Fuzio
Chef Paolo Petris from Northern Italy, close to Venice, joined the restaurant just five months back. For 17 years he had been working in Dubai, Delhi, Japan and Singapore before he thought it was time to go back home. Having got there, he could not settle and knew in his heart he needed to work somewhere in Southeast Asia. The choice of Bangkok was largely due to where the job found him.
"I aim to be good and consistent in what I do", he says. There are certain imported ingredients such sashimi quality tuna and scallops from Japan plus cold water fish from Europe that I use simply because they have the best taste. Having said that, I do have to be realistic and buy in small quantities, when they are gone they are gone, I cannot afford to buy in bulk".
Working with chefs from all over Italy and France has influenced the cooking style that he describes as Italian Mediterranean - light using little salt, butter or oil. "I want my customers to be able to savour in the taste of my food at their table but to leave the restaurant with a clean palate", he adds.
His experience in Japan taught him to cook with subtle flavours as well as clean neat presentation on the plate. He places the food in the centre of the plate; perhaps just a slice of raw tuna, a sprig of Japanese basil and a few drops of lemon oil. When appropriate, he will use a herb emulsion to paint a single streak of colour onto the plate to frame the food; minimalistic yet effective. He wants the presentation to be balanced making it easy for the guest to comprehend how to eat the dish.
"Due to my Northern Italian background I prefer to cook meat rather than fish and in the restaurant customers order in a 70:30 ratio".
"I do come front of house from time to time during the service", he says, "but my place is in the kitchen, it is where I like to be keeping a vigilant eye on my kitchen team while they are flavouring the food. There are times when I need to guide them as to how to adjust the taste for each individual customer".
With kitchen visible behind a pane of glass, the kitchen team must work tidily and Paulo is also passionate about hygiene in his kitchen.
When Chef Paulo arrived the ratio of guests was 80% Foreigner to 20% Thai; in just five months he has redressed the balance so that it is now equal. The previous chef's recipes that worked for their guests he kept but changed about 40% of the menu as he was not happy with how they tasted for this market.
The wine bar on the terrace has proved even more popular than they had expected. The original idea was that it would serve tapas with pre-dinner drinks; guests would then move into the restaurant for dinner and out again for a digestive and perhaps a cigar. The guests had a different idea, however, and several prefer to dine al fresco for as long as the dry weather holds since it is their escape from the stress of everyday Bangkok.
The wine list is 70% Italian wines with a balance of Australian, Chilean and French.
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