Federico Bizzaro

Conversation with a Chef: Hi, I'm Jo. It's nice to meet you. I came in here when it was Curly Whiskers actually.

Federico Bizzaro: We made a few changes, as you can see.

It's a really small space, isn't it?

It is indeed. It's 50m2. It seats 18, but we do up to 40 people in a night. We rotate two or three times. In the summertime we also do outside. I think the maximum we did was almost 60 people in a night. It's a lot. At the moment we have two courses, three courses or a twelve course testing menu. We pump out quite a lot of food. There are seven, eight people working.

All in the kitchen?

Three in the kitchen, four on the floor, or five on the floor. It depends if we have the outside or not.

How many nights a week are you open?

Tuesday to Saturday. Then usually Sunday off. Monday all the deliveries arrive. Today we didn't do pasta, but usually it's pasta day. Somi helps me with the pasta. We alternate: one week we do pasta, the second week is paperwork reorganizing, trying to always to keep up with the prep because it's a lot.

I heard about you through one of your diners. He messaged me and said, you have to talk to Federico because it's really amazing at Bottarga. I read Dani Valent's article where she really went into some detail about the whole concept. Do you call what youre doing fusion?

Yes, fusion. But, we do what we like. We are not really into labelling it Italian or fusion. We offer the food that we think is good. Somi is Thai so the background of the food is some Italian, some Thai. And obviously now we are very focused on native Australian ingredients as well. We try to connect all the three cultures at the same time. So since Dani Valent came, we actually started to add much more Australian into it. We are constantly developing and progressing our ideas of food.

How often do you change the menu?

60% is a fixed menu. And then the rest of the items are constantly rotating. Some of them will change this week. Usually between the seasons we do some changes, obviously, for example now there are nice truffles, so this week we added some truffle things and then after it will be spring, so we're going to have asparagus and peas coming out. A good part of the menu remain fixed and the rest is like constantly changing. We used to offer specials, but it is not something that I'm really focussing on that. I just prefer changing the dishes and that's it.

Let's talk a little bit more about the dishes, because I can see here that you've got your scallop crudo with native citruses and herbs and then you've got karasumi and tobiko, so maybe talk me through how you incorporate these things? I suppose you experiment, but how do you know which flavours to choose from those three strands of culture?

As you say, there's a lot of experimenting in between. We like to go out to eat a lot, so we tend to try as many restaurants as possible and get ideas from them. We see how they do the combination of the food and the flavours. A dish can also start on the menu and then suddenly over a couple of weeks we change garnishing or whatever if we realize that its actually not working. So even if it's on the menu, you might come back in a week or two, and there might be something different because we realise it can always be upgraded? Take the example of the culurgiones at the moment with the curry. When Dani Valent came, there was a capsule gel. We realised, okay, the flavour is strong, but it's still missing something. So we changed the kep soy to an abalone reduction and then we thought, okay, the flavour is strong, everything is on point, but still missing something. Two weeks ago we had some sea grapes on top, which give a lot of saltiness and other flavours and, boom, wow. Now it might be like this, but maybe in a month we will have some other ideas and we will make it even better. So even if we find something that we think is good, there is always a second thought. And even if it's on the menu and is really working, we always consider what can we do to make it better.

Do you have notebooks? Do you write that down or do you just remember it all?

No, no, no. We write it down. Everything is written down. Ever since my early stages of career, I have been very focused in writing down every single recipe. I think it's a very good point, especially when you work in so many environments, in so many venues and you see so many little steps or little tips that if you don't write it down, then it's very hard to remember everything. Sometimes you just go through, you read back the recipe and think, okay, but if I do that, it might be good and maybe in your mind you completely forgot about that. Writing is an essential part. Everything needs to be written down. We are very focused on being precise and consistent. We try to scale everything and everything needs to be exactly proportionate. If you don't do that by recipe every time, it's going to be a little different, the taste. We try to be as consistent as possible.

Is this the first venue you've owned?

Yes, it's also my first time as a head chef.I had worked as a sous chef, chef de partie. This just happened. It was a particular time in hospitality. We opened the week after Covid. We purchased the place during Covid. A lot of people were closing down because they were a bit scared and they were not sure about what was going on with hospitality. We took advantage of the situation. We started with nothing, literally. There was pretty much nothing inside. We didn't have much money. All the cutlery, all the crockery from home, we just brought it here. The situation was a bit funny, but people at that particular time after Covid just wanted to hang out and have fun and meet up.So the first six months no matter what, we were busy and the locals are very supportive and step by step we continued to improve the venue until now. It was a bit of luck, a bit of coincidence, a bit of everything. But in the end, we made it happen.

