When Cristian Folletti talks about pasta, his eyes light up and he gesticulates even more animatedly than ever. A relative newcomer to the chef scene, Cristian had already learned a lot from his aunt in Italy, who is also a chef, so that when he went to culinary school, what he was learning was really the ‘why’ behind the ‘how’. I sat down with Cristian, his girlfriend, Olivia and his Executive Chef, Karan Negi at the Melbourne Marriott Hotel for a chat. Olivia darted around taking photos of us all and Karan also contributed to the conversation, but I was particularly fascinated by Cristian’s obvious delight in being a chef, and his very clear passion for pasta. Once the interview was over, Cristian, Olivia and I kept talking, they invited me over for dinner and I left the Marriott feeling as though I had made two lovely new friends. I love Conversation with a chef!
It’s lovely to meet you, Cristian. It was your girlfriend, Olivia who got in touch with me and said I should talk to you and I think that’s a lovely recommendation. I’m interested to know where it all started for you. Did you always know you wanted to be a chef?
My journey started seven years ago when I was back in my country. I used to be an electrician but there was a recession in that field, so I ended up being a chef, a pasta chef. I developed my experience in pasta. Three and a half years ago, I came to Australia and I wanted to use my experience I tried to find a job and share this culture of handmade fresh pasta.
What part of Italy are you from?
I’m from Bologna, the city of Bolognese.
Oh right! I know the sauce, is there a particular pasta Bologna is known for?
We usually use the tagliatelle that looks like linguini, but is different in terms of width. But you can’t really see a difference just when you look at it. But it matches well with anything. We also use penne, spaghetti, lasagne…we put the Bolognese sauce between the layers.
What was your training in Italy? Did you go to a culinary school?
I got lucky because I owned a bar with my mother, so I got the licence in Italy which had been passed on to me. That’s how I could buy a restaurant because usually you are supposed to go to school for five years and get your diploma as a chef. I got a lot of experience from my auntie, who has been a chef for fifty years, so she is a great chef. When I came to Australia, I attended chef school here, I got certificates 3 and 4 and my diploma and then I was so lucky to find a job with this amazing company, Marriott. Now I am trying to work my way up through the kitchen.
I saw on the menu that there is a gnocchi dish. Did you create that dish?
Yes. I created it and also the previous one, which was amazing as well; the tortelloni with pumpkin. The current one is handmade potato gnocchi. It’s a simple recipe, the classic Italian recipe, so just flour and potato and egg yolk. The sauce is mushroom ragù, which uses seasonal mushrooms and is the best ragù ever.
That’s good! What made you come to Australia?
I think the main reason was that in my country, even though you can be wealthy, you cannot 100 per cent enjoy your life balance, whereas in Australia I’ve noticed that life balance is the most important thing.
I find that really interesting because I lived in France for a year and I always felt as though the French and Italians really enjoyed life in a different way to us…lots of shops shut on Sundays, long leisurely lunches…
Where was that?
The south of France. It’s obviously different in Bologna.
In the north of Italy, it’s a lot harder. Government tax…everything is super checked. They would come to my restaurant with no warning to do hygiene checks. They check all the surfaces and if the bacteria is over 60 per cent, they shut you down.
Does that not happen here?
Karan: No. I think that’s a part of the world where people want to make some money. If they shut places down, they can charge them to reopen. Italy is known for that.
Cristian: The food is a hundred per cent safe here.
Of course. I was speaking to another chef a while ago. He’s not Italian but he cooks Italian food. He went to Modena and was fascinated that the balsamic vinegar industry was pretty much run by the mafia, or at least, a very powerful and ancient family.
I didn’t know about that. But I know that to bring big amounts of certain food out here, you need to do it through certain people.
I came here seven or eight years ago for a vacation because my uncle had been pushing me to do that for over ten years because he had been here five times. He told me what a great place it was. I came here and I fell in love with it.
When you were deciding to leave Italy, why Australia?
