No Limits

Words: Renate Ruge • Portrait Photography: © Paolo Chiodini

Sunlight floods through large windows offering views over Tortona, Milan’s design district, where Enrico Bartolini sits on a sofa in pristine chef whites. A neon sign above him reads ‘One day, I’m gonna make the onions cry’, but the Italian culinary star’s smile is warm.

We’re sipping espressos before service in the discreet dining room at Mudec, Bartolini’s three-Michelin-starred destination restaurant of only eight tables, located on the third floor of Milan’s Museo delle Culture, his flagship venue housed in an ultramodern building designed by the British architect David Chipperfield. There’s a bustling bistro three floors below, but up here the space is tranquil – much like the man himself.

“A restaurant is like a family involving many layers of creativity and talent,” says Bartolini who, in his forties, holds more Michelin stars for his restaurants in Italy than any other chef. In 2016 he became the first chef in the history of the Michelin Guide to be awarded four stars simultaneously, including two for Mudec. His repertoire now encompasses nine stars, including the cosy one-star Ristorante Casual in Bergamo’s old town, the two-starred Glam, a seductive dining salon at Palazzo Venart in Venice, and the two-starred

Locanda Sant’Uffizio at Relais Monferrato, a converted 16th century convent owned by LDC Hotels & Resorts in Piedmont.

There’s also ll Fuoco Sacro at Petra Segreta in Sardinia and

Il Poggio Rosso Restaurant at Relais & Chateaux Borgo San

Felice in Chiant (both starred), not to mention his Tuscan idyll, the one-star L’Andana. His international outposts include the Ristorante Spiga and Fiamma – both launched in collaboration with Dining Concepts and located in Hong Kong – as well as Ristorante Roberto’s venues in Dubai and in Abu Dhabi, in partnership with Skelmore Hospitality.

Contemporary but classic, Bartolini’s recipes feature simple ingredients fine-tuned to perfection. “I like working with everyday ingredients, but also cooking using special herbs,” he says. “A big part of creativity is about the growing process – how to use the seed, the flower and leaf – always using the whole of the plant as often the part people throw away is the best. I love bitter flavours too. For years, chefs added sweetness and even sugar to dishes or sauces as sweet was fashionable, but I find if you cook bitter things slowly, they garner natural sweetness in an elegant way yet retain bitter notes, like artichokes.”

He strives to offer a different dining experience at each of his restaurants. “Before opening a new restaurant, I look for what’s unique about a place, then match it with local talent,” he explains. “Each requires a creative chef, a captain who’s always in situ, working with local ingredients and specific techniques. I brainstorm with resident chefs, but their message must be strong and not completely led by me, as that’s not good for the guests.”

Bartolini’s reputation is built on dishes that are both at the cutting edge and rich in culinary heritage. He often looks to old recipe books for inspiration. “Cooking hasn’t changed a lot,” he reflects. “Of course, there’s less fat and sugar

Dishes from Bartolini’s restaurants Casual and Glam display his flair for blending modern technique with a traditional approach

– but how do we apply today’s techniques without losing something special from the past? I like classic cooking with a touch of luxury. I don’t need ‘new’ as I’m boring… But I love discovering new things as I love to be alive.”

At L’Andana, his approach (which is far from boring) translates to a focus on smoked dishes that use zeromiles produce and local seafood. Dinner at his Tuscan trattoria begins with the onsite baker Lisa briefing diners on her fresh-from-the-oven specialities, with bread sliced at the table in a gesture intended to evoke a familiar feeling of home. The ritual seems doubly appropriate, given that the restaurant itself is housed in what was once an ancient granary of the Medici villa. Wooden beams and exposed brickwork lend an intimacy to the space, which is peppered with terracotta bowls and clay plates. The wine cellar displays more than 600 labels, including drops produced by the estate’s owners, the Moretti family.

At the heart of the restaurant lies an old stove, often helmed by Executive Chef Bruni Cossio. “I’d never seen a wood oven in a gourmet restaurant before,” says Bartolini. “Looking outside we realised we could cut and season local wood, using natural charcoal as the hero of our menu.”

