Over 22 years now, across five continents — from Milan to Moscow, Melbourne, Wellington, London, and now Switzerland. Every kitchen taught me something different, but the goal has always stayed the same: make people feel something when they taste the food.

I trained formally as a Tecnico dei Servizi della Ristorazione at Istituto Alberghiero Amerigo Vespucci in Milan — a qualification later officially recognised in Switzerland as equivalent to a federal EFZ with Berufsmaturität. But the instinct for food started earlier, at home in Italy, where flavour and technique were never separate things — just how you cooked.

A risotto with asparagus and caviar, finished with an oyster air. It’s a dish where every element has to be exactly right — the risotto’s texture, the timing of the asparagus, the delicacy of the air so it doesn’t overpower the caviar. When it comes together, it’s one of those rare moments where technique and pure pleasure meet on the same plate. That’s the dish that still makes me think, “yes, this is exactly why I do this.”