Lovers of authentic Italian cuisine were recently treated to a wonderful evening of superb food courtesy of one of Italy’s most renowned chefs, Chef Alfonso Iaccarino.
Paying a visit to his Don Alfonso 1890 restaurant at Grand Lisboa, Chef Alfonso hosted a Gala Dinner featuring some of his most recent culinary creations.
“I visit Macau four times a year and the Gala Dinners are very important for me because I get to see many of our frequent guests. They want to have direct contact with the chef,” notes Chef Alfonso. “It’s an opportunity to try new dishes and we can get their feedback to see if they like them or not. For me the most important thing is the guests. If they are happy then we are doing a good job”.
As a special treat, Chef Alfonso brought with him Donna Alfonsina Alberti, a specialist in hand-made pasta, who has been practicing the craft for 40 years.
“She is very special. Her family have been making pasta since her great, great grandmother. The secret is top quality durum wheat and a lot of patience. For this gala dinner we used three different types of pasta, and it took Donna Alfonsina a full three days work just to make the pasta,” explains Chef Alfonso. “In the south we use more durum wheat, because we prefer our pasta more al dente, and we use more extra virgin olive oil.”
Indeed, Chef Alfonso admits that the three most important ingredients for Italian cooking are durum wheat pasta, extra virgin olive oil and of course tomatoes. But not just any tomatoes, organically grown ones.
“You can never make good food if you don’t have the best ingredients. For me personally, I try to use everything organic. I have my farm Le Perraciole, where I grow things. Everything we can import organically from Italy we do, but also from New Zealand and Australia,” he says. “I have been fighting all my life against GMO foods. We are losing a lot of variety in nature, which is a disaster. For 40 years of my life I have been promoting healthy fresh organic food”.
On the menu for the Gala Dinner were such delicacies as: Sea urchin ice-cream and Oscietra caviar; Timbale of “Fusilli Gragnanesi”, zucchini and red prawns served with buffalo mozzarella foam; and “Pisci e Criatur” with black ink sauce, scallops and green peas.
To finish the meal, Chef Alsfonso served up one of his favourite creations, chocolate ravioli of Alfonso mango with cherry and almond sorbet.
“It’s always important for me to try to do something that has never been done before. To put together ingredients that seem to be completely different, but without going far away from tradition.”
Chef Alfonso’s family has run their family business in Italy for five generations. His original Don Alfonso 1890 restaurant was opened in 1982. It currently has a one Michelin Star rating and is run by Chef Alfonso and his son Ernesto. His wife Livia Iaccorino runs the boutique guesthouse hotel attached. The restuarant is located in the sleepy village of Sant Agata, perched on a promontory between the Gulf of Naples and the Gulf of Salerno.
His Macau restaurant has been running for seven years at Grand Lisboa, and over that time, Chef Alfonso has noticed a change in what his customers like and appreciate.
“Before, what people were used to was not really Italian food, it was very different from Italian food in Italy. So in the beginning it was very difficult. But slowly, slowly we sent the message, and now we are having great success. People are coming many times a year and they are teaching themselves about what really good quality Italian food is. I feel now that I can cook more authentically and traditionally and it will be appreciated.”
