Starting his career in a two-star hotel, since then Emiliano Bernasconi has worked his way up to become restaurant chef of Quattro at the Four Seasons Golf Club Dubai Festival City.
Running the signature restaurant in the luxury five-star property, for chef Emiliano it was a chance to put into practise his knowledge and skills of Italian cuisine, but most importantly, it gave him the chance to play an integral part in a pre-opening.
Creating a menu, sourcing ingredients, and finding the right staff are just a few of the key traits needed, he told Caterer Middle East, in order to ensure a smooth opening.
“With any Four Seasons hotel an Italian restaurant is the signature outlet, so while the basic concept was there, it was down to me to finalise it,” says chef Emiliano.
His first posting in the Middle East, he previously worked for the Four Seasons in Canary Wharf, London, so while he knew about the brand, the region was an alien environment.
“It was a real challenge coming here because the market is not full yet, so there is the chance to really establish yourself, but only if you do it properly,” he warns.
Before arriving in August last year, chef Emiliano says he carried out research on the area looking at the ingredients on offer, and talking to chefs about challenges in the market. Once arriving, he adds that it was four months before the building was complete, so this time was used to create the menu and look more closely at the market.
Reflecting traditional Italian dishes with a modern touch, the menu is a fusion of cuisine from the north and south of Italy. Creating a high-end Italian restaurant, this was something that chef Emiliano has been constantly aiming for since he first joined the catering world at the age of 13.
The pre-opening stage
“When creating a menu the first thing is to think about what produce you can get, not just what is available to the general masses, but what is the best product available,” advises chef Emiliano.
“Then you also have to take into consideration the guests and what they are looking for, and finally being able to offer something new to get people talking about your restaurant,” he adds.
With a certain criteria set for any Italian restaurant, including a mixture of pasta, rice and meat dishes, chef Emiliano says it is also important to respect people’s dietary requirements, whether for vegetarians or for health reasons.
Sourcing high quality ingredients, the team at Quattro contacted small producers in Italy for the majority of its products, guaranteeing authentic and top quality goods.
“A couple of suppliers like Classic Fine Foods and Middle East Trading were keen to import these products for me, so it wasn’t much of a challenge,” he says.
While sourcing quality foods is one of the outlet’s key selling points, it does not always make for an easy life “In Dubai you can sit back, but like 70% of the other hotels here you will be using sub-standard ingredients.”
Constantly changing the menu until the outlet opened, chef Emiliano says before he came to Dubai he had already created a menu, but a year later and more than 50% of what he originally thought of had changed, in order to get the dishes “just right”.
And with so many Italian restaurants already flooding the market, to stand out you have to offer something different, so at Quattro the fusion menu means there are dishes like spaghetti with lobster, which mixes a sauce from the north, with lobster and pasta that is reminiscent of Sardinian tradition.
“I am using traditional flavours, but what is new is the combination of them together,” says chef Emiliano.
From paper to practice
Once the menu was in place and approval from senior management given, the next task was the opening.
With a six-strong back-of-house team while some of them were Four Season’s transfers, two of his team were graduates from Italian hotel schools.
“Italian chefs are very eccentric, and how they cook is very much their own way. So hiring staff from a hotel school is like owning a plant; you can develop them to how you want them to be,” says chef Emiliano.
“They absorb so much and they want to learn from you, so it really does help with the training process,” he adds.
Before the opening though, training the staff was crucial. Explaining the menu, creating the dishes, taking pictures of each dish, and writing out the recipes was the first task. After this, once all costs had been accounted for, the outlet opened and weekly training sessions undertaken.
“Each week we discuss issues like HACCP, sanitation, or perhaps the way we cook the food by using new techniques like sous vides. You have to keep teaching them, but the good thing is that there is always something new to learn,” he says.
Open for just a matter of months now, chef Emiliano also likes to talk to his guests; asking for their feedback on the dishes, what was missing, and what can be improved upon. Because with so many Italian restaurants, it is important to stand out in whatever way possible.
“Before the opening you need to have the passion and drive and to not let the small things get to you; because when you open they are the things that make the difference and allow you to stand out,” he adds.
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