Blessed youth! Or even better: blessed is the youthful ability to dare, to think outside the box, to take risks in a gastronomically excellent but certainly entrepreneurially courageous project. Because it is clear to everyone: the idea of opening a fine dining restaurant in Isernia is not trivial. Doing so, then, as young and still little-known chefs—indeed, even as rookies in the role—and without any major group backing them makes the challenge even bolder. Moreover, dedicating this restaurant to vegetarian cuisine would seem almost madness (they opened it on June 29, 2024, and called it Ausa).
A lucid and fertile madness, however, that of Anisia Cafiero and Pasquale De Biase. Together, they barely surpass the age of the writer: she was born in 1997, he in 1995. They are a couple in life and in work, both trained at the Romito school, each with a personal culinary imprint: Anisia thanks to her gourmet father, Pasquale because his grandfather—also named Pasquale—was a baker and opened a tarallificio in Naples in the 1950s.
She was born in Isernia in January 1997, studied at the linguistic high school and the hotel management school in Agnone, then moved to London, where she began her career as a cook in several renowned French-inspired restaurants. She returned to Italy to work in the kitchen she had always dreamed of, that of the Reale restaurant by Niko and Cristiana Romito, where she met Pasquale, a Neapolitan born in 1995, a student at the Niko chef's academy, who interned at the three-star Michelin restaurant in the first courses section. At Reale, they learned creativity, research, and beauty. Together, they then left for Norway, for another three-star experience at the Nordic Maeemo. There, they discovered method, rigor, and attention to detail, while their own life project became increasingly clear.
They returned to Molise, restored old cellars, and built their own restaurant with minimal external help—in fact, with the help of Anisia's father, Enzo Cafiero: a former accountant and auditor, now retired, a gourmet and wine enthusiast, who personally crafted much of the restaurant's furnishings, starting with the fascinating walnut plank tables with wrought iron inserts. At Ausa, he also serves as a highly knowledgeable and empathetic sommelier, discreet and elegant: «Which wines do I select? The ones I like». He has excellent taste.
As for the kitchen, Anisia and Pasquale handle it entirely themselves. The result is absolute harmony, evident in the skilled use of aromatic herbs—and flavor variations in general—to enhance the depth of every bite. Special mention goes to the bread, fragrant and crisp.
Ausa was first brought to our attention by a legend, the aforementioned Niko Romito, in his typically minimalist style: "The chefs are opening a 100% plant-based restaurant, with a great wine list". This led to Ausa being nominated for the 2024 edition of TheFork Awards by Identità Golose, where it won a prestigious recognition: the Sustainable Cuisine Award, promoted by Eni Plenitude. The motivation: "We all claim to be sustainable, or at least conscious of sustainability. But true sustainability must be practiced, as demonstrated by this young couple of chefs, who chose to open their vegetarian restaurant in a peripheral city. Here, nothing is wasted—and most importantly, flavor is never discarded: the food is excellent".
There you have it.
