Page 18 - 01-Jan-Feb-2024

delicious DINNER FOR TEN
After cutting his teeth
at the world’s most famous restaurant,
Taylor Corbett reimagines the menu at Yarrow
by BREANNA MROCZEK
ON TAYLOR CORBETT’S THIRD DAY AS
a stage (intern) at Restaurant Noma — a renowned, good-luck-getting-a-reservation, three-Michelin star restaurant in Denmark that is closing in 2024 — he was tasked with a routine request of preparing food for the approximately 60 staff. While Noma is known for its ultra-local, carefully foraged, precisely plated, ever-evolving menu of New Nordic Cuisine, Corbett opted to make a comforting meal of lasagna for the team.
He quickly regretted his decision when a colleague remarked, “You know that’s René [Redzepi]’s favourite comfort meal in the world, right? It better be good.” It was an opportunity for a real Ratatouille moment — and Corbett’s dish did indeed receive a “pass” from the famous restaurant owner.
“I figured out who I was as a chef while staging at Noma,” Corbett says. “It’s where I got the grasp of what is physically possible for a restaurant to do, like creating new flavours through fermentation, and preserving things in different ways.”
Now seven years later, as Restaurant Yarrow’s new head chef, Corbett has found
a perfect home to showcase his knack for combining comfort and nostalgia with haute cuisine and culinary creativity.
In early 2023, while Corbett was back home in Ontario, a photo of Restaurant Yarrow showed up on his Instagram feed. Corbett was intrigued by the intimate, 10-seat restaurant in the picture. “It looked right up my alley,” Corbett says. “It looked like the sort of restaurant I would want to open myself.” Serendipitously, Corbett Googled “Restaurant Yarrow” and found out
18 EDify. JANUARY•FEBRUARY.24