Nikola Tomašić, a promising twenty-two-year-old, has been pursuing a successful career as a chef for five years now at LD Restaurant, in Lešić Dimitri Palace in Korčula. His story began when Marko Gajski, the LD Restaurant chef, spotted Nikola’s hidden potential while having a talk as a guest speaker at Korčula Hospitality High School and invited Nikola to do his internship at Marko Gajski’s kitchen. Nikola gladly accepted the invitation and completed his internship. Today he is a member of Marko Gajski’s successful culinary team that was awarded with a Michelin star at the official ceremony in 2022 where Nikola was one of the attendees as well. In 2023 Nikola won Raise the Bar Scholarship given to culinary talents to improve their skills at the world’s best universities. Besides Nikola, Raise the Bar Scholarship was also won by a fellow team member of LD restaurant, pastry chef Željka Bleuš. Nikola and Željka will both use their scholarships for tuition at the prestigious École Ducasse in Paris in March in 2024.
– “Show enthusiasm, work, learn, ask and explore! I fell in love with being a chef in lower grades of elementary school, as soon as I discovered that this profession allows you to grow and prosper every day. For this very reason I got into Hospitality High School in Korčula, a professional chef program, and after having completed two grades I was lucky to meet a man who showed me this job’s depth and breadth. It was my current chef, Marko Gajski, who was my stepping stone and because of whom I was smitten by the whole universe of unlimited opportunities, and who continues to guide me and keep an eye on my learning and further development,” said Nikola Tomašić, Chef de Partie at LD Restaurant, to young people and future fellow chefs.