Mirjana Vukman
To represent Mirjana Vukman as merely the Chef/Owner of several highly acclaimed restaurants would be to miss the breadth of creative vision she makes manifest in every project, large or small, that she takes on. Mirjana stands in the foreground of culinary and interior style as a distinctive and original talent, presenting her client/patrons with a remarkable synthesis of the broad range of cultural influences that make up her personal background.
Mirjana’s artistic sensibilities were nurtured at a young age in the respected Ivan Mestrovic College of Art where she graduated with a degree in Sculpture. This artistry evolved and took on depth through her years of working travel throughout Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North America. Savouring one of Mirjana’s extraordinary meals whilst reclining in a magnificent interior of her design, one experiences a compelling fusion of the earthy sensuality of her native Adriatic coastal culture with the refined sensibilities of the prestigious Cordon Bleu School of Cookery in London, England, where she graduated from the Culinary Arts Program as a Chef. Experiencing any one of her creations, one can’t but feel astounded by the subtle layering of sensual insight and awareness that inform her eclectic sensibility and note sources as diverse as her own history.
The three incarnations of Mirjana’s restaurant, Pomodori, have received many accolades. Chick Rice of the New York Post described Pomodori as “ambient decadence”. Rosemary Rendell of the UK Business Guide called it “a rare jewel to be savoured or secretly put on display”. Zagat called it “striking” and “let the food and ambience speak for itself”. She has been singled out in numerous publications including: the Zagat Guide, Fodor’s, Canadian Living, The Vancouver Sun, Sunset Magazine, NW Palette, Bon Appetit, and EnRoute Magazine. The Vancouver location of Pomodori was the first and, thus far, only restaurant in British Columbia to be featured on the cover of Vancouver Magazine, with high praise given to the design Mirjana created for the restaurant’s interior and terrace as well as the food it elegantly framed.
Guests at Mirjana’s restaurants included many notable film and television personalities, artists and musicians. Theo Prems, the LA producer wrote, “Your taste transcends any restaurant in LA or for that matter anywhere”. The musician, Bryan Adams, wrote, “sublime”, Architect, Arthur Erikson, “inspirational”. The artist, Robert Bateman “beyond words, a masterpiece” and Chef Graham Kerr proclaimed it “amazing”. After dining at Cucina restaurant in Victoria, a New York producer for the Food Network invited Mirjana to launch her own cooking show. Mirjana was also given extensive coverage in Elizabeth Levingstone’s award-winning book, ‘The Edible Journey’; and highlighted by local authors covering “secrets of Vancouver and Victoria”.
She has worked for and with the best in her 22 years as a professional Chef, including: Dante Rota at the Windsor Arms Hotel in Toronto, Canada; Anton Mosimann at the Dorchester; and Daniel Dunas at the Connaught, in London, England. Her years as a Chef in Italy for the Hotel de Russie and Grand Hotel Villa D’Este exposed her to not only food but art and design in fabric and furnishings. It established for her a strong relationship with suppliers of European food and wine products and suppliers of design items throughout the continent.
Mirjana is a creative, passionate and tactile being. Whatever she touches, she transforms: the simple ingredients of a peasant’s kitchen become a decadent, organic, exotic feast; the mundane surfaces of a North American interior become the palette for an inventive and sophisticated artist’s hand. Mirjana is now at work as a consultant on various interior design projects, restaurant openings, and food-related projects including her own line of gourmet food products.
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