Food isn’t just food. There is an entire universe revolving around it: tastes, emotions and memories. Paul Oppenkamp’s culinary story proves it.

The World

Paul Oppenkamp used to wake up on the World, but there was no time to admire the sunrise or watch how the new day sets in.  He had 60 cooks to coordinate and a lot of demanding guests to please. He was the executive Chef of the World, the largest yacht in the world, for about five years, but there was little time for fun.

But for Paul, who already knew he would become a chef when he was 12 years old, work is not a burden. He had some good years on the ship, despite the seven days a week schedule. He has been working with Mihaela, his Romanian wife, whom he married in his first year on the yacht, had a lot of culinary freedom and even spent a Christmas in Antarctica and one at the North Pole. But it was time to get off the World and move on to the next destination.

The new world

It’s about 5.30 pm and Paul Oppenkamp gets out of the kitchen. He’s tall, skinny and hyper energetic. The Artist is booked for tonight, but most of the guests haven’t arrived yet in the restaurant, so he can spare some 40 minutes for the interview. Paul is in his third year in Romania and things are going pretty well for the Artist, the small, cozy restaurant he opened in Bucharest in 2012, after he left the World yacht.

Bucharest wasn’t a novelty for him, as he started coming here regularly on holidays since 2006, visiting his wife’s parents and slowly discovering Romania: the Bran Castle, the buildings covered with huge commercials, his mother’s in law ciorba de perisoare (Meatball Soup). He has always felt comfortable here, so when thinking with his wife about a place where to open their own place, they thought..why not Bucharest?

Paul understood that the city is developing and the industry is growing. “When I first came there were no steak houses, no Sushi restaurants. Now I have one across the street. Those things didn’t really exist there. They got a tremendous boost. I enjoy seeing a city growing so much and expanding."

They looked for several months for a location and at some point they came to this little place, located on Nicolae Tonitza street, close to Lipscani.  “It was nice because it was a little bit outside of the historical centre. It was also very quiet. The place next door was not here. Nor that place there. We were pretty much the only ones.”

While talking, Paul always checks the door and the customers that get in. There is no time to waste, as he has to get back to the kitchen, once they decided upon their order. He’s doing the cooking and when asked why he doesn’t step aside to enjoy being the owner, he laughs. “There is no point of being a cook if I don't cook. It’ the biggest mistake in my opinion. First of all you lose control. Of course it’s important to have a strong team. But for me, opening my restaurant, is to make my own food.”

As for the name of the restaurant, The Artist, Paul says it describes the beauty of food. “It was also a little bit given to us,” he adds. “My former employer gave me a present when I left, a knife with an inscription - The Artist. Then we found this place, that happened to be on Tonitza street, the name of a Romanian painter. Then we found out that the building was designed by a famous architect. It all made sense. It clicked into place.”

They change the menu every three months, trying to adjust to the seasons. “We have a small menu, six appetizers, six main menus and five desserts.Then we have the spoon tasting, our biggest seller. For the first course you get five spoons, for the second course six spoons, and for the dessert you get six spoons.”

Food brings people together, Paul says. “I’ve seen many countries, many different places. It always comes down to food. You go out with your family...at some point you’ll sit down and have a meal together.” When he was a kid, Paul used to cook for his family on Wednesday evenings, when his mother was working. “At one point my dad used to give me a little budget and I had to cook something. I went shopping in the afternoon and then I cooked for us.”

Food is also deeply connected to memories and emotions, as it represents a zone of comfort for everybody. “You can live in New York and maybe one day you’ll see a Romanian restaurant there that has sarmale on the menu. You will probably go there because it’s emotionally comfortable for you.” Paul remembers how many years ago he went to Vietnam and discovered a small noodles shop in Ho Chi Minh, called Noodle 2000. Five or six year later, by the time he already met his wife, they went to Ho Chi Minh. “I told her there is one place where we need to go. I had no idea if it still existed. I didn’t know the name of the place, I explained the taxi driver, more or less, it’s on a big square, it’s a noodle shop. And he said..oh..Noodle 2000. It was still super awesome. Those are great memories.”

“I think there is a little bit of psychology in the decision to go out,” Paul says. “You do things for other people all day long - in every job in the world you do something for somebody else. And when you go out, somebody is doing it for you.  I like to go out to dinner sometimes, just for the sake of not having to cook myself. Let somebody else cook something nice for me. I enjoy the moment of sitting somewhere, relaxing and having a bit of food.”

By Diana Mesesan, features writer, diana@romania-insider.com