Full Circle

By Chris Dwyer

February 23, 2026

Maximising and honouring every part of an ingredient in Mandarin Oriental kitchens.

Close-up of the menu at Le Sept at Mandarin Oriental, Vienna.

The low-lit dining room of Le Sept at the new Mandarin Oriental, Vienna hums with anticipation. Diners have gathered for a ‘Culinary Dialogue’ that brings together the technical wizardry of Le Sept’s home-grown executive chef Thomas Seifried and the renowned Richard Ekkebus, all the way from three-Michelin-starred Amber at The Landmark Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong. They call this a four-hands dinner and it’s the second stop on a four-part tour, as the Amber team showcases its gastronomic talent across Mandarin Oriental hotels before returning to Hong Kong to reopen this spring. Despite the literal and cultural distance between Vienna and Hong Kong, both kitchens share the same ethos: celebrating every part of an ingredient. It’s a mindful approach that ensures nothing is wasted, while challenging the chef to elevate produce in ever more inventive ways.

Richard Ekkebus’s signature ‘Aka Uni’ dish made with red sea urchin, lobster and caviar.

Restaurants around the world have also enthusiastically embraced the philosophy, using it to craft plates as surprising as they are sublime. It was chef Fergus Henderson at his London restaurant St John who pioneered the movement behind ‘nose-to-tail’ cooking and wrote a book of the same name, where he famously explained: “If you’re going to kill the animal, it seems only polite to use the whole thing.” But circular thinking extends far beyond meat. Vegetables are celebrated from ‘root-to-tip’ and fish from ‘fin-to-gill’.

Back in Vienna at Le Sept, the celebratory eight-course tasting menu sees Ekkebus and Seifried alternate dishes, two of which really stand out for their creativity with the ingredients. Amber was awarded a Michelin green star for its sustainability and Ekkebus shines a light here on one dish that is entirely circular. “We turn the Jerusalem artichoke and hazelnut skins into a beurre blanc that’s on top of the hand-dived Normandy scallop when we cook it,” he says. “The garum sauce is made from the beards of the scallop, fermented for 12 months for a rich, deep flavour. Then we add pickled seasonal hazelnuts, diced and puréed Jerusalem artichoke in a compote and a lactose fermented soy butter [Amber uses no dairy in its menus], before finishing with Périgord black truffle.” It’s an extraordinary plate, underlining how offcuts of humble ingredients that would otherwise be composted can be coaxed into culinary gold.

Chef Thomas Seifried inside Le Sept restaurant at Mandarin Oriental, Vienna.

Chef Thomas Seifried worked on the Chinese island of Sanya and then spent more than a decade in the Cayman Islands before returning to his homeland. His extensive island exposure may explain his love of seafood, especially in land-locked Vienna, where he ensures that shellfish is used in multiple ways in one course. “I’m a big fan of egg dishes and usually have a chawanmushi (a savoury steamed egg custard) course on my menu,” he explains. “Here, we have seasoned it with a little bit of clam juice and mussel juice, then there’s bottarga on top and a very light mussel and clam marinière sauce. Even the langoustine on top comes from a lake in Austria.”

Circular cooking is not a restraint, it is a deep dive into generosity of flavour and ideas and respect for produce. It is a win for both the environment and the diner. Chefs across continents are now finding value in what might once have been overlooked, suggesting that the future of fine dining may lie in using everything and wasting nothing.

Amber at The Landmark Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong reopens after a renovation this spring.

About the Author

Chris Dwyer

Chris Dwyer writes about travel and food for, among others, CNN.com, Travel + Leisure, BBC Travel, Departures, The South China Morning Post, CNBC and Robb Report