QUALITALY_136

September/October 2023 VII MAGAZINE using two techniques: marinated with organic rice miso, glasswort, citrus gel and Borrettana onion pickles or the fine tarte with amberjack ham and Bavarian lovage. TRUE, INTENSE NEAPOLITAN FLAVOURS WITH THE MINIMALISM OF JAPANESE CUISINE. Japanese cuisine contains elegant finesse and is tastefully seductive. It all started with a trip to Japan, a thousand-year- old food history that fascinates me and arouses a deep curiosity in me. YOU ARE A BUILDER OF BRIDGES BETWEEN CULTURES. BRIDGES THAT CAN BE LONGER OR SHORTER. The cardamom soufflé with wild blueberry sorbet is a perfect bridge between Trentino and French pastries. Paying homage to Solivérès, he proposes the spaghettone di Gragnano IGP with Breton blue lobster, fennel and Oscietra caviar. In these cases, the bridge is shorter. ANOTHER FAMOUS DISH OF YOURS, OMAGGIO A NAPOLI (HOMAGE TO NAPLES), ENCLOSES THE GENOVESE IN A RAVIOLO. The raviolo is made of egg pasta in two colours. The Genovese is classic but lighter because it is made of rabbit meat. Yoghurt and mint gel complete the taste base with acid notes. The bitterness is from burnt Montoro onion sauce. In my dishes there are all the basic flavours because this is the only way to achieve balance. POMOD’ORO IS YOUR FAMOUS SPAGHETTI. Spaghetto is in itself a simple dish that I had to make worthy of an environment like the George. Customers often snub it, as if the spaghetto cannot go beyond domestic tables. I use seven varieties of tomatoes, a product par excellence from Campania, starting with Pomodorino del Piennolo del Vesuvio DOP. Then there are mock datterini in tomato jelly filled with liquid Parmigiano, which give back the ensemble of spaghetti sprinkled with cheese. IS IT DIFFICULT TO REMAIN BALANCED BETWEEN INTRANSIGENCE AND INNOVATION? I would say no. After all, we Italians have always ‘welcomed’ other cultures. Italian cuisine itself is the result of dominations, territorial identities and migrations. It is a cuisine of encounters rooted in many contaminations. WHERE DO YOU DRAW INSPIRATION FOR NEW CREATIONS? Often from memories of my travels. Sometimes from memories of my family. Cooking is a journey into memory and the memory of a journey. I see, I observe, I am curious and I take notes. I always have a diary with me and I write a lot. I go a lot by sensation. Seasonality plays a role. Being in the kitchen brings things to mind. THE TUESDAY MARKET DISH DRAWS ON MEMORIES OF YOUR FAMILY.... Yes, the whole family is here. Especially my grandmother Carmela. We lived in a working-class neighbourhood in Naples and the local market, where we bought fish and other foodstuffs, was held on Tuesdays. The oily fish cooked by my grandmother, the Alici alla Nturtiera, in the round pan, the ruotolo, filled the house with a unique smell. When I returned from school and opened the door, I was overwhelmed by the anchovies, the mint, the vinegar, the garlic. For me, these are scents that remain characteristic of a specific gesture, that of opening the door of the house when returning from school. It is curious that in life one does not remember days, but moments like these. We would all gather around the table. I always dipped my bread in the aluminium cake tin. Anchovies have become - for the George - the Tuesday Market. I cook them with a marinade of salt and lemon, and complete the dish with mint gel, light bagnacauda sauce and some bread that, moulded, allows me to reconstruct my grandmother’s old black pot in which the anchovies were served. WITH SUCH EXPERIMENTAL CUISINE, IS A SECOND STAR AN AMBITION OF YOURS? It is a dream and a goal at the same time, both for the chef and the owner. With 25 table settings I can experiment and manage the brigade well without undue stress. If, for now, we have not deserved another star, we can just wait confidently. I believe in this project. The work pays off. I CLOSE BY QUOTING ONE OF YOUR LINES: ‘LIGHT A DREAM AND LET IT BURN IN YOU’... Exactly! AT PAGE 32 DID YOU KNOW? Restaurant increases: a thorny issue WHETHER TO RAISE PRICES OR NOT AND HOW TO COMMUNICATE THEM TO THE CUSTOMER? THIS SUMMER’S SOCIAL MEDIA CONTROVERSIES ABOUT CREATIVE ENTRIES ON THE