Oldani’s onion goes international

Between the 18th and the 22nd January Davide Oldani won’t be at D’O in San Pietro all’Olmo, close to Milan. He won’t even be in Italy, but in Asia, first in Manila and then Singapore. Shame on those who think he’s cloning D’O far away from its headquarters. That place is unique, especially now it has a new location, a short walk from the old one. Oldani will go around the world with the Foo’d brand, which when written all in capital letters has the final D flipped, with the “belly” to the left, but text editors don’t allow writing it. One thing’s for sure: the famous Caramelised Onion will be available in the Philippines and the Asian state-city too. And the same applies to his Milanese-style rice with saffron, served as a white disc with a yellow spiral on top.

The openings will be soft openings. The two places are now warming up, with less than two months of work so far. It’s too soon to judge and besides nobody has yet visited them from Italy. For now it is important to take notice of Oldani’s professional growth, with reference also to the café-cum-pastry-shop bearing his name in the international departure area of Malpensa. «The first contact with Swiss investor Rodolfo Pizzoccheri was two years ago. He wanted to bring an Italian chef over there. They dined at my restaurant once, like they did with others, and then returned to D’O four more times. Father and son, Rodolfo and Nicolò».

Having discarded four other options, the chosen location in Manila was the new business centre built in place of the old airport, which was abandoned after they opened a new one. It’s on the 60th floor of a skyscraper, inside the Shangri-La The Fort, all under the Foodee Global Concepts firm which has already launched other brands connected with food, starting with those linked to US chef Todd English, plus many restaurants, books, television and lots of marketing. «My aim is to offer good Italian cuisine at accessible prices, always with a new, intriguing and pleasing touch. Manila has a big plus: it’s not saturated in terms of fine dining. It’s a new thing so the interest is strong».

The opportunity of opening in Singapore as well was a result of the investment in the Philippines. Over there, instead, there’s plenty of fine dining. Indeed a complete meal will be more expensive, between 80 and 120 euros, an unimaginable bill in Manila. The second Foo’d is to be in the Victoria Theatre & Concert Hall, an original Victorian building, perhaps the only one left or so.

There’s an important formula one race running close by and expectations are high. They’ll use significant raw materials, but without giving up on concepts such as sustainability and anti-food-waste which are now a must.

Oldani will be able to count on the local help of chefs he trained himself, partly in the headquarters in Cornaredo, and partly in his beloved France. In Singapore, for instance, there will be Sardinian Simone Depalmas, who’s already been there 5 years, and Alberto Marcolongo, in Milan for twenty. However, the project that makes Davide’s eyes shine is another: the Olmo di Cornaredo catering school, thus called to remember that it stands in the main territory of Cornaredo, but only a short walk from the hamlet of San Pietro all’Olmo where D’O is located. The president is Luca Azzolini and everything was possible thanks also to the collaboration with Istituto Frisi in Quarto Oggiaro. Courses will start in January.