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September 1, 2016

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Chef makes art out of Italy’s ‘everyday’ cuisine

GLEB Snegin, the celebrated Italian cuisine chef who’s now heading the Sabatini Ristorante Italiano in Hong Kong, described Italian cuisine as “shiny, happy.”

“It’s a very everyday kind of food you always want to eat, it’s not the food that I maybe eat once a month because I want to try something exotic,” he explained.

Snegin was in Shanghai from August 22-28 as visiting chef of the Dressed Up 2016 series, presented by Le Royal Méridien Shanghai, where he presented a week of special menus in collaboration with Gianni Stargiotti, Italian chef at the hotel’s Favola Italian Restaurant.

Born in Moscow, Snegin started his career as a chef at the age of 29 when he moved to Milan, Italy to follow one of the managers from the restaurant he was working at in Russia. He has previously served in several Michelin starred restaurants, including Trussardi Alla Scala Restaurant in Milan, Gambero Rosso in San Vincenzo and La Fermata in Casatenovo and Joia in Milan.

When Snegin came to Macau to explore Asia’s culinary scene, he found very different tastes and expectations for Italian food.

“It’s a bit challenging working here, especially in Italian cuisine, because many chefs come here from the country and everyone thinks his own way,” Snegin said. “The market is very huge (here) so sometimes you have to try to adapt to the market. It’s really challenging to convince and present something new to customers, except some things they really know, like lasagna, pizza and so.”

He was the chef de cuisine of the Terrazza Restaurant at Galaxy Macau when the restaurant was awarded one Michelin star in 2015.

Snegin defines his style of Italian cuisine as simple and elegant. Italian cuisine varies by region, and sometimes by town, and the experience takes time to recreate.

“For my Italian cuisine... I don’t really like to mix many ingredients, so the customer can understand what he’s eating,” he said.

Snegin likes to work with root vegetables, celery and especially artichokes, his favorite vegetable.

His dinner set menu in Shanghai features a fried Dover sole dish with celeriac puree, raisins, celery and asparagus.

From September 19-25, chef Ruben Arnaz from the Michelin-starred Villena Restaurant in Spain will be working with Asu Liang, French chef of Allure French Restaurant at Le Royal Méridien Shanghai, to present a week of special menus priced between 388 yuan (US$43) and 528 yuan per person, which includes service charge and VAT.




 

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