Retigo s.r.o.

What is the concept of your restaurant?

Our restaurant primarily focuses on offering tasting menus, featuring Nordic-Asian cuisine. It is a combination of the Nordic philosophy, which emphasizes the use of local ingredients and traditional cooking techniques such as fermentation, pickling, salting, and smoking. We add Asian flavors to this. We carefully select the most interesting spices from Asia, especially from Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Korea, and China. 

What flavors are included in the tasting menu?

We use a lot of spices, so there are very diverse flavors. The basis is sour, sweet, salty, and bitter flavors. We add a lot of natural umami flavors to that. 

Do you make your own kimchi, for example?

We don't focus on the authentic and traditional cuisine of any particular country; we create our own recipes. We work with local and seasonal ingredients by using fermentation techniques to make our own products.

Do you create the menu yourself?

I am currently creating it myself.

How many chefs do you have?

We have four chefs and an intern. The waiters are also chefs. Sometimes they have to cook the sauce and finish the dish with the chefs.

We are now in a new design space on Vinohradska Street, where you have been operating since March. However, Levitate was founded a few years ago. What is its history?

We first opened Levitate in October 2017 on Stepanska Street, and we closed there in 2022. In 2023, we moved to the Hotel President, and now, since March 1, we have been here on Vinohradska. 

You are only open on certain days of the week. How do reservations work?

We are only open for evening service from Tuesday to Saturday, five days a week. The last reservations are at 7:30 p.m. Guests can make reservations from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The tasting usually lasts two to four hours.

Where do you get your inspiration for such interesting flavor combinations?

It changes every year. I used to draw inspiration from visiting the world's best restaurants. Currently, I draw inspiration mainly from art. This whole new space is built on art. We have a collection of interesting paintings by well-known Czech artists, as well as music and natural scenes. So now my inspiration comes purely from outside gastronomy. 

So Levitate is a multifaceted artistic project. How does it project nature onto your menu, for example?

We use a lot of natural decorations to present our dishes. It's not just about the plate, but about what nature itself has to offer. We use various leaves, hazelnuts and walnuts, berries, branches, and even beef bones and fish heads. 

What kind of experience should a guest of your restaurant take away?

Everyone takes away something different. Everyone perceives our restaurant differently. Some people like haute cuisine, travel a lot, and can compare us to other restaurants they have visited. Someone who is not very familiar with gastronomy comes for the experience itself, perhaps to celebrate a birthday or anniversary. Others care about wine, so they enjoy the wine list and alcoholic pairings. Some people like architecture and design and are enthusiastic about our space because they can find inspiration here. Some people come here for business dinners. This particular table is designed for a private experience, where guests want quality food and service and don't want to be disturbed. There are many things that people can take away from a visit to Levitate.

What do you use the Retigo combi oven for?

For all dishes that require baking or steaming. We prepare dishes for slow baking, as well as quick ones, to achieve a crust. We also use it for fermentation and drying. We use it every day. It is one of the most important technologies in our kitchen. We couldn't function without it.

Do you set up the programs yourself or use presets?

We use the presets at first and then gradually fine-tune them to suit our needs.

What is the biggest benefit for your kitchen?

It saves a significant amount of time and effort for chefs. It is smart and easy to use. It is our everyday friend in the kitchen.

Would you recommend it to other businesses?

Definitely, I would recommend it to everyone – from those who run bistros and simpler concepts, to the most prestigious gastronomic projects. And here, I would recommend having more combi ovens, so that each one is ideally intended for a different purpose – one just for steaming, another for baking, another as a holdomat, and so on. We would use more of them, too. 

Do you use the function for preparing several different ingredients at once?

Yes, mainly for staff meals. We put chicken on top, rice below, and vegetables in between. The juice drips down through the vegetables onto the rice.