Interview with chef Tadas Eidukevičius

You have been working in pretty amazing restaurants abroad. What made you come back to Lithuania?

There was no specific reason why I returned to Lithuania, it was more a combination of different reasons. First of all, I missed Lithuania and my family, secondly, I returned just a few weeks before the start of covid-19 in Europe, already at that time, I had observed what was happening in the Asian hospitality market and realized that it is better to travel to a place where you have all social guarantees. The third reason for this is that I received a fantastic job offer in Lithuania, which allowed me to create and discover new cooking techniques and find out how to adapt various unexplored products to the world of gastronomy, such as oak leaves, birch bark, soil, etc …

What can we expect to find in Demoloftas?
Well, where should I start? Demoloftas is a very versatile and multifunctional space, that combines different hospitality industry concepts under one roof. The purpose of it is to enlighten the best moments of the day. We are a specialty coffee place in the mornings until 5 P.M., where I believe one of the most skilled baristas of Vilnius are doing wonders. We do wonders as the restaurant on the evenings of Thursday - Saturday. We serve both, tasting dinners entirely based on artistic expression and gastronomy as art, and à la carte that enlightens the side of artistry in gastronomy as I believe artistry and arts are interconnected, however not the same. Anyway, what you can expect for sure, is people who love their craft, and profession.

The play 'Titas' is an extraordinary performance that combines the experience of drama and food. Shall we expect more extraordinary food experiences like that? Do you have any CRAZY, FOODIE future plans?
Sure I do. However, I would like to keep them to myself for a while until all the details will be clear. Then You surely will hear some interesting stuff.

How’s the menu of Demoloftas changing?
Well, the only menu that changes monthly at Demoloftas is our brunch menu. The dinner menu and degustation set is always under development and has a tendency to vary from week to week, it never sets on one certain set, if we find how to improve something, we do it. Our café menu is quite stable, we only from time to time adapt it to the season.

What is your signature dish?

I really try not to have one, if someone comes and tells give me that whatever signature dish, I am sure that I will try to change it.

Who would you like to cook for?

For my grandmother who was a chef, I would like to see what her opinion on the modernistic approach to food and gastro culture would be. She used to be intrigued by the idea that food can be art, however, I never had a chance to show that to her.

Reveal us a secret, what's your favorite comfort food?

I have spent close to 6 years in Spain so it would be yeast-risen bread toast with tomatoes and salt, finished with a drizzle of olive oil.

What was the hardest thing for you to learn? Or is there something you just can’t get right?
The hardest thing to learn, most possibly would be the truth that one is not always right, and when you are just a cook you always see how something could get improved and etc. When you get in charge you understand that some decisions of your previous chefs were calculations based, or pressure based and etc… So yeah, while I was a cook the hardest lesson that I had to learn was just to keep silent at times when it is needed.

Name the three kitchen tools you can't do without.
Industrial dishwasher, oven, blender.

What's your ultimate cooking hack?

Make a prep list, write down the timing and how much time you can dedicate to the task.

Tell us a funny story from the kitchen!
To be honest the funniest story in the kitchen is normally not funny for the rest of the people, as it seems to be the most stressful moments of the day or month. For example, a couple of weeks ago when we were packing and carrying all the stuff to the car to go to ‘Titas’ performance, the kitchen sewer system got stuck, and we had loads of water going out the pipes. Also, not only the performance of ‘Titas’ was about to start soon, but we also had an event planned in a few hours here. The funniest part of this story was that I slipped while I was carrying the box with preparations of food to the car and then everything was in the air. Thank God I have a habit to vacuum seal everything when we have events out, so nothing got damaged. All of this was happening at the same time, so the pressure was so high, that something bad happening just made us laugh till we lost our breath.

What's the dish that you always want to have another....and another bite of?
Tomatoes salad with sour cream, spring onions and smoked ham.

What are your top 3 restaurants in your home city, Kaunas?
Arivee, Mudai, Numan.

What are your 3 favorite restaurants in Lithuania?

Gaspar’s, Le Travi, Demo restoranas (I know it is not fair to name a restaurant you are working at, but I am trying to create a product I would love to visit).

Would you like to host a pop-up dinner with Another Bite Food Club?

Well, it depends on if it would interfere with the restaurant concept. If not then I would be glad to.