Savage Revier OSLO Combining Norwegian produce with innovative and experimental techniques, Chef Andrea Selvaggini serves up a feast that knows no boundaries. Words: Heleri Rande • Photography: © Anne Valeur
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ometimes I wake up in the middle of the
molecular gastronomy was further developed
night with an idea, so I write it down
working for chef Quique Dacosta in Spain,
immediately. That’s how I came up with
whose food has always been highly influenced
the carbonara doughnut dish,” explains Andrea
by architecture and art. It was Selvaggini’s next
Selvaggini, Executive Chef at Savage at Revier in
stint at Quintonil in Mexico under chef Jorge
Oslo. Hailing from the coastal city of Tarquinia
Vallejo that, interestingly, spiked his curiosity
in Lazio, midway between Rome and the Tuscan
for Nordic cuisine. “We did a lot of four-hands
boarder, Selvaggini always knew he wanted to
dinners with top restaurants from around the
be a chef. Contrary to his parents’ wishes, he
world at Quintonil. The collaboration with
worked odd summer jobs to pay for a three-
Maaemo from Oslo was unforgettable – the
month cooking course before embarking on a
food was so clean and beautiful. So, I decided to
six-month internship that took him around
leave the sunshine behind and move to the deep
Italy. Armed with a passion for the profession
cold,” recounts the chef. Working both as a sous
and a zest for travelling, off he went to work
chef and in research and development at the
in the kitchens of France, Luxembourg, Spain,
Nordic powerhouse Maaemo – which currently
Mexico and finally, Norway.
holds three Michelin stars – gave Selvaggini
“The first place that really changed my life
enough culinary ammunition to craft his own
as a chef was Metamorfosi in Rome under
style at the newly opened boutique hotel Revier,
chef Roy Caceres,” admits Selvaggini. “I loved
and its flagship restaurant Savage.
the style and the creativity, which at the time
Located in the neighbourhood of Kvadraturen
was just mind-blowing.” His curiosity for
in central Oslo, Revier is a 65-key hotel that