Chef of the year 2024

DANIEL TILINGER

REŠTAURÁCIA ECK BRATISLAVA

After years of working and gaining experience in top restaurants in Belgium, Austria, and England, Daniel Tilinger returned to Slovakia. He currently leads the fine dining restaurant ECK in Bratislava’s Devín, which quickly became one of the best restaurants in Slovakia. As the head chef and co-author of its concept, he views his role and the operation of this ambitious project very positively more than a year after its opening. He always wanted to be a chef since he was a child. After completing his training, he joined the Grand Hotel River Park and was greatly inspired by the then-head chef, Björn Juhnke, who shared his experiences from London. This motivated him to say at the age of twenty-three, “Now or never,” and he decided to try working abroad. In 2012, his next stop on the way to his goal was Belgium, at the Hotel Dukes’ Palace Brugge. It was a different world once again. This was followed by Michelin-starred restaurants of Gordon Ramsay and Jason Atherton. It was long hours in the kitchen, stress, and pressure, but Daniel enjoyed it. He stood on his own, realizing that if he wanted to be good, he had to work hard and develop his skills. Therefore, in 2015, he moved to Salzburg, where he worked at the two Michelin-starred Ikarus restaurant and the iconic Hangar-7. What more could a young professional wish for than having a different guest chef every month? Daniel’s style can be defined as modern but simple and straightforward in what he cooks. He enjoys working with local ingredients: asparagus, game, and mushrooms, thus focusing on the regions of Slovakia, Austria, and Hungary.