Tuesday, December 3rd, at VIVA restaurant on the second floor of Eataly Smeraldo in Milan, the star chef Viviana Varese has experimented with the recipes of the Austrian Chef, Lukas Mraz, of the Mraz & Sohn restaurant in Vienna.

The matrices received from Viviana Varese came in the form of an artistic work, entirely written and designed by the chef who chose the ingredients and given only a few indications to challenge the creativity of the recipient chef even more. In the album, there are white sheets where Viviana then wrote the recipes she designed, interpreting the indications and the will of the sender chef in her own way.

“Out of 148 chefs around the world, I was the only one not to receive the matrices via email. When the package arrived I was super excited, a real gift for me from Gelinaz! Then I opened it, I saw the album, the colors, the drawings, the stickers, the funny sentences. An artist, I thought, not a chef! “

A real challenge, made up only of suggestions and ingredients. The Chef brought in a touch of Italianness into the recipes received from Lukas Mraz (citrus fruits, almonds from Noto, Caciocavallo podolico). Using ingredients closest to her, such as dogfish – an ocean fish (note: the chef is from Salerno) instead of the catfish, which is a freshwater fish and the linen pasta in the cappuccino that puts together coffee and mushrooms, to insert in the menu “a first course”. However, she respected the basic guidelines, using ingredients that are far from her like sauerkraut and horseradish. Along with an oriental derivation requested by the chef such as Sichuan pepper and Chinkiang vinegar.

The eight dishes interpreted with irony and creativity by Viviana Varese who has not left out any detail, not even in the decoration of the evening: VIVA_GELINAZ

The matrices of Viviana Varese have instead been interpreted by Chef Claude Bosi of the Bibendum Oyster Bar in London.