hkskyline
June 2nd, 2005, 06:01 AM
Big appetite for culture of the table
2 June 2005
South China Morning Post
IN ITALY, YOU never ask your mother what's for dinner - it will make her angry.
But Hong Kong people are eager to query the menus of an increasing number of Italian restaurants in the city offering the famously simple but classic cuisine.
"Ten years ago, you could count the number of Italian restaurants in Hong Kong on your fingers," said Pino Piano, director of the Gaia Group, which owns and operates the restaurants Gaia, Va Bene and Isola Bar+Grill.
"Now there are dozens and dozens."
Grissini's chef de cuisine Vittorio Lucariello said Italian restaurants have been "getting better and better" since he moved to Hong Kong two years ago.
The allure of the cuisine lies in its simplicity.
Developed by the peasantry, Italian food uses seasonal ingredients from the country's nine regions to create creamy or tomato-based sauces for pastas, fragrant risottos, hearty soups, pastries and gelati.
The trend of cucina molecolare (molecular cooking), experimentation with products such as cooking sugar at a high temperature to derive a low-fat alternative to olive oil, may be at the forefront of modern Italian cooking but the great chefs never forget their origins.
"Our food was made because it was necessary," said Paolo Teverini, one of three master chefs visiting Grissini restaurant at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong hotel for its Bella Italia promotion. "You used a small amount of ingredients with good taste and low cost. Simple ingredients."
Italy's family-oriented "culture of the table", as Chef Teverini phrased it, is something that attracts Hong Kong diners.
Lauren Morkel is director of marketing for Grappa's Bar and Italian Restaurants, which has a month-long Italian festival promotion.
She said many people came to the company's Italian-American eateries for a relaxed family meal.
Mr Piano imports all of his ingredients from Italy, and there are several shops here that sell food and beverages imported from the country.
Alessio Conti, an award-winning pastry chef visiting Grissini, has begun scouring Italy for the perfect oranges and nuts for panettone, an Italian Christmas cake, countering a trend in Italy towards cheap mass-produced desserts.
Another visiting chef, Italian ice-cream master Palmiro Bruschi, has sold world-inspired gelato at his shops in Tuscany to complement traditional techniques and flavours. He said he may create a mango or lychee gelato in an acknowledgement of Hong Kong's love for Italian food.
2 June 2005
South China Morning Post
IN ITALY, YOU never ask your mother what's for dinner - it will make her angry.
But Hong Kong people are eager to query the menus of an increasing number of Italian restaurants in the city offering the famously simple but classic cuisine.
"Ten years ago, you could count the number of Italian restaurants in Hong Kong on your fingers," said Pino Piano, director of the Gaia Group, which owns and operates the restaurants Gaia, Va Bene and Isola Bar+Grill.
"Now there are dozens and dozens."
Grissini's chef de cuisine Vittorio Lucariello said Italian restaurants have been "getting better and better" since he moved to Hong Kong two years ago.
The allure of the cuisine lies in its simplicity.
Developed by the peasantry, Italian food uses seasonal ingredients from the country's nine regions to create creamy or tomato-based sauces for pastas, fragrant risottos, hearty soups, pastries and gelati.
The trend of cucina molecolare (molecular cooking), experimentation with products such as cooking sugar at a high temperature to derive a low-fat alternative to olive oil, may be at the forefront of modern Italian cooking but the great chefs never forget their origins.
"Our food was made because it was necessary," said Paolo Teverini, one of three master chefs visiting Grissini restaurant at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong hotel for its Bella Italia promotion. "You used a small amount of ingredients with good taste and low cost. Simple ingredients."
Italy's family-oriented "culture of the table", as Chef Teverini phrased it, is something that attracts Hong Kong diners.
Lauren Morkel is director of marketing for Grappa's Bar and Italian Restaurants, which has a month-long Italian festival promotion.
She said many people came to the company's Italian-American eateries for a relaxed family meal.
Mr Piano imports all of his ingredients from Italy, and there are several shops here that sell food and beverages imported from the country.
Alessio Conti, an award-winning pastry chef visiting Grissini, has begun scouring Italy for the perfect oranges and nuts for panettone, an Italian Christmas cake, countering a trend in Italy towards cheap mass-produced desserts.
Another visiting chef, Italian ice-cream master Palmiro Bruschi, has sold world-inspired gelato at his shops in Tuscany to complement traditional techniques and flavours. He said he may create a mango or lychee gelato in an acknowledgement of Hong Kong's love for Italian food.