THE WORLD COMES TO GENEVA VOL. 6: GIULIANO BALDESSARI OF AQUA CRUA

For the sixth edition of ‘The World comes to Geneva’ La Bottega invites Italian TV-star Giuliano Baldessari, chef owner of dazzling restaurant Aqua Crua.

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LA BOTTEGA DOES IT AGAIN

Geneva resides only 200,000 souls and yet 14 millions visits the picturesque lake-town every year. NGOs, politicians, billionaires, hoteliers and socialites – guests from all over world make a stop in the French capital of Switzerland.

The world comes to Geneva, and for the past couple of years also to La Bottega.

First the Peruvian superstar chef Diego Muñoz travelled to Geneva to cook, followed by culinary enigma Atsushi Tanaka of A.T in Paris.

Then kiwi-bad boy Matt Lambert of The Musket Room in New York City, recently also Russian storyteller Igor Grishechkin of CoCoCo in Saint Petersburg, and latest haute cuisine chef Ulrik Jepsen of À L’aise in Oslo.

 On June 18th La Bottega greets the sixth guest chef and this time the Italian TV-star Giuliano Baldessari, chef owner of dazzling restaurant 1*Michelin Aqua Crua located in the intimate of town Barbarano Vicentino VI, west of Venice.

Chef Baldessari’s ingredients are shaped with technique, creativity and cheerfulness to extract their true primordial taste. 

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CHEF PROFILES

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GIULIANO BALDESSARI

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Giuliano Baldessari was born in Trento, surrounded by hotels and restaurants this was where his passion for cuisine and hospitality was created.

After attending cooking school in Levico Terme, Giuliano cooked at Hotel Posta and Cavallino Bianco in Ortisei, Grand Hotel in Cortina D’Ampezzo and Villa D’Este in Cernobbio, while also being overseas.

Back in Italy – at Aimo and Nadia in Milan, then France to be with Marc Veyrat, first at Auberge de L’Eridan in Annecy and at La Ferme de mon Père in Mègeve.

In France Baldessari met Massimiliano Alajmo, who wanted him to join Calandre. From that year Baldessari was Alajmo’s right-hand for a full decade.

In summer 2013 the turning point when Baldessari decided to set out on a new adventure and opens his own restaurant. He meets by chance Francesco Dal Toso and his family and he falls in love with a farmhouse in the centre of Barbarano Vicentino, a small village 20 kilometres south of Vicenza.

Aqua Crua originates from here, from the combined effort between Giuliano Baldessari and the Dal Toso family.

A year from the opening, he receives the Most Creative Cooking of Alpe Adria Award by Guida Magnar Ben, he wins the Sparkling Menu of Villa Franciacorta and at the end of 2015 he is awarded his first Michelin star.

From 2016 Giuliano Baldessari has been one of the four judges of Top Chef Italia TV series, together with Annie Feolde, Mauro Colagreco and Moreno Cedroni.

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Giuliano Baldessari’s cuisine is a sharing cuisine. This is why he has chosen to create a seamless open space between the kitchen and the dining room. His cuisine is also a ‘simple cuisine’, based on a limited ingredients.

A cuisine of subtraction where 1 is always better than 2 and where vegetables play an increasingly important role. Food that smells of earth, the earth of Trento which has been abandoned but never forgotten.

Ingredients shaped with technique, creativity and cheerfulness to extract their true taste. Products paired according to a taste which has been shaped up in the mountains, at the grandparents’ table, but which is able to look further on.

FRANCESCO GASBARRO

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In the heart of Geneva, just a few steps from the Grand Theatre and the Old Town, La Bottega fits perfectly with the atmosphere of the place, among the beautiful buildings adorned with stucco and wrought iron stores.

With a modern and rational design, the facility was made with recycled materials by Italian architects and craftsmen. Simplicity and minimalism are the watchwords. A warm, welcoming and informal dining experience for gourmets.

La Bottega has always been acknowledged for being a Michelin awarded fine dining restaurant with a high gastronomic level, while still maintaining a casual and relaxed atmosphere with down to earth service. Exactly this is also what Chef Patron Francesco Gasbarro strives to offer his guests when they visit.

Head Chef of La Bottega is Francesco Ibba. Originally from Cagliari in Sardinia, he has been attracted to the vast world of cooking since his childhood, thanks to the traditional recipes of his Mamma and a father Chef.

Before coming to Switzerland he cooked all over the Italian peninsula, inculcating the essential rule: “cook with passion and good taste”.

From northern Italy to the southern parts, Francesco Ibba expanded his culinary knowledge from the salty flavours of the Mediterranean Sea to the Nordic cuisine of the Alps and its freshwater lakes.

He has continued to perfect his techniques by working at various avant-garde institutions, and in Geneva he has refined his culinary knowledge to a grand tasty Italian tasting menu; bold and adventurous but always true to Italy.

To him happiness and generosity are fundamental ingredients in cooking. Returning to the roots and avoiding the unnecessary, he tells the story of a product, a season and local producers that fuel his battle against the standardisation of taste.

In 2015 La Bottega was a Michelin star just 7 months after opening. Michelin states: “La Bottega uses top quality ingredients and makes dishes with distinct flavours, carefully prepared to a consistently high standard.”

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DETAILS IN SHORT

Who: Chef Giuliano Baldessari of Aqua Crua (Barbarano Vicentino VI) and Chef Francesco Gasbarro/Francesco Ibba of La Bottega (Geneva).

When: Tuesday, June 18th.

Where: Rue de la Corraterie 21, 1204 Genève, Switzerland

Menu: 8-course tasting menu plus snacks for CHF 150.

Reservations: +41 22 736 10 00 or at www.labottegatrattoria.com

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Bon Vivant Communications is a culinary embassy representing star chefs and restaurants, chateaux and high-end wineries as well as working close together with various luxury hotels, gourmets festivals and bespoke concierges services.

The diplomacy speaks to a strong network of 600 journalists, bloggers and writers, as well as 5000+ global diners around the world.

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Hungry for more? Reasd this in-depth interview with Francesco Gasbarro.