Niko Romito, a Michelin three-star Italian chef, has recently opened Il Ristorante – Niko Romito at the Bulgari Hotel Paris. Niko Romito does not pose. He asserts no facade and asserts no pretension. What you see is what you get.
His style, his words, his cookery, and even the name of his restaurant – Reale – are all sincere and true. However, this encounter with the chef a native of the Abruzzo region was hard-earned. Niko Romito makes few public appearances or statements and cultivates his discretion.
He prefers to give his full attention to the present moment, remaining intensely concentrated on what he does and says. That is how he created his restaurant, which opened recently in Paris. The sport is an opportunity to discover Niko Romito, his world, and his convictions. The establishment is nestled within Bulgari Hotel Paris on Avenue George-V. Once you cross through the opulent reception rooms, first you come to a bar, and then the restaurant. It is concealed at the back of the hotel as if to protect its secrets and keep surprises in store.
Niko Romito’s collaboration with Bulgari is exemplary. The Italian jewelry brand, established in Rome in 1884, embodies the spirit of Italy in its own right. Over the last few years, it has gone on to open hotels of the unprecedented genre, according to its own pace, at select destinations around the world. Thus it has developed a noble concept idea of what a hotel restaurant should be bringing to today’s world. Niko Romito seized on this encounter as a challenge, but especially as an opportunity to ponder a fundamental question: how to present real Italian cuisine to the entire world?
In keeping with his pursuit of authenticity and simplicity, Niko Romito makes a departure from the usual Italian cookery, corrupted as it is through the mixtures and adaptions which have occurred as it has migrated and mingled with other approaches throughout the world. He seeks to return to the real Italian classics: those prepared at home, as a family. The purest expression of the cookery of the nonna. Indeed, when he speaks, Niko Romito makes no mention of trattorie or Italian haute cuisine. That is not the focus of his project, which he has been developing alongside Bulgari Hotels & Resorts since 2016. Rather, he strives to return to the very essence of his country’s cuisine as it would be served to guests in an Italian home. The cookery that foreigners, by their very nature, cannot discover, since it remains concealed within a familial secret. That is the deeper meaning of Niko’s work: to discreetly pass along authentic Italian culture.
And so, here in Paris, he is a precious source of these hidden culinary treasures. This opening is therefore significant. Yes, the French capital is familiar with Italian cuisine, and its inhabitants appreciate it, consume it, devour it, and even venerate it. But the Italian cuisine revealed by Niko Romito and his chef at Bulgari Hotel Paris – Davide Capucchio – is different. It is authentic yet contemporary, classic yet dynamic, flavorful yet light, complex yet deceptively simple. It uses techniques wisely to reinforce taste and appeal to nostalgia. Few chefs throughout the world have shown such skill in navigating the contradictions specific to today’s cuisine: delicious, beautiful, simple, authentic cookery that respects local tradition and the seasons.
There is no better example of this than his “plant absolute,” a liquid offered to guests as soon as they come to the table. The translucent concoction is served piping hot. It resembles nothing so much as a vegetable stock obtained through decoction. However, no amount of water has been added. The water extracted from each vegetable is simply offered up as a natural essence. As the meal opens, Niko Romito seizes on the well-known classics of Italian cuisine. However, he removes any redundant additions that have found their way in over time, returning to their very foundations. Dozens of hours of research were required to develop the recipe for “spaghetti e pomodoro,” to literally pare it down to the true substance for which it is named: spaghetti and tomato, in equal measure. The Milanese-style escalope is revealed through the same approach. Through his long, meticulous work, Nico strikes just the right balance in reconciling opposites: the tender, juicy meat and crunchy coating offer a perfect texture with every bite because the breading never separates from the escalope. All this with a very light touch, since the fat content is largely reduced. In his array of desserts, Niko Romito surprises once again with his “chocolate and gold” creation, which reveals a clever, indulgent use of the bread served at the table.
Niko has managed to square this circle by focusing on technique. That approach guides him to streamline and simplify. In his own words, “I love to create recipes based on recognizable raw ingredients, where the form corresponds with the content, leaving no room for the superfluous. In my view, anything superfluous is not sustainable in today’s world.”
In fact, through the dishes he has developed for Bulgari Hotel & Resorts, Niko Romito questions the very concept of luxury. In his view, today’s luxury “can stray from rare ingredients to reveal itself in traditional recipes. The coherency of these dishes is protected by the conception of modern cuisine based on simple, everyday ingredients which are often considered ordinary but which are uplifted through technical innovations and associations designed to enrich their flavors.”
Another Italian quality that Niko Romito has managed to uphold is the sense of sharing. The experience that he proposes in Paris is consistent with his memory of guests entertained at home for a Saturday dinner or a Sunday lunch: elegant yet casual. He evokes these traditions with his “antipasto all’italiana,” featuring a series of tasty cold and hot morsels placed at the center of the table to share. Far from a cuisine that is played out and stereotyped, the restaurant that the chef has created for Bulgari Hotel Paris is indissociable from a feeling of conviviality, simple pleasures and joie de vivre.
Niko Romito’s cuisine delivers the tastes and experience of Italy’s original quintessence. The approach is simple, the processes long and laborious, and the result breathtaking and addictive. One might be tempted to submit many other Italian recipes to the chef and his brigade to see how they would be interpreted. In his intense gaze, the soft-spoken man with an unassuming smile conceals his determination to reach his objective: to establish the codes for classic Italian cuisine. With this project, thanks to the helping hand of Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, he oversees the preservation of its essential legacy as much as he innovates to reveal its authentic flavors.
