Guillaume Desforges, Jacopo Signani, Leonardo Signani ed Ernesto Espinoza

Some hangovers are useless. Some are productive. Guillaume Desforges, Jacopo Signani and Leonardo Signani where indeed a little drunk, two years ago at a friend’s wedding. In other words, they hadn’t just drunk only Holy – The Wellness Drink, the drink they had invented and still sell.

What united them was an old friend, the meeting in Milan (the first, born in 1985, is from Paris. The other two, born in 1981 and 1985 respectively, are originally from Carrara) and that link with Peru: the nanny who had raised the two brothers, feeding them with ceviche and causa was from there while the former had, and still has, a girlfriend from Lima.

Twists of fate: at that wedding, with a little alcohol in their blood, they met chef Jaime Pesaque, who was considered one of the ambassadors of Peruvian cuisine in the world, with a dozen restaurants scattered around the globe, from Lima to Miami, from Oslo to Hong Kong. It was love at first sight: «We adore that cuisine, we were trying it out a bit everywhere. We thought: why not open a restaurant in Milan too, but a high quality one? Jaime was the right person for us». He thought about it (only a little, to tell the truth), and accepted the challenge.

This is how Pacifico was born on 22nd February 2014, in Via della Moscova. Pesaque signs the menu, studies the dishes (integrating many Mediterranean ingredients too, «of course pisco, corn, aji and the rest can only come from Peru») and has the staff rotate, directed by resident chef Ernesto Espinoza, born in 1988, culinary school in Lima and then lots of experience especially with fish and shellfish.

Next step, the three partners say, open Pacifico in New York as well, «it seems incredible, but there are still no real Peruvian restaurants, the way we like it, in the Big Apple».