National Geographic whips up new culinary docuseries 'Restaurants at the End of the World', Hosted by trailblazing Chef Kristen Kish
Preheat your Television to National Geographic on 29 March
and get ready to feast your eyes on one-of-a-kind meals made in the most remote outposts on Earth.
Image supplied by National Geographic
National Geographic spices up the small screen with Restaurants at the End of the World, an all-new docuseries that combines all the flavors that make for heaping servings of must-watch TV. The four-part series, headlined by award-winning chef, entrepreneur and global trailblazer Kristen Kish, travels to four off-the-beaten-path pockets on the planet and will premiere weekly on National Geographic (DStv 181, Starsat 220) on Wednesdays at 20:10 from 29 March 2023.
Restaurants at the End of the World follows Chef Kish as she searches for the secret ingredients – people, places, culture and traditions – within the world’s most remote restaurants in Boquete, Panama; Svalbard, Norway; North Haven Island, Maine; and Paraty, Brazil.
Running any successful venture takes a certain tenacity and grit, but those who set up deep in the wild, cut off from the grid and normal supply lines, are in a class all their own. Chef Kish goes behind the scenes and embeds herself with local purveyors, farmers, herders, kitchen crew, managers and head chefs to listen to their stories and witness the day-to-day balancing act required to bring unique food to the table, meal after meal. She then dives into the depths of the land to forage only the freshest ingredients and, along the way, unearths the culture and heart behind the cuisine.
“Food has an unparalleled power to bring us together and teach us about one another and the world around us, and we see that firsthand by going to restaurants in the world’s most remote areas,”
says Chef Kish.
“Filming this series with National Geographic was an adventure of a lifetime that taught me so much about an industry I’ve been steeped in my whole life. I can’t wait for viewers to come along on the journey with us and experience these dishes at restaurants most never even knew existed.”
The chefs profiled in the series are inspired by the surrounding land and local resources to make dishes that reflect their culture. Because their menus rely so much on the environment, they are constantly challenged to improvise, adapt and become tougher in pursuing their passions. With dishes ranging from reindeer tongues to buttermilk biscuits topped with lobster salad to kimchi sorbet, the menus featured in Restaurants at the End of the World are a fusion of curiosity, playfulness and relentless dedication, giving viewers a taste of faraway worlds through food.
Chef Kish competed on Bravo’s “Top Chef” Season 10, where she took home the top prize. Since winning, she launched her first cookbook “Kristen Kish Cooking” in October 2017 and partnered with LINE Hotels in 2018 to launch her first restaurant Arlo Grey in Austin.
Restaurants at the End of the World is produced for National Geographic by World of Wonder and Cinetic. For World of Wonder, Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato, Tom Campbell and Jeremy Simmons are executive producers. For Cinetic, Ross Fremer, Brian Oakes and Christine O’Malley are executive producers. For National Geographic, Betsy Forhan is executive producer and Charlie Parsons is vice president of development.
Episodes include the following:
Episode 1: Panama’s Cloud Forest Kitchen
Restaurant: Hacienda Mamecillo
Location: Boquete, Panama
Description: Chef Kristen Kish learns the secrets of trek-to-table cuisine at Hacienda Mamecillo and helps the proprietors prepare a special meal for Panama’s top Chef Rolando Chamorro.
Dishes: Chef Rolando Chamorro and Chef Kristen Kish serve brick-oven flatbreads with roasted vegetables; “Bruschetta Mamecillo” with fresh goat cheese and honey drizzle; unique chayote “ceviche;” Kolando’s smoked farm chicken with naranjilla glaze and watercress; and Gabriella’s berry-infused ice cream with homemade wild berry jam.
Episode 2: Norway’s Touch of Madness
Restaurant: Isfjord Radio
Location: Svalbard, Norway
Description: Chef Kristen Kish explores Arctic cuisine at Isfjord Radio Restaurant, led by Chef Rogier Jansen, where the food is as adventurous as the journey it takes to get there.
Dishes: Chef Rogier Jansen and Chef Kristen Kish create and serve beer-butter sourdough; reindeer tongue pastrami with fresh melon; arctic char with fresh apples, fermented berry sauce and beetroot purée; ptarmigan skewers with olives; ptarmigan feeding-sack cocktail; and passionfruit-kimchi sorbet with a white chocolate custard and parsnip chips, dusted with lingonberry powder.
Episode 3: Maine Island Barn Supper
Restaurant: Turner Farm
Location: North Haven Island, Maine, USA
Description: Chef Kristen Kish travels to a remote island in Maine to help Turner Farm’s new Chef Carolynn Ladd put her southern twist on its classic barn supper menu.
Dishes: Chef Carolynn Ladd and Chef Kristen Kish serve farmhouse salad with buttermilk ranch dressing; southern-style grits with blistered cherry tomatoes; Carolynn’s Southern-style Lobster Roll on buttermilk biscuits; oysters served with homemade Southern hot sauce; and Kristen’s original dessert: Goats Eating Seaweed, consisting of bread-and-butter custard pudding, goat-milk caramel folded in mascarpone and topped with fried seaweed, puffed rice and powdered sugar.
Episode 4: Brazil’s Floating Feast
Restaurant: Sem Pressa
Location: Paraty, Brazil
Description: Chef Kristen Kish helps Brazilian Chef Gisela Schmitt source unique ingredients from the rainforest and ocean to serve aboard her floating restaurant, Sem Pressa.
Dishes: Chef Gisela Schmitt and Chef Kristen Kish serve “sea sugar” scallop tartare served in the shell with cucumber citric yogurt and topped with local seaweed and capiçoba; beltfish crudo with bottarga, tangerine and scallions; steamed sururu with coconut-milk-plantain purée and garnished with collard greens; and shrimp ceviche marinated in lime juice and served in a young, wild coconut shell.
