Andrea Ribaldone

Born in Milan, Andrea Ribaldone has Piedmont running in his blood: his father is from Lu Monferrato and his mother – his unquestioned teacher in the kitchen, an excellent cook, guilty of having transmitted him her passion for good food – is also from Piedmont. The chef’s granddad, instead, had a famous pasta factory in Milan: during WWII he served the army and invented the famous wheel shaped pasta.

None of the descendants continues the tradition of pasta makers but Andrea opened a pub in the early Nineties and later became part of the kitchen team of Riccardo Aiachini, near Alessandria. He started to cook in 2000, convincing his master to sign him up for restaurant La Fermata in Spinetta Marengo, awarded with the first Michelin star in 2003. They worked together until 2012, when Ribaldone decided to take a road of his own.

He funded a business called Arco, an acronym for Andrea Ribaldone&co., a true fusion of collaborators coordinated by the chef to make the most of Andrea’s experience in the kitchen, so as to improve the knowledge of high quality Italian food abroad. Plus consultancies and training programmes, research and the valorisation of quality products, on top of the impeccable kitchen direction during large events. People are used to see the chef participating in television programme "La Prova del Cuoco" or on the shelves, in bookstores, with volumes in which he illustrates his philosophy in the kitchen.

Ribaldone can be proud of collaborations as executive chef and consultant for Eataly Tokyo besides some important restaurant activities, over the years. In 2013 he started a consultancy job as F&B Director for JSH Hotels&Resorts while in June 2014 he opened his restaurant in Alessandra, a new adventure called I Due Buoi. This is one of the most ancient restaurants in town but he wanted to have it completely restructured and renovated in its wine and food offer. With the kitchen aiming at offering an experience that allows to understand that his dishes show respect for raw materials, an accurate research on preparations and, together, a concentrate of technique, creativity and experiment. In 2015 he held the role of executive chef of the kitchens of Identità Expo, an assignment that he will repeat from October 2018 with the direction of the kitchen at Identità Golose Milano, in via Romagnosi 3. In March 2017 he was at the helm of Osteria Arborina, in the homonymous Relais in La Morra, in the Langhe. The Michelin star arrived almost immediately, as well as the Due Camini of Borgo Egnazia, in Puglia, in November 2018.