Marco Sacco
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Dall'Italia Retrobottega a Roma, una tavola con l’ingrediente al centro
Ramen is a popular dish in Japanese cuisine, today made nobler thanks to excellent preparations, so much so that for the first time, a restaurant in Tokyo was awarded with a star. In Milan the point of reference is Zazà Ramen, where we took this photo
It is a long known fact that Japanese cuisine is not just about sushi or tempura. Today it is certified – for what it’s worth – by the Michelin Guide of Tokyo, which for the first time in history has given a star to a restaurant serving ramen, Tsuta, a noodle bar seating only nine people, in the northern neighbourhood of Sugamo. It thus becomes the virtual flagpole of many Japanese restaurants serving this type of traditional soup-with-noodles-and-garnish, one of the most common fast foods in the country of the Rising Sun.
Brendan Becht (the seated man with a beard) with the staff at Zazà Ramen (photo by Matteo Barro)
Ramen with pork and marinated egg, cabbage and glazed carrots at Zazà Ramen in Milan
Even Becht, as mentioned, is a chef: he’s Dutch and arrived in Italy 25 years ago, to work with Gualtiero Marchesi, «the only Italian famous abroad at the time. A very young Carlo Cracco told me about him, I was working with him at Alain Senderens’s Lucas Carton in Paris. I was planning to come to Italy so…». It was 1991, Marchesi was still in Via Bonvesin della Riva; when in 1993 he moved to Erbusco, Becht chose to stay in Milan,«I created a consultancy firm, I often went to Japan where in the late nineties I managed the opening of Marchesi’s bistro in Kobe. There I met Kevin Ageishi».
The base for ramen: pasta and broth, before the garnish
journalist born in 1974, for many years he has covered politics, mostly, and food in his free time. Today he does exactly the opposite and this makes him very happy. As soon as he can, he dives into travels and good food. Identità Golose's editor in chief
Seven virtues... in just one dish