I was raised in a small village in Austria where my family owned a boutique hotel and farm and it’s where my culinary journey began. My grandmother taught me a lot and it was her knowledge, love of cooking and discipline that she instilled in me which helped shape me as a chef.

What's your favourite thing to cook at home?
Anything really. I love to cook together with friends and family as this provides some of the most relaxing, enjoyable and fun moments besides my professional life.

Are you ever at home?
I travel eight months out of the year around the world so I’m rarely at home. However, my travels allow me to discover new destinations and exciting flavour combinations for the dishes that we create for our guests.

What’s your favourite cuisine, outside of Mediterranean?
I love Asian cuisine and one of my favourite cities is Bangkok. I enjoy guiding guests around Bangkok’s vibrant markets as they have the freshest offerings, and I can pick food at peak season.

What would you say is your biggest achievement so far?
During my time with Seabourn, I have achieved several notable milestones. However one of the biggest is developing and creating the speciality restaurant, Restaurant 2, which introduced the first tasting menu concept at sea.

Since then, I have also created and lead the successful implementation of two other unique dining experiences for Seabourn – Sushi, a Japanese sushi restaurant on Seabourn Encore and Seabourn Ovation, and Earth & Ocean. The latter is our incredibly popular dining concept where we provide an array of fresh, inventive dishes that celebrate different flavours from around the world.

What does success mean to you?
Making people happy – that to me is the most important part of being a chef and as a person, and naturally leads to success in every aspect of my life.

Do you ever get time to relax?
I remain inspired by what’s new and not just in terms of food, but also new hotels and happenings so I spend a lot of my downtime exploring the world and educating myself. This helps to gather new ideas.

Aside from Solis, do you have any plans to open up further restaurants? If so, where?
My focus is on Solis for the next eight months but, once this project is complete, we will see what is next.

What advice can you give to aspiring chefs?
The most important thing is for chefs to bring desire, passion, drive and commitment to food and the dishes they create. This allows for my team to deliver a magical experience to our guests to create unforgettable memories onboard Seabourn.