What is an essential oil? It sounds complicated but if you read the various definitions it is not … an essential oil is a concentrated liquid containing aroma elements from plants, they are also known as ethereal oils or ‘the oil of the plant from which it was extracted’. This oil is ‘essential’ due to the fact that it includes a specific scent, or essence, of the plant. Essential oils can be classified into 3 ‘notes’, top, middle and base notes. The top note oils act fast and have a lasting time of 3-24 hours, the middle top notes are moderately volatile and last 2-3 days whereas the base note oils are slower and more relaxing, they can last up to a maximum of 3 weeks.

Cooking with essential oils is simply another way of being creative with food preparations. There is no dish which flavor cannot be influenced or improved by the use of an essential oil, they do more than making the food taste delicious, the essences promote health and overall wellbeing and with a certain dosage of the right oil for the right dish one might create a culinary experience and a ‘wow-effect’ for the guest, and that is what we want to achieve.

Essential oils can also be classified in a few groups: fruity oils, which fit perfectly to desserts, sour drinks and sweet refreshments, spicy oils which one may use when preparing food a more ‘spicy’ or warming way. Cooling or mint-orientated oils do work for recipes for certain jams, jellies or sauces but also for desserts. Floral oils like lavender, rose and jasmine are full with scent and essence and can be used for several food items and dishes. The last group, herbal oils are strong and flavorful oils which are merely used in a very tiny dosage in order to create that ‘wow-effect’.

Fruity oils lime, lemon, apple, grapefruit, mandarin and orange oil
Spicy oils cardamom, cinnamon and ginger oil
Cooling oils mint and peppermint oils
Floral oils lavender, rose and jasmine oil
Herbal oils thyme, marjoram, oregano and dill oil

The possibilities of cooking with essential oils are not only endless, they require a bit of creativity and experimenting. Try to use these oils towards to end of every cooking process, as the heat will evaporate the oils pretty quickly and we need to benefit from the scent and flavor before serving.

At our restaurant ‘at eight’ at The Ring, Vienna’s Casual Luxury Hotel the head chef actively practices cooking with essential oils. He is not only creative but also experiments with various compositions of different oils in different cooking processes. “It requires a large amount of sensibility and carefulness, a bit too much of a specific oil can destroy a dish completely”, he mentions when he is talking about the cooking concept. And yes, restaurant guests are thrilled about this culinary experience, especially when they are confronted with essential or ethereal oils like ‘Bergbohnenkrautöl’ or ‘’Muskatelsalbeiöl’ and when the ordered dishes are served and one can see, smell and taste the scent and flavor of the oils that are used … Is that a culinary experience? We definitely think it is.

Special VIP guest this year was Agatha Luiz de la Prada, the opening event was dedicated to her label.

A special side event was initiated by Maria Ratzinger (Stylekingdom) and Viktoria Egger (Modeltalk) exclusively for The Ring, Vienna´s Casual Luxury Hotel. A “fashion blogger lunch” with a 10 fashion bloggers together with the designer Marcos Valenzuela-Abril (Tiberius) on Sunday, September 26^th. He presented his work and talked about the different shows he attended and will attend in the future at The Ring Suite, followed by a 3-course lunch at the hotel restaurant “at eight“.

The bloggers that did attend were:

• Anna Heuberger www.hpunktanna.com
• Isabelle Spreckelsen fashionsemmerl.blogspot.com
• Leni Garibov www.sassystylishsmart.blogspot.com
• Maria Ratzinger stylekingdom.com
• Michaela Amort tschilp.com
• Michaela Ambos www.cooloutfit.at
• Viktoria Egger www.modeltalk.at
• Teresa Hammerl stylekingdom.com/teresa/
• Robert Schermann 8785leavinglychee.wordpress.com
• The Pet Fanclub thepetfanclub.blogspot.com

This new initiative will further strengthen the current position for The Ring, Vienna´s Casual Luxury Hotel within the fashion industry. The next “fashion blogger lunch” is planned for January 2011.

“A young and extremely professional service crew, a performance of international par-excellence, a perfect location and an audacious and distinctive cooking – a combination rarely seen in hotel kitchens in Vienna.” This can be read in the new edition of Gault Millau as overall statement on the restaurant At Eight.

The total of 15 points for the concept of aroma cuisine of Thomas Seifried do acknowledge the excellent and fascinating combinations of menus and dishes with which he his pampering his guests. His cuisine is focusing on high quality, seasonal products, various spices and sauces as well as fresh domestic and exotic herbs which he combines with different essential/ethereal oils.

“Getting the second toque means a lot to us,” rejoices Thomas Seifried. “It states that the direction we have constantly and strategically followed since the opening in 2007 has been the right one. I am moreover positive that it will help the old and wrong prejudice that one cannot expect as much from hotel kitchens as from classical restaurants.”

1. Who are you?
My name is Jessie de Haan and I am responsible for DiningCity, your online dining guide, in Vienna.

2. What do you like about what you do?
I like to create additional benefits and more reservations for good restaurants on the one hand and serve visitors of DiningCity Vienna on the other. Contact to other people with the same enterpreneurial spirit is something I enjoy in particular.

