IN CONVERSATION WITH CHEF GEORGE KATARAS
interview by TIMOTEJ LETONJA
As the head chef of CUE, a Michelin-starred restaurant on Amsterdam’s Utrechtsestraat, chef George Kataras leads the restaurant with a fire-driven approach that allows for a menu bursting with deep flavour profiles. With a creative cooking style that combines grilled smokiness with fresh fermented vibrancy, a dining experience at CUE is delectably unique— especially when paired with its underground Japanese-inspired listening bar.
You describe your cuisine as rooted in the “primal allure of open fire.” What does fire allow you to express that modern techniques don’t?
Fire asks for a different kind of mastery. It’s about embers, wood, control, knowing when to feed it and when to leave it alone. It brings you closer to the product, closer to its natural taste.
A Michelin star often brings refinement and precision, yet your cooking feels instinctive, almost raw. How do you balance control and spontaneity?
We try to stay close to nature and the product. Things change all the time, so it’s about moving with that and letting it happen naturally. Control comes from understanding, not from forcing.
What moment or memory first defined your relationship with cooking?
Cooking with my Greek grandmother. Nothing complicated, but it stayed with me. That’s really where it began.
Fire is both destructive and transformative. How do you translate that duality onto the plate?
It’s about balance. Knowing how and when to use it, and trusting the fire as something alive. From charcoal to a piece of wood, it always asks something back from you.
CUE is not just a restaurant, it’s a layered experience of food, wine, and music across two floors. What was your role in shaping that narrative?
Before cooking, I was a musician. As one of the owners, food and music naturally move together for me. CUE became a place where those worlds could live side by side.
How does the downstairs listening bar influence what happens upstairs in the kitchen?
It’s the same people, the same values. Taste runs through everything. Food, music, design. It all connects.
Do you think of a dinner at CUE as a linear journey, or more like a composition?
It’s linear, but with some edges. There’s a flow, but also moments that shift a bit. That’s where it gets interesting.
If your tasting menu had a soundtrack, what would it sound like?
Dove. Cymande.
Your work sits between fine dining and something more elemental. How do you define luxury today?
Luxury is having time. Time to sit, to taste, to really be there. That’s becoming more rare.
What ingredients are you currently obsessed with, and how are you pushing them further?
A lot of Dutch ingredients. Different kinds of leaves, like mustard leaves, onions, celery. We work with fire, dehydration, and rehydration, just to bring out textures and flavours you don’t usually expect.
At CUE, the dialogue between kitchen and sommelier seems central, especially with a focus on New World wines. How closely do you build dishes alongside pairings?
Mo and I have worked together for years. He understands how I cook, so the dialogue feels natural. It’s something we’ve built over time, without forcing it.
How did winning a Michelin star in 2023 change you personally and creatively?
It didn’t really change me. Of course, I was happy, but it gave me strength to keep going, to keep pushing forward.
Do you feel more freedom or more pressure after recognition at that level?
There’s more responsibility. To the team, to the craft, and to where things are going. You become part of a bigger conversation.
What are you unlearning right now as a chef?
That I need fancy products. You don’t. It’s more about what you do with what’s there.
Where do your ideas begin: memory, product, technique, or emotion?
They all matter, but it always starts with the product. With nature. Everything builds from there.
How does Amsterdam influence your cooking, if at all?
It does. Living here for the past eight years, working with local Dutch products, being part of the city. It all shapes me, both as a person and as a chef. The movement of the city feeds into how I think and cook.
What does CUE bring to the city that didn’t exist before?
A place where food, wine, and music come together in a very focused way. A listening bar downstairs, shaped by collectors and selectors, and cooking upstairs that brings Dutch ingredients into a different light. Something new, but still grounded.