This delicious smokiness permeates L’Andana’s menu, even making it into the next-level risotto with turnips and home-grown roasted beetroot. The eggplant on top is cooked over charcoal and spiced, in an evolution of one of his signature dishes at Mudec. The smoked eel and roasted pigeon with fermented grape sauce from nearby vines are among other star plates, while a grilled onion dish punches above its weight. “I think chefs show you the best of their technique with vegetables,” says Bartolini, citing Cossio’s steak tartare, which replaces the meat with chargrilled sweet potato, as another example.

French culinary behemoth Alain Ducasse helmed this restaurant for eight years before Bartolini took the reins in 2016. He admits: “I was shy at the beginning. When Vittorio and Carmen Moretti first asked me to take over the restaurant, I thought ‘it’s too beautiful and too far away’ [from Milan]. I was 36, and it would be my third restaurant opening in as many months, which seemed like too much.” However, he rose to the challenge with the support of the Morettis, whose Italian family values he admires strongly and whose generous entrepreneurial spirit he attributes in no small part the overall success of the restaurant. “We took over L’Andana and were awarded a Michelin star in the first year,” he reflects. “Receiving a star is beautiful, showing what a restaurant can do – how it compares to others.”

He continues: “I’ve learned a lot working at L’Andana, finding a new team to maintain the right atmosphere for a leading hotel of the world. It’s important to say ‘hello’ to guests but remembering a person’s name means so much more. As a destination, it has it all; a countryside setting, close to the sea, beautiful inside and out.”

Bartolini himself comes from Tuscany, and grew up experimenting in the kitchen from the age of three. He graduated from the F. Martini Professional Hotel Institute in Montecatini Terme before moving overseas to make his mark as a young chef in the kitchens of Paolo Petrini in Paris and Mark Page in London. Back home, under the guidance of Massimiliano Alajmo at Le Robinie restaurant in Oltrepò Pavese, he secured his first Michelin star at the age of just 29, and a second at the age of 33 at Devero Ristorante in Cavenago Brianza.

He is, he says, devoted to Italian produce. “We’re blessed with distinct seasons in Italy,” he says. “You only find asparagus in May and June; white asparagus is only around for 15 days, so forward planning – which I love – is essential. If you wait for it to arrive and your menu isn’t ready, you’re not cooking asparagus. At L’Andana, you have all the traditions of the Tuscan land; cows and wild pigs, on this part of the coast, fish

like sea bass, and arselle [small, juicy clams]. I’ve never seen them anywhere else.”

It’s a passion that can be a challenge when it comes to his venues in Hong Kong and the Middle East. “In Italy we have beautiful eggplant and tomatoes,” he elaborates. “I once bought some tomatoes at a market in Japan to find they had no flavour and couldn’t use them.” For his Hong Kong venues he imports certain key ingredients from his homeland, including tipo 00 flour. “I used flown-in produce in Dubai at first, but you get to see what’s good locally,” he elaborates. “I’m not keen on the fish in Hong Kong, but the meat and vegetables are great, so we pick the best of what’s local and cook it with our flair.”

For Bartolini, repeat bookings come down to guest experience. “I want diners to feel comfortable in a beautiful setting, enjoy a wonderful atmosphere and friendly servers,” he explains. “I’m a gentle person. I like to get to know the person serving me when I eat out. All are important elements. It’s not enough just to have good food. Invest effort and emotion to give guests the best and they’ll spend more than your expectations.”

He describes himself as “very detailed, not really like a normal person”, maintaining that while this quality could be seen as a negative, “it’s essential for this style of cooking.” Teamwork is also key. “For our industry, it’s about the ability to be together and share,” he says. “Our world leads us to be extremely individualistic, but a restaurant experience is not a dish; it’s the result of everything.”

And as for what he believes his future holds? “I want to do better,” he asserts. “I don’t have a business partner, so consolidating what I’ve got, with our chefs... We’ll do better together. If a restaurant gets another star the chef is prouder of their place, that can only benefit the guest experience.”

Bartolini’s idea of ‘better’ is probably a bar set so high most wouldn’t contemplate attempting it; but in his view, the sky’s the limit – and his looks set to twinkle with many more stars yet.