Philippe Regol is a French reporter and critic, graduated in Spanish Philology. For over 30 years he’s lived in Barcelona and for two decades he’s worked as a chef. Passionate about gastronomy, he’s one the authors of Identità Golose’s Guida ai Ristoranti di Italia, Europa e Mondo, since its first edition, and animates the blog Observación Gastronómica 2. He has attended almost all of the editions of Identità Milano. For all these reasons we’ve asked him to sum up his favourite moments during the just ended ninth edition.
1) The theme of this edition of Identità Milano was Respect. Respect is the commandment guiding the work of Enrico Crippa, a humble and discreet chef who’s rarely present in the various international congresses. Crippa gets on the stage and speaks of cooking, he’s not selling hot air. In his dish there’s aesthetics but there’s also lots of common sense in his preparations. All his dishes strike the eye but they also stimulate the palate’s curiosity: for instance, see his complex “salad”, seasoned with whipped butter, lemon, sour cream, egg “bottarga”, pressed caviar, fassona cow cream, crispy nori seaweed, chervil. And if he uses the syphon, he always reminds it was Adrià who invented it. And as for the egg yolk in salt and sugar, he never forgets to mention its first author, namely Carlo Cracco. His is a lesson in ethics. Crippa also brought a (very free) version of cannellone. He invites to look closely at the tradition of his land and then he re-interprets it, but with no nationalisms: he does so through a work of healthy culinary introspection and respect.
lives in a world of his own. No
cocinero has ever been capable of going beyond the concept of good seafood cooking to create a real marine cosmogony. The chef del mar loves and respects the marine world so much so that meat has completely disappeared from
Aponiente’s menu. He cooks everything from plankton to the most humble fish, discarded in the markets. Try his sea-sausages, made with fish seasoned as though it were pork. His is an ethical, playful, delicious cuisine.
3) Interviewed by
Andrea Petrini while he was cooking,
Bertrand Grébaut was able to condensate the essence of cooking and what a restaurant in Paris in the XXI century should be in a few sentences: respect for the best product, respect for the client. His tasting menu for 55 euros, after the chef had passed through the best restaurants of the capital, is a great proof of honesty. He gives the client the best cuisine, compressed in the most humble packaging: they call it
bistronomy, but who cares about words.
Grébaut, instead, claims a right to the term “gourmandise”, which refers to the use of sauces and the simple pleasure of eating without too many luxurious services or so much cerebral cuisine.
4) Carlo Cracco and
Matteo Baronetto are an emblem of professional loyalty. For many years they’ve humbly shared the role of protagonists. They don’t send Messianic messages to the audience of the congress. Quite simply, they illustrate their vision of cuisine without spouting words such as “vanguard”. Theirs is a purified cuisine, that doesn’t resemble any other. There’s no showing off of technical ability, they always create excitement in their guests. Even when they provoke them or make them indignant! (
I wrote about it here, in Spanish).
Flemish Pieter Lonneville together with Stefano Vegliani
A congress is also useful to get to know down-to-earth chefs, those who are not too keen on media. Such as the Flemish
Pieter Lonneville from Bruges. His
Tête Pressée is a contemporary restaurant in which a rich and personal bistro cuisine is served. He acidifies stock and uses it instead of vinegar. Try his Holstein veal sandwich. It’s delicious.
1. To be continued
