Sorrento born Massimo Fraioli has worked in the food and hospitality industry for his whole career – it all began in the family delicatessen on Corso Italia. He opened I Giardini di Sorrento (The Garden of Sorrento) earlier this year with his friend Gaetano Monteriso, a talented and passionate Chef from Naples.
I GIARDINI DI SORRENTO
City Life chats with Massimo, as Gaetano travels around the world as executive chef on the Viking Cruises, about their traditional Italian restaurant which is inspired by the fresh and authentic flavours of the Sorrento Peninsula.
speciality is most definitely his home-made pasta, home-made bread and home-made cakes and desserts. We knew by focusing on a truly authentic Italian menu we’d be on to a winner - our food is made with copious Italian passion.
Congratulations Massimo, as we speak your restaurant is placed second out of 887 restaurants in Cardiff on Trip Advisor. Ciao, we’re delighted that our dream has taken off so quickly. Many customers are returning again and again, and we welcome new friends to our ‘Piazza Tasso’ or our ‘Giardini’ every day. We’ve even teamed up with Deliveroo to provide a service delivering our food directly to our customers’ homes.
Gianni worked under chef Michele Insigne in 'O Sole Mio' and in the Michelin Star 'Don Alfonso' both located in Sant'Agata Sui Due Golfi Gianni and his kitchen team work hard to prepare hand-made pasta,
Can you tell us about the food you serve and your Head Chef? Our award-winning Head Chef is my brother-in-law Gianni Pane. His 22
including his speciality, the Scialatielli, which is a tradition of the Amalfi coast; and his ravioli parcels which are finished by hand - our favourite ones are filled with a selection of fish. As well as our a la carte menu we have daily specialities including lobster served with black ink pasta, huge T-bone steaks, and sea bass - and not forgetting our selection of fresh homemade desserts including tiramisu, rum baba and Delizie al limone - a must for anyone that has visited Sorrento. Also, we offer a full wine list with a selection of wines not usually seen in Cardiff; with the focus mainly on Italian wines including a red and white wine made from the very grapes that were grown on the sides of Vesuvius (Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio), a delicious slightly sparkling red wine that can be recognised by many that have visited Sorrento (Gragnano), and fine Prosecco and Champagnes.