I came here seven or eight years ago for a vacation because my uncle had been pushing me to do that for over ten years because he had been here five times. He told me what a great place it was. I came here at the age of 33. I fell in love with it. I was in Sydney for a month. Then because of love, I went back to Italy and I wasted three years in Italy. My plan was to go back to Italy, sell my restaurant and come back. But everything went in a different way. You can never forecast the future. Then it took me another three years to sort out my stiff and come back to Australia. I was 100 per cent sure. I left behind everything. I brought everything I had here.
In terms of produce, did you have to get used to using different types of food here?
I had to learn about the ingredients. It took me one and a half years to understand which flour was similar to the Italian ones, which eggs, so that I can reach almost the same flavour. Now I know which flour to buy. Suppliers have the best ingredients, but you can find some good things at Coles.
So you could make an exact Bolognese here?
Correct. 99 per cent. I miss the real prosciutto.
Do you still have a dream of having your own Italian restaurant here?
Not really. I already had that experience and it is too many overheads, unpredictable people. I prefer working for a big company, and working my way up through the ranks ad maybe one day run a big kitchen like my boss. Why not?
What’s your role in this kitchen?
Pasta commis chef.
As well as the gnocchi, do you do any pasta specials?
On Tuesdays we do a pasta special, based on what we can find from the suppliers we can make beautiful recipes with fresh pasta; tagliatelle, spaghetti. gnocchi. If I have time, I make some tortelloni.
How many staff in the kitchen?
Around 20.
It must be interesting for you to be working with all those people?
It is. It’s a big place and we have a lot of customers.
And since you’ve been here, have you tried some different styles of cooking, like Asian and so on.
Yes, I learned some other styles at school. I also learned from my girlfriend because she is Chinese. I’ve tried Vietnamese and Thai…I still prefer my own style. Some of them are really good, but I actually can’t eat spicy food. I have trouble with spicy food.
What do you think of the food scene in Melbourne?
I have travelled a little bit around Australia and Melbourne is the best city when it comes to food. I don’t mean Italian food, I’m talking generally. Melbourne is the capital city of food in Australia.
Good answer. And do you make tiramisu here too?
Yes. We make all the desserts in house from scratch.
What region is tiramisu from?
The north. I actually thought it was from the south, but I googled it. Even I was surprised about the meaning of Tiramisu.
Does it mean “pick-me-up”?
No. I thought the same. For 40 years I’ve been thinking that. But I had a discussion with a friend of mine and she told me it meant something else. I thought, but I’m Italian, don’t you think I know what it means?! Then I googled it on an Italian website and I found out that it used to be a breakfast for children in the north of Italy. It was a pick me up because it was full of sugar and energy. It has egg, cream, sugar, but no coffee because it was for children to give them energy to face the day.
And obviously no liquor either?
No. And then a restaurant stole the recipe and added some coffee to the sponge and called it tiramisu, but in the beginning there was just crumbled biscuit left over from the day before. So it was about mothers re-using ingredients. Have you heard of zabaglione?
Yes.
It is similar to zabaglione but they modified it because children were sick of zabaglione. So the mothers changed it by adding fresh cream and that’s where the famous tiramisu came from. I only found that out one month ago. A fresh discovery. I was so surprised.
It’s good to keep learning things. Especially about your own culture!
Yes, after 40 years, I learned that I was wrong.
I know chefs like to keep learning, what do you do? Do you read books…obviously you would learn from your colleagues…?
I learn a lot from them. They have completely different recipes from mine. The recipes come from all over the world and I am learning a lot because they cook things that we don’t have in Italy. One day when I go back, I’ll have some new recipes to share with the Italians. I read online or read about Italians doing fusion. Some of the dishes look really good, but some I think should be kept as the original, especially when they are two or three hundred years old. I don’t read many books because I don’t have any time. It’s easier to look online. I should read more books though. Now I’ve finished school and have my visa, I will have more time.
Cnr Exhibition and Lonsdale Streets, Melbourne
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Photo credit to Olivia Zhang @olivina_zhang