Gonzalo Luzarraga to open restaurant in Fulham
Rigo', a restaurant from Gonzalo Luzarraga and Francesco Ferretti, is due to open in Fulham in July.
The restaurant will chronicle Luzarraga's childhood in Piedmont and explore modern Italian fine dining, using seasonal ingredients. Two menus will be available - a six-course tasting and four-course a la carte.
The six-course menu (£78) will begin with snacks for the table and Luzarraga's signature dish sea urchin with bagna caoda, quail egg and fermented milk, followed by: tomato tart with heart of camone, stracciatella barese and verbena extract; spaghettoni dei fiori; plume of cinta senese with oyster, scallop coral and pastinaca; monkfish with lime selz, capers, courgette and cucumber; porcini brÁ»lé; chestnut cream with black sesame.
The four-course menu (£56) will feature dishes including: seven year aged risotto acquerello with black garlic and sea anemone; baccala gadus, burnt cauliflower, cime di rapa, basil and cereal extract; and foresta nera, a rich dessert made with fermented visciola cherries and flat peach.
A lunch menu will offer two or three courses (£22/28) with dishes such as heart of fassona carpaccio with beetroot, wasabi and anchovy powder, to riso aquerello of mortadella, smoked paprika and bottarga.
Matching wines will also be available for every dish. A selection of cocktails will be on offer such as Rigo' twist by Federico G Dadone, which features royal Aperol spritz, with Champagne, vermouth and a bespoke pomegranate and basil tonic, and the Mentha Margherita of freshly juiced mint leaves a la minute.
Luzarraga said: "I remember my father, while fishing, giving me my first sea urchin as a child, and to this day it's still a dish I see as an old friend; the recipe is much more than words on the page, it's a moment in time, a personal narrative about me and the dish which has developed over the years. Travelling has allowed me to add chapters to that story, full of new ingredients and techniques from Russia and South America to Asia and beyond. Rigo' will be a culmination of those experiences - my journey on a plate."
Luzarraga spent his childhood in Piedemonte, Italy. His grandfather, a pastry chef, taught him the foundations of cooking. Luzarraga is well-travelled and has worked at restaurants around the world including: the three-Michelin-starred Louis XV in Monaco under Alain Ducasse, where he learnt the intricate techniques haute cuisine; Le Clivie Ristorante in Piobesi d'Alba, Italy; Stern in Yekaterinburg, Russia; and the Kuchlmasterei Project in Wien, Austria.
Ferretti trained as a lawyer in Italy, before moving to the US to study economics at Harvard University. His first job was at the Boston Consulting Group, where he remained for five years.
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