Oven Fresh

Seated by the poolside of the Hyatt Regency,a pensive look takes over Chef Bernadi Omar Gabriell's face as he talks about his love for Italian cuisine.

Seated by the poolside of the Hyatt Regency,a pensive look takes over Chef Bernadi Omar Gabriell’s face as he talks about his love for Italian cuisine. It stems from the fact that all the dishes that he makes have to be perfect. There is zero room for error,and I do not want any customer walking in here to be unhappy with the dish that he or she orders, he declares.

His fussiness has helped him build finesse for his craft. Chef Bernadi,in town for the ‘Antinori Food and Wine Promotion’ event at the Hyatt Regency,says that cooking for him has always been about constantly re-inventing traditional dishes. He likes to retain the original elements,but add a new twist to it. It always has to be about mixing and matching,isn’t it? What is the point otherwise? Everyone can make the same dish given the right ingredients. The challenge lies in providing a new experience to the customer and also to the person cooking it, he says.

The Antinori Food and Wine Promotion event began on March 2 and will run till March 11. Having a particular fondness for the Sformatino di melanzane,pomodorini freschi,basilico e mozzarella,which is an antipasti,he says,The dish comprises eggplant,which is cooked with cherry tomato,basil and mozzarella to form a souffle-like dish. Even the filling within the eggplant outer contains eggplant. The dish goes very well with the Santa Cristina Pinot Grigio,which is a white wine, he says. In addition,he also mentions the Tagliolini al ragu di crostacei con pesto genovese e brunoise di patate. It is Tagliolini pasta that is cooked along with shell fish,crab,basil pesto and potato and is a very popular dish in the North of Italy, he adds.

Having worked as a chef with the Castello BanfiMontalcino and at the Catinetta restaurant owned and run by The Antinori Family in Florence,he is currently working at the Procacci restaurant in Singapore. About his Indian sojourn,he says that even though the food is very spicy for his liking,he loves the colours in the different cuisines here. I particularly loved the naans, he says in his heavily accented Italian English,adding,I tried my hand at placing the flat dough in the tandoor and nearly burnt my hand off. It is so hot I wonder how the people here make it. But there is something about the tandoor that I love. It is akin to the wood ovens we use in Italy. The flavour that it imparts to the food is very unique. I can keep talking about the tandoor for hours on end, he says.

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