{"id":20588,"date":"2026-08-19T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?p=20588"},"modified":"2026-08-19T19:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T19:00:00","slug":"konstantinos-vais-on-why-essi-lets-the-ingredients-do-the-talking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?p=20588","title":{"rendered":"Konstantinos Vais on why essi lets the ingredients do the talking"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <div style=\"display: grid; grid-template-columns: 300px 160px; gap: 2px; width: 460px; background: #eee; padding: 2px;\">\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u6574\u884c\u5bbd\u5e7f\u544a -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column: 1\/-1; width: 460px; height: 250px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876674\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column: 1\/-1; width: 460px; height: 90px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876676\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u5de6\u4fa7\u7ad6\u6392 -->\r\n  <div style=\"height: 250px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876672\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  <div style=\"height: 500px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876680\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u53f3\u4fa7\u6469\u5929\u697c\uff08\u548c\u5de6\u4fa7\u5b8c\u5168\u5bf9\u9f50\uff09 -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-row: 3\/5; height: 750px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876678\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  \r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e6\" data-zoneid=\"5876682\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n<\/div><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-right:0;padding-left:0\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><em>Opinions expressed by\u00a0Digital Journal\u00a0contributors are their own.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ask Konstantinos Vais to explain his cooking philosophy and he does not reach for a trend word. \u201cWe let the ingredients do the talking,\u201d says Konstantinos Vais, founder of essi, describing the idea that shapes everything on the menu. It sounds simple until you watch what it rules out: no plate built around a technique for its own sake, no dish designed primarily to photograph well, and no shortcut ingredient standing in for a real one. The standard is whether a component earns its place on the plate through flavor alone.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-two-countries-on-one-plate\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Two countries on one plate<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The mechanism behind that philosophy is specific, not a vague fusion label. Rather than running a Greek menu and an Australian menu side by side, Vais applies Greek cooking technique first and lets Australian ingredients act on top of it, dish by dish, so the two traditions show up in the same bite instead of on separate plates. It is a pairing built from his own biography: Greek heritage on one side, decades of hospitality experience in Australia on the other, combined into a single cooking approach rather than alternated dish by dish.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That mechanism shows up most clearly in specific dishes rather than in any general description of the menu. The Saganaki Cheese Toastie, built on sourdough with ghee, kaseri cheese, rainforest lime, British honey, and thyme, became one of the restaurant\u2019s most talked-about items in London, a dish that pairs a Greek cheese technique with an Australian citrus note most diners would not expect to find in the same bite. The White Tarama follows the same logic in a savory register, built from cod roe and crispy potato skins and finished with Australian forest anise, a single imported note layered onto a classic Greek spread rather than a wholesale reinvention of it. The Olive Oil Parfait does the same work in dessert form, built from Cretan koroneiki olive oil, Murray River salt, and Australian lemon aspen, an ingredient list that reads like a geography lesson before it reads like a menu item.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-the-standards-behind-the-signature-dish\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">The standards behind the signature dish<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No dish carries more of Vais\u2019s personal philosophy than the Galaktoboureko, a baked custard and filo pastry dessert built from what he describes directly as his mother\u2019s recipe. It is the clearest example of how the restaurant\u2019s stated standards translate into practice: rather than reinterpreting a family dish to fit a restaurant format, Vais keeps the recipe\u2019s core intact and lets its origin do the work that a more elaborate presentation might otherwise be asked to do. The same instinct shaped the format of essi\u2019s rooftop cooking during its early residency, when Vais described the format in his own words as \u201ca cut and paste of Greek and Australian life in the summer,\u201d built around open-fire cooking rather than a conventional kitchen line.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That approach extends to how the kitchen treats standards more broadly. The brand\u2019s own account of Vais describes his awareness of current trends and his instinct for bringing food back to basics as his two defining strengths, a description that matches a kitchen built on restraint rather than added complexity. In practice, that means a menu where dishes such as the Rabbit and Kalamata Olive Pie or the Charred Cabbage lean on a small number of well-chosen ingredients treated with technique, rather than a long list of components competing for attention on the same plate. The Charred Cabbage in particular strips the idea down to almost nothing: savoy cabbage over coals, finished with chorizo and tzatziki, with no additional garnish standing between the diner and the two or three flavors doing the actual work.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">None of this reads as a marketing position invented after the fact. It reads as a standard Vais applies consistently, whether the dish in question is a viral toastie or a dessert tied directly to his mother\u2019s kitchen. The throughline across every item on essi\u2019s menu is the same: ingredients chosen for what they can do on their own, combined across two food cultures rather than blended into something that resembles neither, and never dressed up beyond what the flavor itself requires. That is the standard Vais built the restaurant around, and it is the one he says he has no interest in abandoning as essi\u2019s reputation grows.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- \u603b\u5bb9\u5668\uff1a\u6700\u5927\u5bbd908px Grid\u7d27\u51d1\u5e03\u5c40 -->\r\n<div style=\"display: grid; grid-template-columns: 728px 160px; gap:2px; width:908px; background:#eee; padding:2px;\">\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u901a\u680f\u9876\u90e8\uff1a\u6700\u5927\u6a2a\u5e45 908x258 \u8de8\u6574\u884c -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column:1\/-1; height:258px; background:#ff6b6b; display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n    <!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114307\" data-width=\"908\" data-height=\"258\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114307});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u7b2c\u4e8c\u901a\u680f\uff1a728\u00d790 \u901a\u680f -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column:1\/-1; 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display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n\t<!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114302\" data-width=\"133\" data-height=\"139\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114302});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n    <div style=\"height:125px; background:#91e7ac; display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n\t\r\n<!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114303\" data-width=\"125\" data-height=\"125\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114303});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u53f3\u4fa7\u7ad6\u680f\uff1a160\u00d7600 \u6574\u5217\u9ad8\u5e7f\u544a -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-row:3\/8; height:600px;  display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n    <!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114301\" data-width=\"160\" data-height=\"600\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114301});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n<\/div><br \/>\n<br \/> Konstantinos Vais on why essi lets the ingredients do the talking<br \/>\n<br \/>#Konstantinos #Vais #essi #lets #ingredients #talking<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Opinions expressed by\u00a0Digital Journal\u00a0contributors are their own. Ask Konstantinos Vais to explain his cooking philosophy&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[15432,15433,15430,422,2135,15431],"class_list":["post-20588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-essi","tag-ingredients","tag-konstantinos","tag-lets","tag-talking","tag-vais"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TechTO-11-34.png",1600,900,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TechTO-11-34-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TechTO-11-34-300x169.png",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TechTO-11-34-768x432.png",640,360,true],"large":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TechTO-11-34-1024x576.png",640,360,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TechTO-11-34-1536x864.png",1536,864,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TechTO-11-34.png",1600,900,false],"covernews-slider-full":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TechTO-11-34-1115x715.png",1115,715,true],"covernews-slider-center":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TechTO-11-34-800x500.png",800,500,true],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TechTO-11-34-1024x576.png",1024,576,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TechTO-11-34-540x340.png",540,340,true],"covernews-medium-square":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TechTO-11-34-400x250.png",400,250,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?author=1"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?cat=7\" rel=\"category\">Stories<\/a>","tag_info":"Stories","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}