That growth in terms of your knowledge of business and being a head chef must have been really a steep curve.

It was a challenging time because you pass from just focusing on your own section or checking what the chef de partie or the commis chefs are doing, making a few rosters and orders. But accounting, dealing with the supplier, every single thing, it was all new. Eventually it has become part of the process. At the beginning it was very stressful. You need to create the process. That was the main task. That was really something that struggled with at the beginning and eventually now it is working. But it took a while to create a whole system where everything is running smoothly.

Where did it all start for you? Did you always know you wanted to be a chef?

No. I always liked to cook. But I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do. I had a pretty good childhood in terms of food. I grew up in a classic Italian family with grandma's cooking. In summertime during school holidays you spend time with your grandparents and my grandfather used to have a little garden. You go there with him in the morning picking tomatoes, zucchini, beautiful times, then you bring it home. Grandma then was cooking all of this stuff. I have beautiful memories about the summertime with them and the quality of the produce. In terms of studying in Italy. I studied to be a pilot. I did aviation certificates and aviation school. My parents wanted me to become a pilot. So eventually at 16 years old I was flying by myself and doing my private license certificate. But that was not really something that I wanted to do. So as soon as I finished high school, I said to them, I don't think I'm going to pursue this career, I would like to travel a bit, to understand what I want to do.

I randomly picked Australia and decided to do one year with a Working Holiday Visa to understand what I wanted to do. And I arrived in Australia. Obviously I needed a job straight away because I came here with $500. My parents were not really supporting me with that. They said, if you want to do this, do it, we will wait for you at home but we are not really supporting it. Especially because you're on the other side of the world. Anyway, after three days, I found this little place in Balwyn, which was called Pure Italian. It was run by Carlo Sciarpa and he was an Italian chef. I went to him and said, I would say I'm pretty desperate. I just need a job. It doesn't matter what, just let me work in the kitchen. I don't care about the money, just let me stay busy, I want to learn something. I stayed there for almost six months. From dishwasher he let me start to cut the vegetables to do some basic cooking. And I started to fall in love with that. After the six months, I left Carlo and I started to work around for the first two years in Australia. I worked all around in normal venues, casual Italian because I didn't know much English. But staying with Italians you don't really learn English. When I finished my second Working Holiday Visa, I applied for a student visa, I studied English for six months. Then I decided to apply at the William Angliss culinary school because I thought, okay, it's something that I like, something that I want to pursue. I think I found myself. So from the moment that I started to study at William Angliss, I actually started to look for a better workplace. The first one, the most important one I think was Bistro Guillaume in Crown Casino. I worked there for one year and it was pretty challenging. After Bistro Guillaume I moved to Vue de Monde and that was another challenging place.

After that I actually, I decided to take a little break from fine dining. It is a very exhausting experience, so I looked for something more casual but still a high level. I found a place in Sosta Cucina in North Melbourne where the team was amazing and they were making a lot of fresh pasta. I really fell in love with that. I had to say I found my spot. Eventually the chef left and the situation in the kitchen changed. It was not the same environment, but he offered me to follow him to a winery. So I followed him. The winery was a bit out of Melbourne. It was well paid, but the food was a bit rough. I was still in the process that I really wanted to learn a lot. I decided to keep that one as a full-time job, but also to look for other part-times. So at the same time I was working at Matteo's and Scopri. So while I was making a decent amount of money, I still had the possibility to learn and develop my skills. Then Covid hit. Eventually everything changed. In between Covid, I didn't want to stay at home, so I looked for a job desperately. I found a job as a chef in aged care. It was something different, but still a learning experience.It was very different because in aged care, everyone has their own dietary requirements, and they are very strict about the temperature and hygiene. It was something different. Something to add to my experience. Not really something I'm very into it, but at that time I needed to work. Then in between lockdowns when the restrictions were easing, I was still working at the winery, Matteos, Scopri and also doing some casual Sundays Rosetta and Rockpool because my house mate at the time was the pastry chef at Rockpool. A lot of working holiday visa chefs left Australia, so they were short on staff. I was able to do some casual work and at that point I was trying to gain as much experience as possible from any type of environment.Then when it was the last part of the lockdown, it just happened that we found this little place, it was very small. At the same time I got my permanent residency and my partner got the permanent residency as well because she was attached to my visa. The investment wasnt much. It seemed very reasonable, it wasnt too big. So we thought we would take the risk. So in 24 hours we came here, saw the place, took the decision and came back to put down the deposit. A month after we did all of the work, the lockdown finished and the week after we opened. And then from then on, that's it. In September it will be four years.

