“Interrogate the product until it confesses to its strengths.”
As I taste the new menu at @ristorantereale from Niko Romito in Abruzzo, this old advertising strategy saying comes to mind again.
The phrase is attributed to famous British adman Robin Wight (1979-1999), known for advocating the approach of starting by discovering an unequivocal truth about the product and then exploiting it to its fullest extent.
And here I am thinking about this at Niko’s restaurant where they question each ingredient extensively, one at a time, exploring its limits and possibilities, discovering its essence and making it shine.
In a process which often involves extraction, reduction, and concentration in search of more depth of flavour and spectrum of textures for each ingredient.
And then expressing it with simplicity, pureness, and minimalism. Remember “L’assoluto di cipolle” (“The Absolute Onion”)?
This plant-based menu asks again the same questions. How far can a leaf of broccoli go? (“Broccoli leaf and anise”, here in the picture) Or, a humble potato? (“Potato soup”). Niko will show you.
You just have to close your eyes to conventional thinking and let yourself go.