In Catania opens the new venue of Andrea Graziano and Abdallah Dadi, young Tunisian who arrived in Italy fleeing the regime and is now a partner of the Catania entrepreneur. The menu is a homage to the culinary traditions of distant lands but united by spit-roasting over the fire and ancestral bread-making.
When the kebab, one of the world's most popular foods, becomes a multicultural symbol where different gastronomic traditions coexist that have in common the spit, the cooking over the fire, the hand-pulled pita. It happens in Catania, in Piazza Giuseppe Sciuti in the new restaurant designed by Andrea Graziano and our Tunisian friend Abdallah Dadi. The place is
call KEBASTARD almost questioning the traditional kebab by transforming it into a dish-symbol of different cultures.
Andrea Graziano is an entrepreneur from Catania who for almost 25 years has been interpreting the restaurant business as a cultural rather than a commercial phenomenon. Abdallah Dadi, born in Tunisia, arrived in Italy while still a minor fleeing the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Find
in the kitchen its own space, its own language, its own direction.
"KEBASTARD is aimed at a generation accustomed to cultural contamination, much more sensitive to authenticity than to perfection," comments Andrea Graziano. "But, as is often the case with radical projects, its nature is transversal: it starts with popular food,
often trivialised, and restores its depth, dignity and imagination'.
The format is dry and leaves room for taste and experience: no table service. You order, you pick up, you eat. On the menu, non-alcoholic drinks such as kombucha complement the range of craft beers and non-alcoholic drinks.
"When I arrived in Italy, I didn't speak the language, I didn't know anyone,' says Abdallah Dadi, business partner and co-owner of KEBASTARD. 'But in the kitchen everything was clearer. Fire, meat, bread: these need no translation, they are the oldest language that exists. And that is where I found my place. I have never felt completely of one country. Being in the middle means having more points of view, more flavours, more possibilities. KEBASTARD was also born from this: from the idea that the intersection is not a lack, it is a resource'.
The KEBASTARD menu
The menu is a journey through four continents, starting with small skewers from around the world - Japanese yakitori, Thai satay, Pakistani seekh, Greek souvlaki - and ending with horse arrosticini with chimichurri and salted ricotta cheese and the different types of kebabs, each representing a country and a tradition: doner, shawarma, seekh, gyros. There is no shortage of suggestions from Mexico with meat and vegetarian tacos, all prepared with handmade maize sheets.
Seemingly distant worlds that meet in the three elements: the spit, the embers, the fire.
It is not a fusion of manner. It is study work on meats, marinades, spices and cooking. The meat - of Italian origin and halal certified - is processed and grilled between fire and lava stone. The sauces are artisanal. The base, a handmade pita prepared with a hand-pulled dough, evokes an ancient, archaic gesture common to all the kitchens of the
Mediterranean.
Sicily is there, projected in a context that traces the island's Mediterranean roots. There are several raw materials of Sicilian origin, such as Za'atar with Sicilian sumac, sesame from Ispica and wild herbs by Enrico Russino, buffalo yoghurt and cosacavaddu ibleo from thecompany Bubalus, the red garlic from Nubia, the Madonie provola cheese from the Invidiata company.
Main dishes include 'Bastard doner' with spiced and marinated chicken, cooked on a vertical lava stone spit, and 'Black shawarma' with marinated and herb-spiced beef, cooked with onion potatoes and served with yoghurt made from artisanal buffalo from Ragusa. There is no shortage of vegetarian options with 'The natural bab'spiced aubergine kebabs,
served with falafel, hummus, and dill buffalo yoghurt.
English 
Italian