When you think of Italian food, it’s usually comfort fare — spaghetti with meatballs, baked lasagna and ravioli. So it’s exciting when you encounter a Michelin-starred chef with a flair for innovation. That’s Alfredo Russo at the newly renovated Vivaldi by Alfredo Russo restaurant at the Sheraton Dubai Creek Hotel & Towers.
Russo, a native of Piedmont, Italy, focuses on simplicity and technique, allowing the ingredients to be the stars of the dish.
GN Focus caught up with the 44-year-old chef following a five-course showcase of his talent.
As with any person new to Dubai, the question arises, “Why Dubai?”
“Why not?” comes his easy reply, before he adds: “This is my first time in the Middle East. It’s a good challenge because there is a lot of competition among the city’s restaurants.
“This is also one of the oldest hotels in the city and, at the same time, this part of the city is the old city, which has its own appeal.”
Global appeal
Having begun cooking at the age of 13, Russo’s had a fair bit of success back home and throughout the Asia-Pacific region, with restaurants in Thailand, China, Taiwan and Japan.
Russo says he takes a multilevel approach to his food and wants his creations to speak to everyone. Whether you are a culinary expert or just a regular person enjoying a night in town, he wants you to be able to appreciate his food.
Russo likens the experience to visiting a museum — you can be an art expert or a novice but you still appreciate the works on display. And an artist he is, which was immediately clear in his first offering, tartaccio — beef tartare with pancetta and a Parmesan mousse filling. Beautiful and scrumptious.
“For me, creativity is not to make strange things but to look at things with a different point of view,” explains Russo.
In support, he points to his wild mushroom soup with polenta. Typically the polenta is placed at the bottom and then layered with ingredients. Reminiscent of a French onion soup, Russo’s version has a light layer of polenta on top of wild mushrooms, adding an earthy complexity.
The local angle
Local sourcing has become a big trend in recent years. How does this affect a celebrity chef running a restaurant abroad? “Everybody uses smartphones, cars and computers,” says Russo. “We fly and email, but we must eat local ingredients? We are modern and we live in a modern way. The combination makes no sense. If I must eat only local ingredients, I must also go to my job on a horse; if I need to send you a message, I have to use a messenger pigeon,” he laughs.
He continues: “I’m happy to use local ingredients when the quality is good enough to transform them into something great.”
A delicate zing
Russo’s passion for food comes to the fore as he explains his approach — a combination of simplicity and technique.
He believes some chefs use the highest quality ingredients, but then complicate the dish in a way that the original flavours are lost to anyone other than a food connoisseur. What he attempts to do is focus on two or three ingredients and use them in creative ways in the same course, which allows the food to be appreciated and experienced in multiple ways.
Russo’s spinach ravioli served with a mild, yet flavourful, spinach sauce was just that — creative and different. The pasta was delicate, with a creamy spinach filling and the sauce provided just the right amount of zing.
Some of these ideas are encapsulated in the chef’s books Da Idea, a collection of Russo’s most significant recipes, and il miele in cucina with 550 recipes that use honey. He’s now working on a book for vegetarians.
Russo also plans to open new restaurants in Brazil and Mexico. But for now, Dubai gets to indulge in his creative genius.
