I believe you often get invitations from friends to cook at private parties. Do you feel comfortable cooking anywhere or do you prefer to cook at your home or restaurant?

Home sweet home is always said and in this case the kitchen of the restaurant or the kitchen of the house is my whole home. I have traveled to Albania and abroad to cook for private parties, but always conveying the best Albanian cuisine transformed over time and that makes me feel good. Every time I go out of my kitchen I don't feel very comfortable because I don't always find what I need to easily make dishes of this type of cooking, but without a doubt I present only the best and dishes that suit the environment that will be served.

What is non-negotiable about a kitchen that only produces delicious recipes?

Style, cooking, quality ingredients and taste are non-negotiable in my kitchen.

Without a doubt, passion and technology help to advance every new recipe I create, even in my restaurant.

How does the kitchen of Alfred Marku's house look like?

It is the place where I get inspired and excited. It is way smaller than the restaurant kitchen, but has more emotions in it. I always enjoy the way the food is prepared and I look forward to try the dishes because that's where my mother cooks and everything she cooks is amazing and also inspires me.

What family recipe did you inherit and still cook today?

There are some recipes that I continue to cook as a family tradition. They are the source for the rich gastronomy that we constantly present, we simply transform them in time to bring a gourmet style. The ingredients do not change, but the way of cooking and the use of ingredients in the most perfect combination.

Rice casserole that is not rice casserole is the inspiration that was born from the rice and baked fish casserole that my mother always cooked. To transform this dish I had a lot of help by Ilve, the stove that was love at first sight in Vanto, because it gives me ease in making all the ingredients of the dish while preserving the nutritional values ​​and giving it the unique taste that I aim to have on each plate.

Through Ilve, I can be traditional, modern and creative in my restaurant or home, so this kitchen appliance is enough for me to feel comfortable cooking and offer what I want, recreating inherited recipes in the most modern way possible, thanks to the technology that Ilve presents.

What is a creative process  of a new recipe, and besides the technicality of the kitchen equipment, how important is the environment and the interior to relax you and to better unfold your art?

First we think about what we want to achieve and then we study  the cooking and preparation techniques and how to present them. Having the right equipment, and for this I was helped by Vanto where I am also a brand ambassador and cook recipes in the showroom every week, because there is always what I need in the kitchen.

When I find myself in such environments, I am inspired to bring new ways of presenting food or to create from scratch.

After we have built the idea of ​​how the dish will be, we give it a name. The name helps us with how it should be presented and how this dish will be served. Whenever I'm stressed, I go to the kitchen and there it feels like I relax.

I think when you reach a certain level of success, you can lose interest. How do you keep yourself motivated and passionate?

The more you want to experiment, the more you realize there is still more. For this reason, the appetite comes to study new techniques and new combinations of products that give a delicious dish. Food is a journey through time that never stops. Information, techniques, taste and different combinations never end, it's like the universe that has no end. I think this level is beyond me and it encourages me to explore thus keeping the interest alive continuously.

Even at my restaurant, Rapsodia, the menu changes constantly. Even in Vanto, followers and customers there write and ask for new recipes every week.

Vanto is a new business in Tirana, which presents a premium market for household appliances. We also saw you at the opening night in Vanto, and now every Tuesday in the showroom to cook and meet customers or cooking lovers. What do you appreciate most in Vanto that you have chosen to be a brand ambassador and how complementary is it for kitchen enthusiasts, the fact that a professional chef also cooks with household appliances, with the same result?

At Vanto, I value seriousness, attention to details and the selection of the best brands, without any compromise. I appreciate the passion and initiative to bring in Albania brands and products that Albanians are not yet familiar with, and this requires courage.

But I always stop where my soul is. For this reason, I can say that there is no stove like Ilve. It is the first love that you can never forget and always want to have.

All of them are stoves that give you the opportunity to cook well and make fantastic dishes, from meat on a spit to modern delicacies, according to the imagination of the one who cooks, to make dishes that do not damage the structure because you can you can bake, boil or cook in a pan at low temperatures, as you want with modern technology today and this is made possible by these Vanto appliances. Asko even brings the cook top with Celcius degrees, which is unusual and guarantees maximum precision and temperature control.

For people who visit me while I cook in Vanto, it is important to understand that miracles do not only happen in the restaurant, but there are equipment and techniques that are so practical and a great help to housewives in their homes. For those who do not have distinguished skills in the kitchen, or do not want to spend hours, it is enough to memorize recipes and recreate them later with just one button. The undisputed technology that facilitates every process and whoever tries it can no longer give up this lifestyle!

If the environment in Vanto would inspire you for a dedicated recipe, what ingredients would it have and what would the recipe be?

Vanto is what inspires creativity. Looking at these devices, I always think of tastes that are very unusual and at the same time you can mix tradition with modernity. You can stay loyal to the old or embrace the new and this is the opportunity that Vanto gives you. On top of this, I am already cooking a new dish that will reflect not only the colors, but the whole atmosphere, taste, nostalgia. Ingredients? Everything between tradition and modernity, but combined with the way Vanto itself has combined tradition in its equipment with the technological improvements that a kitchen needs wherever it is, at home or in a restaurant.