3. What don’t you like about what you do?
Something I like least is the paperwork, which of course comes along with every job.

4. Please tell us about DiningCity and your future goals?
DiningCity.com is an international online restaurant guide, which is already very successful in different cities within and also outside Europe. Since November 2008 DiningCity Vienna is online too!

The most important advantages:

• Bilingual: DiningCity is always available in English and in the language of the city
• All important contact information about each restaurant you’ll find online (including the link to the homepage of the restaurant itself)
• 3 nice, professional pictures per restaurant
• Restaurants have the possibility to attach (and change) their menu at any time
• DiningCity offers to recommend (of course free of charge and without obligation) 3 restaurants which meet the requirements for your business dinner or your dinner with friends.
• You have the possibility to reserve online
• You can evaluate the restaurants online
• Only upscale and top restaurants can be found on DiningCity.com
• Nice design of the website without distracting banner ads

Just click on www.diningcity.com and have a look!

My future goals are to let DiningCity Vienna grow to the best online dining guide with about 300 great restaurants in Vienna and finally to expand to other cities in Austria. In this way and looking at the services DiningCity offers, I’m convinced to be appreciated by lots of national and international visitors.

5. Are you working with blogs and if yes, what is your favourite blog?
I’m not working enough with blogs yet. Some blogs I like besides The Ring Hotel Press are: blog.austria.info, www.kochblog.at, www.speising.net, www.gourmetwiese.at.

6. Your experiences with the overall food industry?
Vienna is a city in which you can have a marvelous lunch or dinner at a reasonable price in comparison to other metropolises. You’ll find almost any cuisine you can think of. The only difficulty is to differentiate between restaurants which offer a good value for money and restaurants who don’t. DiningCity is trying to support its visitors here as good as possible.

7. What are your most favourite restaurants?
Besides at eight, Le Ciel and Unkai, which suit DiningCity very well, I like restaurants like Mraz & Sohn, Le Salzgries, Eisvogel and the Himmelsstube very much. They all have their own unique speciality and are all to be found on www.diningcity.com/wien/.

8. Any comments you want to share with us?
DiningCity is not only an online restaurant guide. We combine the online marketing of the restaurants with offline events. The next big event is the first Viennese Restaurant Week powered by DiningCity. This culinary week will take place from July 6th until July 12th 2009 in about 50 well-known restaurants in Vienna.
The concept is very simple. During the DiningCity Restaurant Week top restaurants offer a 3 course gourmet menu at the price of €25. For guests of the Restaurant Week it means getting to know new restaurants and enjoying haute cuisine at a very special price.
Reservations can only be made online on www.restaurantwoche.at starting from June 9th 2009. Reservations are made real-time, which means that they will be confirmed automatically. The technology behind this system is unique for Austria.

So make sure you’ll be in Vienna from July 6th until July 12th and book your table online on www.restaurantwoche.at as-of June 9th!

Roger Crisp from the Good Motoring Magazine checks in to  The Ring Hotel.

Thomas Seifried, Chef de Cuisine, about the award: “I am very proud and happy that Gault Millau awarded us with a toque. It shows that we are going into the right direction. What made me most happy is that the testers said there is even more to expect in the next years!”

The menu offers all kinds of excellent dishes. An example of which is: a Bean Sprouts and Lemon Balm Crisp Role with Mountain Pepper Vegetables and Friesèe Salad or a Steak with an Artichokes-Potato-Chorizogröstl and Red Wine Chilliglace or Cardamom-Biscuit Role with a Marzipan Shake. Products used, mainly originate from biological cultivation and where possible, are from Austria.

“The preparation with essential oils is a very sensitive work because one has to work with very little amounts and this art of cooking is very rare. Therefore we had a lot of testing in advance. The art of aroma cooking, as we are calling it, is dependent on excellent products, from naturally cold pressed oils and to abstain from regular flavors like salt. The dishes are low in fat and by using the different essential oils, a positive health effect is guaranteed. There are different positive effects like a better digestion and reducing the fat of the body,” Thomas Seifried explains.

Mr. Thomas Seifried, Chef de Cuisine, began his career as an apprentice and then as a young cook at the Hotel Lärchenhof in Tirol. During 2004 he started work at the Grand Hotel Vienna as a Sous Chef in the restaurant “Le Ciel”.

“The concept of the “at eight” immediately got me because it’s up to date and represents the health mentality perfectly. The great variety of different herbs and essential oils offers endless possibilities regarding preparation and decoration of the dishes,” says Mr. Seifried.

The wine cellar of the restaurant is exceptional and can offer over 700 bottles of International and Austrian class wines and champagne! A table placed in the centre of the room offers the opportunity to sample the wine in a Professional and pleasent atmosphere.

Questions and Photos
Céline Brigg, Public Relations & Communications Manager
Tel: +43 1 515 80-761 oder cbrigg@jjwhotels.com
Presslounge under www.theringhotel.com

Quintessentially magazine´s visit to The Ring Hotel yields an explicit recommendation. Quintessentially is first and foremost a club, a club for those who believe that life is too short to waste time on the mundane or second-best.