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APR. MAY 2016
VI
the reasons that could push to limit
the choice. One above all comes from
neuromarketing, which investigates
the decision-making process that
takes place, even on a subconscious
level, in consumers. Parties by large
retailers, revealed, as too wide a
choice can be rather attractive,
disorienting and even paralyzing.
Then there is the element of surprise,
but that is only if, in addition to
proposing a limited choice of menu
“fixed” (is more chic but call them
“taste”), these are changed very
often, if not every day. The era of
social, where dishes are obsessively
photographed and posted on
social, change can often help avoid
that effect déjà vu that happens
sometimes in a restaurant where you
never were.
AS IN A TRATTORIA RESTAURANT?
NEVER!
“The unique menu? It would
be the dream of every cook, offer it
to Paris but in Italy the time is not
ripe, because it still exists in the
collective memory the memory of
the restaurant one time, considered
‘poor’ - says Cesare Battisti, pure
chef and hard of Ratanà of Milan -.
We have a tasting menu extracted
from paper to bring out the best
products arriving daily, but no more
than 15-20 people choose about
55 people. And of these, a quarter
asks of changes, with a thousand
reasons. Yet it would be a great step
forward and a sign of civilization
to propose only a few options, the
result of a reasoned choice. Not only
because it would reduce waste, but
because it would be the sign of a
more reasoned approach to food and
raw materials, and I avoid using the
term ‘sustainable’ that Expo was on
everyone’s lips and was devoid of
meaning. You need an ethical and
intelligent procurement, and in this
also change a dish in this menu,
which we do by following the daily
availability, it just means to care
about above all the freshness and
quality. But it was not easy to get the
message.”
BASED PRICE AND SIMPLE
COMMUNICATION.
“We have two
price ranges, 18 and 28 euro, with
20 set menus with distinctive names,
only the tasting menu changes
seasonally. It is a formula that the
public appreciates why you eat well,
to a controlled prices and quantities.
And without waiting for infinite times
- explains Riccardo Pala, owner of the
Milan Trattoria 18-28, need a guide -.
All menus, from one to five courses
include dessert, some even a glass of
wine. It is a formula that allows to
optimize the expenditure but also the
workforce in the kitchen, because you
can work online with fewer people
than if you were working with a à la
carte menu. And the times are faster.”
After all, the light menu is a bit
‘square the circle: in an industry
where margins are often tight to,
a choice limited to two or three
menus, as well as helping to minimize
waste, allows you to offer the best
in terms quality of raw materials to
its customers and to maintain the
profitable enterprise. But do not
overdo it: worth meet, starry and not,
deserted by customers to the frantic
search for a place where you can rely,
with all ease, their own free will.
Idea declined in many formulas
Intransigence Japan
: The Japanese
Araki, two Michelin stars in London,
cannot escape: high prices (£ 300)
and a single menu with no possibility
of change, as clearly stated on the
site. As if to say: I warn you even
before you’re tempted to book..
Surprise
: Two stars in London for
the French chef Claude Bosi at
Hibiscus that offers two rather
expensive menus (£ 135): a classic
and one “surprise”.
Mystery
: the Parisian Septime
provides a “carte blanche” menu
entirely in the hands of the chef
Bertrand Grebaut. You only know
the number of courses: five.
Dozers
: born in 2006, Le
Chateaubriand, one of the first
“Bistronomie” offers at 70 Euros a
single menu signed by the talented
Basque chef Inaki Aizpitarte. In
Paris there are queues, in London
on repurposed concept hotel Mayfair
closed after only four months.
All inclusive.
All’Eleven Madison
Park in New York on a fixed price
of $ 295 includes a unique seasonal
menu of 10-15 courses, wines and
even (in the States is not optional)
tips.
At lunch:
the “schiscetta” for lunch
with glass of prosecco or champagne
included is the new way of starry
to work all day. Reservations are
through app as Bookatable (now
Michelin).
Tailored ... the pantry.
A Hedone in
London Swedish chef Mikael Jonsson
offers no menu but a price range (£
85 or £ 125) with the possibility of
indicating the undesirable foods. The
menu is built “to measure” on the
basis of what’s in the pantry.
Tailored.. Guest:
the Milanese
Contraste chef Uruguayan Matias
Perdomo, entering and asks what you
want. And in fact the tasting menu
consists of a mirror. It is the opposite
concept dell’Araki. For the undecided
there is the 7-course tasting menu.
Menu story from ancient China to
the tablet
This is the idea of exposing the dishes
offered by the restaurant dates back
to the thirteenth century, in China.
French menu-term, fine, but it would
be appeared in the seventeenth
century as a reminder for us in the
kitchen while known version appears
in the nineteenth century with the
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