It sounds as though you've got a really loyal following. Are there regulars that come often?

Regulars and neighbours are pretty supportive. They supported us from day one. Obviously theyve seen a lot of changes in between. We started as an Italian breakfast, lunch, and dinner place because we needed to make revenue. We needed to somehow survive. We were not sure about what we were doing. We were just trying to understand what we wanted to be. And then after the first article came out from Kara Food and Wine, suddenly the restaurant became so busy. We became lunch and dinner until the point that it was so busy that we actually had to focus on dinner only. Overall, we are always trying to improve the level of the food, the level of the service. We always try to see with the perspective of the customer, what we could do better.

We work with a lot of suppliers, but even if we have a good relationship, we always look for someone that he can deliver better. We don't stick on the same thing. We always try to see what can we improve in every single aspect. It can be the seating, it can be the toilets, it can be the food, it can be the wine list. Every single thing. And that's why we eat out a lot as well, not to compare, but to get ideas and to see what other restaurants do and what we can do to improve.

I have had 12 years in hospitality because it's 12 years in Australia that Ive been in Australia and for Somi it has been almost 10 years. We didn't have previous experience as a head chef or a business owner. It has been a bit of a struggle. It has been about constantly learning and developing.

Do you still enjoy it?

So far, yes. Some days it's up, some days it's down. But we have to say, especially the last year we've been pretty stable in terms of customers and we're doing pretty well. Considering the situation around we are okay. We always say that our point of strength is what we thought would be our point of weakness. When you come here, you see the place, it's very small, it's very tiny, it is cozy. You might not do a lot of turnover, but realistically that's enough. If you consider the situation now, when I was working the big names like Vue de Monde, you have a salary of 38 hours and then you work up to 80. Obviously these things have changed. Fortunately, you cannot do that anymore. If have a big restaurant, you obviously have to pay every one by the hour. It's a lot of labour cost. Now, if you also add that rent has gone up and crazy food costs has probably doubled in the last three years. Big venues, I think they struggle much more than small ones. For us, everything is very manageable and overall for the type of food and type of offering that we have, it's a reasonable revenue and we can affordably do a good business. So that's why we always strive to improve.

As you say, it's a difficult time for a lot of people for many reasons. And it seems like it's still hard to get staff and maybe hard to attract that younger generation into becoming chefs. Would you recommend it as a life choice or a career? What would you say to young people?

Look, for example, my assistant, she started as a dishwasher. She is Thai. She was on a student visa. From dishwasher, she has moved into the kitchen with me, and she's pretty much started to do all of the little steps. She is going to start in September to study at William Angliss and the story goes on. In terms of advice, this is an industry that you really need to be passionate about and you need to understand that it's going to require a lot of sacrifice in terms of weekends, holidays, long hours of work. You can skip the part that at some stage you're going to work for companies that even if you don't enjoy working there, you need to do it at some stage for your resume or for your own experience. It is part of the process, but overall, it's something that you really need to like. It's not a normal industry nine to five job. If you like it, it's not heavy as a day of work. If you don't like that, it's probably not for you. You need to accept that it is most likely not like the other industries.

And what you like about it? Is it the creativity? Is it the hospitality side of making people happy? What aspect do you like about chef life?

I like the fact that if people come here for a birthday or a special occasion, you can create a memorable experience. Somehow now as a chef, but also as a business owner, I can create memories that are connected with me. I think it's very important because you become a part of a memory of someone else and as well you can create a very good bond and connection with your customers. I think we are doing something good for the community as well. It gives me a sense of fulfillment.

We came here and before opening we thought no one is going to have a one hat restaurant in Brighton. But we thought that we would try. It gives us a lot of fulfillment also because the community really appreciated us when we got it. We received flowers, they came here with a bottle of Champagne. It was a good thing, being part of the community and being part of something and overall being acknowledged and respected. So, I think as a business owner but as well as a chef and being here with a little open view kitchen, seeing people happy. Most of our customers now, when you come on a Saturday night you see it's birthdays wedding anniversaries or special occasion dates. So you know that we create something a bit unique. That makes me very proud.

Bottarga, 3/124 Martin Street, Brighton