Giancarlo Morelli’s trailblazing gastronomy emphasises the very Italian tenets of simplicity, balance and great ingredients to create dishes that are far more than the sum of their parts.
With his larger-than-life personality and unique style, Giancarlo Morelli is one of Italy’s most recognisable chefs. His dream, even as a young child, was to be a chef, and he enrolled at a hotel school in San Pellegrino Terme at the earliest opportunity, before throwing himself into some of the best kitchens in the world, spending long stints in both France and the USA.
Giancarlo has always had a passion for travel, but Lombardy will always be home for the chef. After years spent travelling the globe to hone his craft, working as executive chef on Pacific cruise liners and managing other people's establishments, Giancarlo returned home to open his own restaurant. Pomiroeu ,a beautiful old restaurant to the north of Milan in Seregnois and the jewel in his crown, has received countless awards, including a coveted Michelin star.
Giancarlo’s cooking is all about simplicity, balance and respect for ingredients. Where other avant-garde chefs are gamely pushing the boundaries of Italian food, Giancarlo sticks to a more traditional path, only adjusting slightly when absolutely necessary. His dishes never use more than five main ingredients, and he advocates cooking without salt, believing that the key to good food is instead in using the best quality ingredients and maximising their flavour naturally, by using techniques like infusing, emulsifying and toasting to extract the maximum amount of flavour from his produce. His risotto dishes are particularly famous – rice holds a special place in Giancarlo’s heart, and he is a previous winner of Italy’s ‘Riso Gallo Risotto dell’Anno’ Risotto of the Year prize. ‘I believe that rice, with its basic elegance, is a precious raw material,’ he says. ‘A bit like a rough stone that only reveals its true potential and value when it is skilfully crafted.’
Though Pomiroeu remains the best place to experience Giancarlo's food, he has expanded his restaurant collection in recent years to help spread his gastronomic philosophy. In 2014 he opened Phi Beach at Baja Sardinia on Sardinia's beautiful north coast, and since then he has opened two more restaurants in Milan. Visitors to the VIU Hotel in Milan will find the Morelli restaurant inside – which features a number of tasting menus as well as a bespoke cocktail bar where you can enjoy a drink with a snack on the beautiful terrace. In April 2016, Giancarlo returned to open Trattoria Trombetta, also in Milan, as an opportunity for people to experience his food and ideas in a more informal setting.
In more recent years, Giancarlo has joined forces with prominent Italian chefs like Massimo Bottura and Aurora Mazzuchelli to promote Italian food around the world, as well as working with Norbert Niederkofler and Paolo Ferretti to develop CARE's – a project designed to promote and develop a more sustainable and ethical approach to food.
Giancarlo is a huge advocate of foraged foods, believing that foraging is a vital part of a healthy diet. His menus frequently display foraged food and local wild mushrooms.
Giancarlo attends many food events around the world to promote his gastronomic beliefs, and often visits culinary schools to teach students how to cook perfect risotto.
Giancarlo’s glasses are famous for having one square and one round lens, but the chef has many pairs in a variety of colours and materials, from bright green to velvet-rimmed.