Simone Zanoni

When at 18 Simone Zanoni left Lake Garda, his hometown Salò and his family in search of luck and a job in London, perhaps he would have never imagined that, twenty years later, he’d be the only Italian chef in France to have two stars on his jacket.

Of course the merit goes to him but also to someone called Gordon Ramsay, who handed him the kitchen at restaurant Trianon Palace in Versailles: but let’s move one step at a time. Zanoni, soon after arriving in London and after attending a Cordon Bleu cooking course, saw a post for a job a Ramsay’s restaurant L'Aubergine.

Apparently the most TV-friendly chef in the world – at least this is what Simone says – hired him just to show him that the course he’d attended was absolutely useless. So he made him wash the dishes for six months, shouting and swearing included, as in the now tested television format. But Simone hanged in there, he didn’t feel intimidated and was rewarded for this. From 1997 to 2001 he conquered the role of Commis first and then Chef de partie at L’Aubergine. From 2001 to 2003 Ramsay’s trust in his capacities led him to become rotating Vice Chef for the Gordon Ramsay Holdings, thus moving to three restaurants: Amarylis, Petrus and Claridge's.

After returning briefly to Italy for an experience at Dal Pescatore in Canneto sull'Oglio, Zanoni goes back to London, this time to take the place of Head Chef in the flagship restaurant, tri-starred Gordon Ramsay Restaurant, from 2004 to 2007. The following year the Scottish chef offers him another adventure, handing him the role of Executive Chef at his restaurant inside the luxurious Hotel Waldorf Astoria at the Trianon Palace in Versailles, where in 2009 Simone conquers two stars all at once.

Beside this experience which is still going on, in February 2014 Zanoni added one more successful adventure, the opening of Le Rafael, the first fine dining kosher restaurant in Paris, where the challenge accomplished by the Italian chef was presenting a high quality gourmet menu while following the strict culinary rules of Judaism.