In 2004, chef Francesco Apreda (along with Roberto Wirth, the owner and Director of Hotel Hassler in Rome) set out to open two Italian restaurants in India – one in Mumbai and another in New Delhi. Eight years later, both restaurants have become bastions of Italian cooking in the country, and Francesco’s idea of fusing Indian ingredients with Italian cuisine has become an international success.
It was Francesco’s own experiences of India’s rich, diverse cuisine that encouraged him to return to the country time and time again. ‘How can you not fall in love with India? Many people say I love it, I hate it, I adore it, but every time I go there I can not wait to return,’ he says. ‘I went to India ten years ago and taught chefs there how to make real Italian food. But I soon found out many people could already make homemade pasta and even sell it. Their version is pretty good.’
Francesco claims India is a country that enriches and purifies your soul with its many colours and friendly faces, and introducing Italian flavours into Indian culture is a welcoming change for the locals. ‘On my last trip to Mumbai, we proposed a menu of thirteen special dishes from Imàgo [Francesco’s restaurant] with white truffles from northern Italy,’ he tells me. ‘Both the chefs and guests had never seen or tasted truffles before and the smell was intense. In a suitcase along with my chef's jackets I had two kilos of them – my clothes smelled of truffles and the intensity of it all impressed everyone. They were amazed by the wonderful aroma and now I am expected to bring truffles every time I come to India!’
