To mark the forthcoming of the ‘Taittinger’ – International Signature Cuisine Prize – that will be held on the 30th of January 2024, meet Thijs Griffioen, candidate for the Netherlands.
Thijs works in the restaurant “Da Vinci” which has 1 Michelin star.
It was at the age of 12 that he discovered cooking through pastry. He then decided to become a chef and went to a culinary school.
During his career, he voluntarily wanted to go through all the positions before becoming Chef. This is how his first internship was as a kitchen hand. His inspiration came from frequenting numerous starred restaurants and reading Chefs’ books. Perfect mastery of the basics now gives him all the freedom to develop his creativity.
For Thijs, this profession is above all a collective adventure where good gestures can only be learned by surrounding elders, so for him it is already time to think about transmission.
Will he win the first place for the Netherlands today like Jan Smink last year?
