In The Name Of Home, A Feast Of Taste Buds Across Time And Space

      In addition to adhering to the Italian tradition, Da Vittorio Shanghai also attaches great importance to the integration of Chinese and Western food culture, so as to create a food experience closer to the taste of Chinese people.

In other countries, stomach in home. Wang Zengqi, a writer who left his hometown at the age of 19 and drifted for 30 or 40 years, wrote in his prose: "I really want to drink a bowl of pickled vegetable Cigu soup. I miss the snow in my hometown. " People's taste buds always hide the deepest concern for home and hometown.

      Asia and Europe are so far apart that merchants on the Silk Road in the past and Marco Polo in modern times have led to the thousands of miles between China and Italy. In fact, Italy and China share many similarities. In terms of culture, people in both countries have deep family concepts and family relations are often very close. Some families even have traditions and recipes handed down from generation to generation. The family restaurant is one of Italy's characteristics.

Legendary Italian family restaurant

Da Vittorio restaurant is a witness to the rise and struggle of an Italian family. Back 55 years ago, Vittorio cerea and his wife, Bruna cerea, opened a small restaurant called Da Vittorio in begamo, in Lombardy, northern Italy. In northern Italy, meat is the main cooking material. However, cerea and his wife are different. They are determined to launch Italian dishes mainly on seafood in restaurants located in the foothills of the Alps, breaking the inherent impression that Italian food is not good at seafood.

Da Vittorio Shanghai restaurant. Information map

The cerea couple cooked their own unique understanding and pursuit of Italian food with seasonal scenery and various kinds of seafood. Meanwhile, several children of the family also worked together to study the Cuisine: the eldest son Enrico and his brother Roberto worked together to improve their cooking skills for many years; Other children also have further education, responsible for hotel, external catering and dining bar functions. After decades of restaurant management, the family has gradually developed this small restaurant into a cerea family business, which operates top hotels and high-end restaurants at the same time.

After two generations' efforts, Da Vittorio, as the first seafood restaurant in the history of Modern Italian cuisine, has been increasingly concerned and affirmed by the international market. Da Vittorio has received state guests such as Queen Elizabeth II, former US President Bill Clinton and Obama, and has won three-star Michelin and the highest three-dimensional cooking honors of Gambero Rosso.

The challenge of eating in other countries

In June 2019, Da Vittorio opened its first restaurant branch outside Europe in Shanghai, bringing the "taste of home" to Asia. Food is loyal to local customs. In Shanghai, a foreign country on the other side of the ocean, it is undoubtedly a great challenge to open an Italian restaurant which is the same as Bergamo, Italy, but also has local characteristics.

Executive Chef Stefano bachelli has been with the cerea family for nearly ten years. He is responsible for bringing pure Italian food to the Huangpu River and restoring the spirit of davittorio Italian family cuisine for half a century. After two years of operation, Da Vittorio Shanghai has continued to gain honors in the international food industry, winning Michelin stars, the highest trigeminal of "Italian restaurant of the year" by red shrimp, and the second diamond of black pearl.

Recently, Stefano bachelli received an exclusive interview with 21st century economic reporter. He said that in the two years in China, the biggest challenge came from the choice of food materials“ Because we are in China, it is difficult to find exactly the same ingredients commonly used in Italy, so we need to explore suitable ingredients available in the Chinese market to replace them. "

The biggest characteristic of Da Vittorio Shanghai is that its cuisine style is still in step with Italy's, but the ingredients have further reproduced "the taste of home" in local customs. The most famous "pasta with gelatine" is a "fresh cod belly pasta" originated from the head office. Unable to find the freshest and best quality raw materials, Stefano has been trying to find suitable substitutes locally. Once upon a time, he tasted Chinese yellow croaker glue, and found that its smooth and tender taste and the fresh sweetness of natural gum can collide with Italian flat noodles to create a new taste of Chinese and western. Therefore, on the basis of following the original Italian recipe, he adjusted the actual ingredients, and a fusion and innovative Italian dish was born, which was deeply loved by Chinese diners.

