Very soon after opening his restaurant in Roeser, chef Roberto Fani had received some great accolades. Here’s our portrait that appeared in our Spring 2018 issue of KACHEN.
It all happened rather quickly — much sooner than Roberto Fani had expected. He had opened ‘Fani Ristorante’ in Roeser in April 2016, and by November 2017 he had received his first star in the Michelin Guide. ‘Getting a star was our goal, of course, but we thought that it would take at least two or three years’, says Fani, 46. ‘Not because of our work, but because we’ve only been on the market for a very short time. Naturally we are very happy about the star.’
Mediterranean Chef of the Year for Gault & Millau
Gault & Millau named Fani ‘Mediterranean Chef of the Year’ in Luxembourg just six months after ‘Fani Ristorante’ opened. His 15 out of 20 points have placed him in the Grand Duchy’s culinary elite. There are several reasons for Fani’s swift ascent. One important one is that when Fani, already the recipient of a star for the Osteria Monte de Grano 1696 in his hometown of Terni (Umbria), came to Luxembourg, he brought his entire kitchen team along with him, sparing himself the often-cumbersome search for top personnel. ‘The chef must decide what’s best for the entire team, like a captain’, says Fani.
Mosconi and Favaro as references
Of the the six cooks who came with Fani to Luxembourg, only one has since returned home, for personal reasons. They’re a loyal team, Fani says proudly, one that gets along without friction, laughs at the same jokes, eats together in the late mornings and enjoys a round of volleyball behind the building when the temperature is right. ‘We’re like a family.’ Fani believes that his success stems from other reasons as well. ‘Italy has lots of charm. And Luxembourgers like Italy, because it reminds them of their holiday.’ But in particular, ‘Most of the top establishments here offer French cuisine. There’s still room on the market for a very good Italian restaurant.” No wonder, then, that the prominent Italian chefs Ilario Mosconi and Renato Favaro were his first points of reference in Luxembourg. ‘I like their cooking and I regard them very highly’, he says. ‘Perhaps the difference with me is that I haven’t been here very long, and so I have a stronger connection with today’s Italian cuisine.’ The newcomer sees no danger of conflict with his more established colleagues. ‘As a country, Italy is very long – the cuisine changes every 100 kilometres.’
Truffle inside
Fani spent much of his first three months in Luxembourg searching for the right suppliers. He found a producer of Limousin beef in Luxembourg. ‘Fantastic quality, better than in Italy.’ Other things were more difficult, for example the search for good fish from the Mediterranean. He has his own sources in Italy for black truffles from Umbria and white truffles from Piedmont, brought to Roeser twice a week by courier: ‘Truffles are important to Italian cuisine’, says Fani.
Pastas first !
And you should plan on enough time for lunches as well — Fani is not fond of business lunches which last under an hour: ‘This is a Michelin-starred restaurant, and the service corresponds to that. Simply more time is required than in a bistro in the city.’ Roberto Fani’s parents sent him to the hotel management school in Spoleto, 30 kilometres north of Terni, when he was 13. ‘That was a very hard time’, Fani remembers. But at 14 he was permitted to fill in at a restaurant during the summer, making the pasta. “That motivated me, as pasta is very important in Italy.’ After that, there was no stopping him — at 19 he opened his first restaurant, together with two friends.
A family story
Fani first came to Luxembourg because he took a 6-month position as consultant for Vinothek Divino in Gasperich, where he was responsible for the restaurant’s food. He stayed and, together with his wife Simona, decided to start a new life in Luxembourg. He’s never regretted it for a second: ‘There is a good school here, and good opportunities, for our son. He already speaks French and English better than I do.’
Pictures by Lucas Muller & Sergio Blazquez for Fani, and by Kachen