Chef takes pride in Italian eatery’s authenticity
Print Edition
MASSIMILIANO Lembo of Italy has been working for Da Marco Italian restaurant as the executive chef for nine years, leading a staff of about 20 people and serving thousands of customers during the eatery’s 15-year history in Shanghai.
Handsome, talkative, creative and open-minded, this young Italian chef has kept the same habit during his years spent in Shanghai — growing herbs at home and visiting fresh vegetable markets every week to pick up seasonal vegetables and to inspire himself to come up with new menu items.
“We have a huge menu,” says the chef, called Max by his friends and colleagues.
Da Marco’s menu contains the traditional Italian foods and beverages, from appetizers and pizzas to pastas and fancier dishes. But regular customers often prefer to order without opening the menu, as they know their chef Max can prepare something not on the menu, with different combinations and special ingredients.
“Besides asking the waiters, some of them also like to talk with me through the kitchen window and ask me to cook something special for them,” says Lembo, his eyes alight with pride.
Those “Max’s specials” include things like seafood linguine in pizza crust and Italian appetizer with fry pizza. More traditional dishes at Da Marco include beef carpaccio, capellini seafood, beef fillet with red wine sauce and the ubiquitous Italian dessert, tiramisu.
Lembo says his principle is “non-stop learning.” He visits newly opened restaurants in the city and admits to a liking for Chinese food such as Peking Duck and Chinese dumplings. He even leads his team to cook Chinese buns in his kitchen.
Lembo came to Shanghai 10 years ago with his wife, who studies Chinese. One year later Lembo joined Da Marco and has remained ever since.
“If you can make your customers appreciate your food and make your boss happy, I cannot find any reason to job-hop,” he says.
“Accepting the challenge to bring great Italian food to this city is the important reason that I decided to stay in Shanghai,” the chef adds.
Good ingredients in the right combination, cooked the right way — that’s the secret to creating delicious, authentic Italian food, Lembo says.
“Simple and good — a great plate doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive,” the chef says.
Among the myriad changes Shanghai has undergone over the past decade, there are now many more authentic Italian restaurants in the city, making for some fierce competition.
“To be honest, we used to be a big family even though we (Italian chefs) worked for different restaurants. But now with more and more new restaurants opened, I am also unhappy to find many ‘fake’ Italian food only for business,” Lembo says.
Da Marco celebrated its 15th anniversary in May. Over 1,000 customers joined in the party.
While Lembo is reluctant to talk much about his past, he does say he was born into a chef family but became educated with a physics background.
“I was not changing my career to be a chef from maybe a physicist. I think I was born to be a chef, which was always my first career option,” he says.
Da Marco Italian Restaurant
Address: 1/F, 103 Dongzhu’anbang Rd
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