Chef Alan Ferrer – Minami Restaurant, Vancouver

In this blog series, we are checking in on some of the chefs whose recipes are featured on our website. We’ll touch base with them, and find out how their lives, and careers, have changed since their recipe’s debut.

For this feature, we reunite with Chef Alan Ferrer, whose Ambrosia Apple Tai Carpaccio Recipe was first featured on our website in 2017.

Chef Ferrer created his gorgeous Tai Carpaccio with Picked Ambrosia Apples in his home kitchen in the Fall of 2017.  He encourages home cooks to not be intimidated by the idea of preparing raw fish, as he walks us through the steps of making this crudo which includes thinly sliced, slightly charred snapper (aka Tai).  The Tai is served with pickled Ambrosia apples and a crispy fennel salad with Ambrosia apple vinaigrette. In the video, Chef Alan shows us each step of preparation and then demonstrates how to plate this elegant and impressive dish Click Here.

Chef Ferrer was then — and still is – the corporate chef for Aburi Restaurants Canada, which includes Minami Restaurant Vancouver’s Yaletown, where he is the executive chef. His passion for providing guests with an unforgettable culinary experience has driven his career from the beginning.  Starting in Grade 10, he has been involved in the local Vancouver food culture, working with some of the top restaurants in town. After hearing accounts of Aburi’s founder, Seigo Nakamura’s passion and dedication to his restaurants and his employees, Chef Ferrer decided to join the team.  All his experience and hard work propelled him through the ranks to his current dual position. A perfectionist by nature, he strives to achieve the perfect balance of flavour, texture, presentation, and technique in every dish.  This sincere desire for excellence and passion for guest experience allows him to lead by example, encouraging his team to follow in his footsteps.

 “I continue to work, cook, and create dishes with the people I love,” Chef Ferrer says. “At the restaurant, we cook with Ambrosia apples periodically as our menus change with the seasons, and at home it is a staple fruit for my family and me.”

A favourite Ambrosia apple treatment of Chef Ferrer’s at Minami is a beautiful compote or chutney, or sauce or purée.  “I like to always use a variety of applications and cooking methods to showcase the culinary possibilities with the Ambrosia apple,” he says. 

 Chef Ferrer also provided some tips on working with Ambrosia apples: “Although Ambrosia apples are known to be the best at oxidizing way later than other apple breeds they should still be cut last minute if using them in a raw form to ensure that the apple will be nice, juicy, and looking at it’s best, he advises. “Also, when making a chutney/compote to retain texture and body of the apple do not dice it any smaller than 1/2cm.”

 The pandemic has definitely affected all businesses, but the tourism, hospitality, and restaurant industry has been among the businesses hit hardest. Minami’s dining room is open in a limited capacity now, and the safety and wellbeing of their patrons remains a priority.

“I’ve learned to appreciate and not take for granted what we have,” concludes Chef Ferrer, “like the quality time we have with our family, and the city we live in.”

 For more information:

Minami Restaurant
1118 Mainland Street
Vancouver, B.C. V6B 2T9

Telephone: 604.685.8080
Email: minamivan@aburirestaurants.com