Star cuisine in the Algarve.

Zschopau Resident Runs his Own Catering Company in Portugal

Zschopau. From the Erz Mountains via Bavaria and Switzerland to Portugal – Sascha Epphardt from Zschopau has seen a lot of Europe. His profession has enabled the 29-year-old this privilege. “I always wanted to become a chef. I was probably born that way. And I didn’t want to remain where I grew up”, says Sascha Epphardt. He now lives in the Algarve, working within his catering company, which he runs with a colleague. They cater for local residents and foreigners who appreciate good food.

“This was the last kind of thing on my mind ten years ago. One thing just led to another”, the young man laughs, during a holiday back home. His professional life first began in the Bavarian Forest. Having finished his schooling at Martin-Andersen-Nexö Secondary School, in Zschopau, Epphardt completed his training as a chef in Neukirchen. Before his arrival in Portugal in 2002 he also enjoyed work experience in Dresden, Chemnitz and Switzerland. “I just wanted to get further away, to see even more”, he recalls. Working in gourmet restaurants certainly helped him in this. “It’s important to have appropriate references and good credentials. Former employers are often contacted before someone is hired”, the culinary professional reflects.

In Portugal the former Zschopau resident worked in the country’s two best restaurants, one with one Michelin star, and another with two. “Portuguese haute cuisine is classic French with modern and Portuguese influences. Only fresh products are used and naturally there’s a lot of fish.” After a stay in Gran Canaria the chef returned to Portugal. “The landscape is very beautiful there, the people are open, and I had got to know a few people there in the meanwhile”, he recounts. He has been running his own company since 2006, together with a German lady who has been working in Portugal for some time.

Dinner evenings and cocktail parties form part of the catering company’s repertoire. “We offer the same quality as a first-class restaurant. We enter the client’s house, cook, decorate, supply waiters, and afterwards we clear everything up,” Epphardt says. The team includes three chefs, and in the summer they have additional staff. The business is going well: “Cooking is booming and catering fills a gap in the market. Our business is sourced through word of mouth”, the chef explains.

England’ Liverpool Football Club can be counted amongst his clients. “The team was in Portugal on a training session. The players ate pasta, lots of meat, salads and rice. I cooked according to a strict plan”, the chef explains. A former chairman of the German Central Bank and a German entrepreneur with old-age residence in the Algarve can also be included in the company’s list of regular clients.

Sascha Epphardt doesn’t have any favourite dishes. “What matters to me is to do something in the kitchen, to just get the best out of every dish.” Beetroot is the only ingredient he cannot abide: “I probably had it just that once too often at playschool.” Epphardt still likes coming back home to eat though. And what culinary delight is he most looking forward to? “Mum’s homemade roulades with fresh mushrooms.”