Sebastian Rensing

«OX'n is not a one-man show,» Sebastian Rensing, 32, is keen to point out. He has been running OX'n in the municipality of Schenkon, Lucerne since 2017, along with his wife Katharina (34), and his brother Samuel (29 at heart). Everything that is created here is the product of teamwork. Occupying a rust-red new building, OX'n is not your average restaurant, in either appearance or the food it serves. Rensing's fine dining concept has proved popular in the region. «We had a lot of respect for Schenkon from the outset,» he recounts. Sursee district is a large and fast-growing region, and Schenkon a prosperous municipality. «We realized that people were looking for something exclusive. Something different from the norm.»

The surprise menu consists of four to seven courses, starting with a tartare. At first sight, it looks like beef. «We make it from aubergines and okara, a by-product from the manufacture of tofu,» Sebastian explains. He doesn't tell the guests – at least not at the moment of serving. «Very few of them twig that the ingredients are vegetarian. In a rural area, of course, vegetarian dishes are controversial. If the guests had the choice, they probably wouldn't order the dish,» Rensing believes. As a course on the surprise menu, however, they are all impressed. The chef with 14 Gault Millau points to his name doesn't take the credit for himself. «The tartare was created by my sous-chef John.»

OX'n is also innovative in the way it is organized. «We've introduced the four-day week,» says Rensing. He and his wife Katharina are parents to two young children. «People have often said to us, you have to choose between kids or a restaurant. But we think both should be possible. You just have to adjust your way of life,» says Rensing. «I'm not the sort of chef who goes out into the woods foraging wild herbs at six in the morning. At that time, I'm changing nappies. And my sous-chefs Tino Scodeller and John Richter enjoy experimenting, so I don't have to write the new menu in my time off.» – «It's not always plain sailing, but it works,» adds Katharina. «We want to show that it is possible, even in the catering business.»

Sebastian Rensing grew up in Mauensee, just a few miles away from OX'n. A stroke of fate brought him to cooking. «My mother, a very keen cook, suffered a serious foot injury. While she was recuperating, somebody had to cook lunches and dinners for the family,» Sebastian relates. This was how, aged 14, he ended up preparing meals every day for his father and his three siblings. Naturally enough, the teenager thought about training as a chef. «I did a one-day trial, at the end of which I was pretty certain I'd never take it up! It was noisy and hectic in the kitchen. I just couldn't get my head around it, at the time.» Sebastian decided he would much rather go into selling sports gear. The only problem was: «The trial placement was so dull I could hardly keep my eyes open.»

So after all that, he found himself back in the kitchen. He completed his training at the Palace in Lucerne under Ulrich Baumann. «A living legend,» Sebastian enthuses. «It was there that I developed my passion for the profession and learned how to handle produce.» After his training, the young chef moved to Hotel Julen in Zermatt. «I thought it would be a doddle, because I'd come from the Palace!» Today, he is amused by his slightly arrogant attitude. He quickly realized that every restaurant is challenging in its own way. Another challenge was talking to women who didn't speak any German. «So I went to London to learn English. While I was there, I sent applications left and right.» Rensing ended up at Barbecoa, a steak restaurant owned by popular chef Jamie Oliver. «There, I learned what it takes to send out 200 plates in two hours. We worked hard for not much money. But it made us even stronger as a team.» He only has good things to say about Jamie Oliver too. «He's very humble and constantly stressing how lucky he was to be where he is.»