Chef Salvatore Cuomo:‘Passion comes first before business’

When the Italian restaurant Salvatore Cuomo and Bar had its four-course Christmas menu launched last Friday at its location along the Uptown Parade commercial strip in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City, it had none other than its founder Salvatore Cuomo personally introducing each dish to media representatives.

The Italian-born Japanese celebrity chef, whose company runs over 100 eponymous restaurants in different parts of the world, flew in the country for a week-long visit to oversee the operations of the two branches here. Aside from Salvatore Cuomo and Bar in BGC, there's Salvatore Cuomo Café at the Podium mall in Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong City.

He turned up at the media event in his chef's uniform because he was actually on duty that night. He made a commanding presence at the kitchen, which has an open layout for the staff to have a good view of the dining area. He would only leave his post when a dish was ready to be presented and served to the attendees, starting with the antipasto or appetizer: Amberjack Carpaccio and Spumante Vinaigrette with caviar, pistachio and basil cream. Then came the pasta dish as primo piatto, described as Lobster Ravioli topped with lobster meat in sauce and Lombok sea urchin.

For the secondo piatto, or main course, Cuomo gave way to this restaurant's main chef to introduce the dish, Wagyu roast beef in salt with porcini mushroom and truffle sauce on a bed of mashed potato, with him just adding some details. He did the same when dolce or dessert, came, allowing another team member to pour chocolate sauce over the dome-shaped cake filled with layers of Sicilian Gelato and Chocolate Gelato. He only added a few info on the sweet treat called Zuccotto Fiorentino Tradizionale.

Finally, the meticulous chef and restaurateur sat down for an interview with DAILY TRIBUNE and one other publication. His eyes lit up when asked how he finds Filipino diners, pointing out the similarities with how Italians enjoy food and in certain dishes that have Spanish influences.

"Things like chicharon, lechon… We love pork!," he said, letting out a hearty laugh. "I think this is one of the easiest countries to serve food. In other countries, they stick to what they want. I like the way everyone eats… The portion!" Meaning, people here go for big servings and love to eat a lot.

Restaurant business

Looking back at the time he was setting up his first restaurant in the Philippines, Cuomo admitted he had a hard time training his kitchen team as his brand is all about melding the Italian art of cooking with the Japanese art of perfection. He initially had difficulty, for instance, teaching his chefs how to make pizza just the way it's prepared in his hometown in Naples because his staff only knew the American-style pizza that's more accessible and popular. He had to educate them on making the dough from scratch and cooking in the wood-fired oven, among other lessons.

"It's now past eight years, all of them are growing," he happily reported. "The main people are still with me. We're like family now. Many of them come with me to Japan many times. My main chef in Indonesia is from the Philippines. Before it was Japanese, now it's Filipino." Not a cost-cutting measure, he pointed out, as the salary is the same. "For me, if you do a good job, that's what you need to get."

Cuomo went on sharing how much he enjoys having his staff, whose Filipino palate is used to flavorful food. "The easiest students are from here. It's easy to teach to them. And they're easygoing. Many of them also want to be someone. You just have to push them. They're hardworking with a lot of passion. They were intimidated a lot. But now I understand. Some of them are like me now."

The 51-year-old chef, born to an Italian father and Japanese mother, said he's reminded of how he started out trying to follow in the footsteps of his father in the culinary industry. At age 11, he trained himself in the kitchen and tagged along as his father traveled to Japan in 1984 and opened an Italian restaurant in the Chiba prefecture. After a year, he returned to Italy to study in a culinary school for two years. When he turned 18, his father fell terminally ill so he went back to Japan, where he eventually established his food and dining empire.

"When I was younger, it was more of design," he said on how he set up his restaurants. "Then I matured. It's not only about the business, the money. I enjoy when I see my customer. I always watch from the kitchen. All my kitchen is open. I have to see [people eating]. If my customer is happy, my business is good."

He then explained how he can be effective at both being a chef and restaurateur: "It was very difficult in the beginning. If you start with the number, you cannot make a good dish. So, the success always comes after. You always have to focus on a good dish. When you work in the kitchen, it's 99 percent passion.

"You start with passion and then slowly adjust the number. We are artisan. Yes, we now have technology to make cooking better. Cooking is a bit science, but it's not science. I have the technologically advanced machines. The most intense experiment I'm doing in my laboratory in Japan is about how water, air influence food preparation."

Appreciating Filipino food

Shortly after Cuomo set up his first restaurant in the Philippines in 2016, he had his family live here with him at the BGC for, originally, at least five years. But the Covid-19 pandemic struck in early 2020, and not wanting to be kept in a lockdown, he decided to move with his wife and children to Japan, where there were less restrictions. They eventually relocated to France, where they currently reside.

In the few years that the Cuomos stayed here, the chef-restaurateur said they made some unforgettable memories involving Filipino food. "I was intimidated with one dish," he confessed. "You fry the eggplant, right?" He nodded at the mention of tortang talong and went on sharing the story of how one of the house helpers cooked it for his children.

"I was looking as she was frying the eggplant," he recalled, if not too suspiciously. "My kids love it. One of my kids was, like, 'You have to try it.'" But he wouldn't budge, feeling a bit intimidated, even incredulous, and thinking what could be inside the eggplant omelet. Then one of his daughters insisted that he had to have a bite of the dish. So, he finally gave in and realized it wasn't bad as he thought.

"We have the same dish in Naples," he said. "The eggplant, we make it Parmigiana. It's the same. I was shocked. So, I asked [the house help], 'Did you do something?' My kids are crazy with that. From there, we tried making Filipino food. Actually, I like it homemade. I find that Filipino food is very family-style."

Another dish that the Cuomos fell in love with is sinigang. In fact, the parents tried bringing sinigang mix packets with them to Japan. Now that they're residing in France, the chef's wife, who's in charge of cooking at home, sometimes whips up a Filipino dish using whatever ingredients she can find there.

"We had a good time here," he announced, smiling at the memory, as it's just him these days who gets to visit. He's set to make more trips as plans are underway to open one to two more restaurants and maybe a gelato shop in the near future.

His advice to aspiring chefs: "When you are young, it's not the main point — money. The most important thing is to invest on yourself. If you invest now, the future is good. If you don't invest, the future can be very bad. The way to our industry is not what you see on YouTube, not what you see on TV. It depends on the customer. If you want to be someone, just work hard in the first 10, 15 years, and after that, you'll see the big difference. Passion first, and after that, business."