‘My body shook’: chef Nino di Costanzo on getting his first Michelin star
The Italian chef, who was in Hong Kong for a guest stint at Grissini, at the Grand Hyatt, talks about cars, cooking and making guests comfortable
When did you decide you wanted to be a chef? “When I was 11 years old, I started cooking. I loved being in the kitchen watching my mother and grandmother cook. Whenever they were cooking they were happy, so I decided I should do that, too. I loved everything they made – their food was better than that of any Michelin-starred chef. I started travelling when I was 16 years old, going to countries like Spain, Belgium, and the United States. I travelled to see different cuisines and taught myself, although I did do apprenticeships. I didn’t like the directions the chefs gave me because I didn’t think they were right for me. In the end I created my own techniques and didn’t want to copy other chefs.”
What is your food philosophy? “I start from a tradition where the future of gastronomy is the past. Restaurants in New York and Hong Kong can all get the same ingredients [from the same suppliers] but no one has the local ingredients [from Ischia] that I use in my restaurant. Nowadays there is too much talk about philosophy in the kitchen. We are not superheroes; we need our guests and the next generation of chefs to understand we are not having fun in the kitchen – it’s hard work with lots of sacrifices.”
What do you think of celebrity chefs? “Chefs should stay in the kitchen, not on TV. I opened my restaurant to transmit my passion and techniques. I’m not like celebrity chefs who open restaurants and aren’t there.”
How do you feel about the chefs who worked for you going on to become stars?“I’m very proud to have had many sous chefs [including Alessandro Cozzolino, now the chef de cuisine at Grissini, at the Grand Hyatt in Hong Kong] work with me because I have been able to transmit my passion to them and show them how to behave in the kitchen. A lot of young chefs who have worked with me have gone on to earn Michelin stars. They may have hated me when they worked in my kitchen because I’m very strict in teaching respect for the guests and ingredients, everything must be clean and perfect. That is more important than Michelin stars.”
Tell us about where you live, Ischia, near Naples. “It’s an island based on tourism, although the food is more based on the land than seafood, even though the waters are pristine and clear.”