"The bora has no half measures, it just comes and is a very sharp wind. I am just like her, a straightforward and honest person who, unfortunately or fortunately, never skirts around things. So is my cooking, direct and honest; in a word, I would say it is straightforward, as I am'.
He is Matteo Metulliowho retains more than just the windy temperament of Trieste in his heart and character. He is a native of Trieste and, after years away, 'today' he is back home. To welcome him no less than the heart of the city, Piazza Unità d'Italia, where the Grand Hotel Duchi d'Aosta towers magnificent and imposing.
The doors of the hotel kitchen opened for him and just over a year after the project idea (and only 8 months after his arrival), today Harry's Piccolo Restaurant & Bistroò is, needless to say, the best restaurant in town. And not only that, because Harry's Piccolo is now in the Michelin Guide.
Yes, Matteo brought home the Star, fast and decisive just like the bora, the first Michelin Star to arrive in Trieste, to fill the city's gastronomic void. Merit for his direct strength of character, certainly, but also for the entire team that supports him: Davide De Pragreat friend and fundamental sidekick, Alessandro Buffa, resident chef since opening, Alex Benvenutithe owner of the Dukes, Antonio Tufano, pastry artist, Nicola Mascarellothe hall captain, and all the rest of the staff. A team that little by little wants to make 'home' that majestic building that has always been a little intimidating, to transform the scent of history into the warm aroma of family.
A place where to have an aperitif while enjoying the lights and unique atmosphere of one of Italy's most beautiful squares; where to have lunch or dinner with friends while savouring the Bistrò's 'simple' and genuine dishes, always strictly 'real kilometre', an essential philosophy of Matteo MetullioAnd finally, why not enjoy the evening experience of a culinary journey at Piccolo, the Michelin-starred gourmet restaurant. A journey where the scent of family is accompanied by that of naturalness and spontaneous uniqueness of flavours and sensations. A journey that, I assure you, is good for the heart; because ... 'My cuisine,' Metullio continues, 'besides being straightforward and honest, it is Italian 2.0: thanks to knowledge and technique, the dishes are refined and enriched with respect to tradition, but Italian tradition is the basis of everything. The recipes, the historical dishes of grandmothers are what I want not to be forgotten. I bring that historical memory to the table, to revive it for those who have it in their soul, but also to make it known to those who are not Italian'..
So you order the risotto with tomato water, capers, basil, anchovies and plankton; you look at it, impeccably winking, perfect in detail, with those drops of a green that turn to emerald. You smell it and the anchovies tickle your nose; then the basil almost floods all your senses. You look at it again and that diffuse green, who knows why, makes your visual perception prelude a distinct sweetness on the palate... You taste it, and suddenly what you don't expect: tomato! I closed my eyes and I felt like a child again, when with my grandmother we used to make tomato sauce: the sour and fresh scent of the tomatoes penetrating the whole room, that basil washed in bunches whose leaves I carefully pulled off and put into bottles... Here's the surprise, here's the historical memory, those memories that kidnap you and take you far away, the love in your heart for what 'formed' you, that explodes on your plate, that you magically feel is yours, that becomes marvellously yours... At the end of the day I believe it is always love that makes the difference, it is what makes you feel at home; and between delicate attentions of the staff, memories embraced by unique and new flavours in the dishes,
glance at the square full of sea energy, at Harry's Piccolo it is easy to feel at home. After all, if you ask Matteo if cooking is more art or more science he will answer: "I would say it is more love. On the one hand, yes, there is science, because you need the technical knowledge, the knowledge of what a product can give you; on the other hand there is the stroke of genius, the artist inside a cook. But above all, you need the love of the craftsman who works the products. You touch the products and then you work them just like, I don't know, a wood craftsman, who forges, creates... who transforms something that is initially the same for everyone into something unique'..
Love is what transforms making food into cooking. "Feeding is what you do on a daily basis to feed yourself, when you have half an hour lunch break and you are hungry and you prepare something, a quick dish; cooking is wanting to create pleasure, it is that gesture done with love to pay homage to a guest, husband, wife, your children...". And if he, Matteo Metullioshould cook the dish 'Absolute Love'he would do it for his wife Elena and bring the smell of spaghetti with tomato sauce to the table. Those who are surprised are wrong, because therein lies Matteo's honesty and directness, the simplicity of gesture and sincerity of heart, the love for his land and for genuine flavours. 'Tomato and basil are the two ingredients I cannot do without, they are what represents me most, they are the humility and beauty of our land'.
But simplicity in the kitchen does not mean easy. Angelo Sabatelli argues that simplicity is not simple. "I like to quote my friend and chef Sabatelli, because he is right. It's like wearing a white shirt or one full of embroidery. The white shirt is simplicity, but the stitching, the finishing touches, the cut that makes it fall perfectly on you... these are details that make it unique, elegant. This means that even things that seem trivial in truth conceal incredible research behind them'..
And so to theHarry's Bistro the gnocchi with tomato, basil and buffalo mozzarella arrive on the plate emotionally reassuring thanks to the research aimed at apparent simplicity, but then they amaze you, because the known is embraced by the unknown, once again the surprise, that of a flavour that we know but do not remember so intense. The most beautiful thing? When a dish that on the surface strikes you with refinement in its gesture and combinations brings back unexpected memories and flavours that you had forgotten. This too is Harry's Piccolo Restaurant & Bistro. This is also Matteo Metullio.
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