Veal chop complemented by assorted vegetables, prepared by Chef Tobias Felz, executive chef at Caf? Aubergine. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

Keisha Shakespeare-Blackmore, Staff Reporter

Tobias Felz left the ski slopes for countertops. The former World Cup skier found his true calling - the kitchen - in 1988 after he had a terrible skiing accident.

Chef Felz is the newly appointed executive chef at Caf? Aubergine located at the Market Place. He has been in the business for the last 17 years. When he decided to take on the heat of the kitchen, his parents, Linus and Jacqueline Felz could not imagine their son toiling over a pot.

"They thought I was crazy. They believed a chef was a behind-the-scenes person and they did not think that was me," said Chef Felz.

First love

FELZ

Felz is a people person and loves interaction. They were also amazed because growing up in Giardino, Switzerland, he was not interested in cooking. At the age of 16 he wanted to be a carpenter but later found out that was not his passion. Then he took up skiing.

Over the years, he became quite good at skiing and went professional. After his accident he started teaching skiing for a while and had to cook for himself - that was when he realised he loved cooking and decided to pursue it as a career.

From 1989 to 1992, he apprenticed at Hotel Eden and Albergo Giardino in Switzerland. By 1993 he got into the Swiss Junior Culinary National Team where he won two gold medals at the World Culinary Championship. In 2000, he completed his master's degree at Hotel and Gastro Forum in Switzerland. Shortly after, he got his first position abroad as executive chef in Canada.There, he worked for a Relias and Chateaux Hotel in British Columbia, and two years later he went to work on a cruise liner.

Until March this year, he was working at the Marriot Hotel in Germany but he did not feel at home. Subsequently, he started looking for a job and saw the advert on a website that Cafe Aubergine needed an executive chef. He applied, then called co-owner Rudolf Gschloessl who told him he would be in Germany the following week so they could meet.

Neville Anderson, co-owner of the restaurant explained that they wanted a chef who could master French and Italian cuisines. For Chef Felz, working in the Caribbean gives him great joy. He said that he has worked in many countries but Jamaicans are very warm and welcoming. "I feel comfortable," he said.

He added that he likes the new direction in which the restaurant is moving. They are planning to open a deli and offer catering services. He notes that he has a passion for cooking and with passion you have the best results. "I love to cook and in my sparetime I go to dinner to get new recipes."

The most important thing for Chef Felz is to make his customers happy, making all their wishes come true.