In addition to adhering to the Italian tradition, Da Vittorio Shanghai also attaches great importance to the integration of Chinese and Western food culture, so as to create a food experience closer to the taste of Chinese people. It is understood that the people of China and Italy like to eat wild mushrooms, and the best Boletus in the world grows in northern Italy and Yunnan, China. Therefore, Da Vittorio also has a good view on the use of native food materials such as Boletus yunnanensis. On Da Vittorio's menu, there is also a dish named after the founder - Vittorio's classic tomato pasta. The ingredients are very simple, only tomato sauce and wide noodles roll. But in particular, the chef will bring the process of mixing spaghetti and sauce to the diner's table and bring dynamic scenes to the diners with a highly performing interactive ceremony. Therefore, this dish has become the absolute signboard of the restaurant. However, Da Vittorio Shanghai still spent half a year on the improvement of this dish: upgrading the pasta variety of this dish to Paccheri with our Italian restaurant; At the same time, we also found new tomato varieties on the local organic farm in Shanghai, increasing the number of Tomato Varieties in the original sauce from three to four - two from Italy and two from China.

Stefano believes that exploring more local ingredients is not a simple consideration of "integration" or localization of ingredients, but more out of respect for food. "We tend to offer authentic Italian food, continuing the tradition of the restaurant in Bergamo, Italy," he told 21st century business reporter. Although some of the ingredients have been slightly changed or the style has been fine tuned, it will only change by 10% at most, and the essence of Italian food will still be preserved. Chinese guests like authentic Italian food, and I think this persistence and inheritance is the key to our success. "

21st century: how is fine dining "superior"? Is expensive food necessary?

Stefano bachelli: fine dining means taste and experience for me. In my opinion, if there is any difference between a high-end restaurant and a general leisure restaurant, it is not the quality of food, the quality of staff or the quality of service, because these factors are the evaluation of different categories. It's not a low-grade restaurant. The food quality is bad or very bad. I like to go to leisure restaurants myself. At present, the high-end catering industry emphasizes a unique "experience" -- in addition to the special food, it can also create an interesting experience, because the special and interesting time is always unforgettable and can be remembered in the future.

Whether food materials are expensive and rare is not a factor that diners pay special attention to. Now people evaluate food materials not only by whether the raw materials are expensive or luxurious. A lot of organic and natural ingredients, or even ordinary ingredients, can be very high-end through elaborate seasoning and "packaged" to present to guests.

21st century: what is the essence of Italian food“ What is the taste of home?

Stefano bachelli: for me, the soul of Italian cuisine lies first of all its taste, which is delicious and delicious when cooking. It is very important for a chef to grasp the taste of a dish that how to choose the ingredients and how to present the ingredients to the guests without destroying the original taste of the ingredients. Secondly, there are many kinds of Italian food. Different regions, different classic foods and dishes have different flavors. Therefore, it is necessary to respect different ingredients and tastes of guests from different regions, so that guests will enjoy themselves. In addition, the essence of Italian food can also come from the feeling of the chef when cooking. Italian cooking is usually a family reunion, so for me, the happiness of family reunion is also the embodiment of the essence of Italian food.

Da Vittorio continues the culture and taste of the cerea family, and diners trust the restaurant. Sometimes, when I use the same texture ingredients I found in China to reproduce my hometown dishes, I always marvel at the ability to restore the authentic flavor of my hometown. For chefs, this is based on the past experience and homesickness and memory.

21st century: you have been in China for two years. What new discoveries can you share with us?

Stefano bachelli: there are many similarities between Chinese food and Italian food. Sometimes I will be invited by some Chinese friends to have dinner at home. When I eat, I always find that my hometown in Italy has similar dishes. For example, we both have ham, dumplings, noodles and so on, so I think Chinese food and Italian food are very similar, but people usually don't know much about it.

Over the past two years, I have begun to study and explore more local Chinese ingredients, some of which have never been used in Italian restaurants before. And some of my Chinese colleagues used to work in Chinese restaurants, and their opinions changed some of my ideas. After working with an open mind, I found everything very interesting. These two years have been really busy. I hope I can have more time to travel around China in the future, because I know that China, like Italy, has different traditional food and dishes in different places, and different seasonable ingredients in different seasons. I hope to have the opportunity to explore more Chinese flavor.