Igor Macchia

It is not clear who’s theleading and who’s the straight man between Igor Macchia and Giovanni Grasso, one of the most symbiotic couple on the Italian restaurant scene. Both chefs, both young, both born in Turin. Chorion and amnion of their twin life move smoothly upon the threshold of dining room and kitchen. «My mom worked as a secretary, my father as a clerk. When I used to return home from school there was nobody, hence I started experimenting some lunches », Igor says.

Hotel management school followed, dotted with seasons spent working in the neighborhood bars. In between two fires, sacrifices and hardships were not enough to soothe fun and vocation. Also because there laid in wait a karmic meeting, encouraged by a fellow who officiated in an unpretentious little hotel in San Maurizio Canavese. Happened almost accidentally to Credenza, Igor and Giovanni immediately went on well. And Macchia was employed.
At that times, menu was almost made with agnolotti and grilled meats, not enough for an expert chef like Giovanni, who came to be the owner of a well established restaurant.

Thus, instead of the usual contract, the two initialed a pact of reciprocity: launching the restaurant as Igor career breathed working away. Travels, internships, even long pauses from working in right places. The Gavroche in London was almost like the army, then came l’École du Valrhona, «because I was born as a pastry chef: perhaps that's why I love the technique». The again Restaurant Bruneau, where he worked for over a year. Developments slowly metabolized, as Igor started learning Giovanni became more and more passionate about the dining room.

In the meantime, Italian cuisine took off too. «Every year I go to Asia to promote it. I need to play on abroad fields, to see myself from the outside and to know more about foreign customers. When I first started they were puzzled not to see any garlic or tomatoes on my dishes. But today our image has changed. Because cuisine took the road to taste without compromise, increasing the value of products through the most radical way. Transparency. Here we put fewer things on plates: three elements are now more than enough to impress people’s palates».