23-01-2017
Paolo Griffa now works at Restaurant Serge Vieira, in France. With a goal: become the Italian standard bearer in the next edition of the Bocuse d'Or!
Everything is ready in Lyon: tomorrow, Tuesday 24th January and on Wednesday 25th the finals of the Bocuse d’Or 2017 will take place when the best 24 candidates from all around the world will compete. Participants were first selected in the national rounds, then in the continental “semi-finals” which nominated the 24 countries admitted in Lyon. Ever since there has been a European round (access was previously by invitation) Italy has never qualified in the finals: sometimes it was fished out but even then it always ended in the last places. A trend that needs to be inverted: this is why we’re publishing an article written for Identità Golose by young Piedmontese chef Paolo Griffa.
Since 1987 Bocuse d’Or has been the most important fine dining contest in the world. Every two years, following national and then continental selections, 24 nations choose their best candidate to compete for the prize. France and Norway dominate. They got on the podium respectively 10 and 9 times (with 7 and 5 first places). In these countries there’s a very strong collaborative spirit between colleagues and sponsors: while training, candidates are put into the best conditions so as to be ready for the finals. Thanks to a cohesive system it’s easier to face prestigious challenges: results prove it. Italy, instead, has never shone in this competition, except for Paolo Lopriore, best fish course in the now distant 1999.
A small step back: it was thanks to a competition, which I won like on other occasions, that after catering school in 2010 I went to work for Davide Scabin at Combal.zero, the first phase in my career, which lasted two years before spending three at Marco Sacco’s Piccolo Lago. Since April, instead, I’ve been in France, in Auvergne, in the kitchen team at Restaurant Serge Vieira – its chef having won the Bocuse d’Or in 2005.
Paolo Griffa
Becoming a part of this mechanism wasn’t easy for me: yet over here they respect professionalism, they listen to everyone’s knowledge so as to make use of it in the best way and get better and better results.
Serge Vieira and Dan Arnold, first and second to the left, at the pass at Restaurant Serge Viera
Where did he train in these months, in view of Lyon? But at the restaurant, of course! And what was the clause that could induce me to come here at Serge Vieira? To train beside him! Even in this season, while the restaurant is closed for the holidays, the kitchen is always busy, in fact, even more than usual: every day, from six in the morning until the evening, a group of people of which I’ve been part has constantly worked in search of perfection, trying to put into practice Dan’s idea, so he can do well in Lyon. A great work for which I will support the Australian team in the next super finals (given there won’t be an Italian candidate) till I will be able to compete in the Italian selection for the Bocuse d’Or 2019.
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born in Carmagnola on the 25th July 1991, he discovered his passion for cooking when he was very young. He acquired significant experience at Combal.zero with Davide Scabin, for two years, and then spent three years as sous chef at Piccolo Lago with Marco Sacco, with internships at Chateaubriand in Paris and Studio in Copenhagen. Since April 2016 he’s in the kitchen team at Restaurant Serge Vieira, 2 Michelin stars in the department of Cantal in Auvergne, France.