The Italian has topped the list of the world’s best restaurants with a trademark combination of tradition and fantasy
Massimo Bottura once believed he had reached the peak of his culinary success in 1980 when, at the age of 18, he would use a megaphone to call out to his friends on the beach near Salerno from the camp where they were staying and ask what they wanted for dinner: carbonara or amatriciana? Among friends, he was always the cook, but he never thought he would be a chef.
The 53-year-old, whose restaurant Osteria Francescana in Modena was this week named the best in the world, has said his passion for the kitchen began with his love for pasta; the way his grandmother rolled out translucent yellow sheets of dough for her tortellini twice a day, and how she told him the kneading, rolling, and folding would strengthen his character. He was attracted to how “humble” and “generous” the dish could be.
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