The reason I go to work every day is to come up with new ideas all the time and improve myself and my team. I believe creativity is something that happens naturally and it is the source of all my creation.

“My ambition is to surprise, to challenge preconceptions.”- Mimmo Di Raffaele

BELVEDERE RESTAURANT

Boasting one of the best views on the Amalfi Coast, our restaurant is equally famed for Chef Mimmo Di Raffaele’s imaginative Italian cuisine. Choose a table in the elegant dining room, poolside area or on the outdoor terrace and treat your taste buds to black tagliolini pasta with rock lobster sauce or rabbit and pork belly casserole with sautéed artichokes.

Opening times:Lunch: 12:30 - 14:30Dinner: 19:30 - 22:30

MIMMO DI RAFFAELE | EXECUTIVE CHEF AT RISTORANTE BELVEDERE

Born in Caserta, a city in the south of Italy, Mimmo Di Raffaele was raised among the abundant orchards, vineyards and olive groves of an area the Romans named ‘Campania Felix’ – happy country. He calls the region “a hidden treasure of flavour and history”.

His early career saw him working in Cortina d’Ampezzo and, from there, he moved to Switzerland for formal training in Lausanne from 1993 to 1997. While studying, he worked at the restaurant of three Michelin starred Swiss chef Frédy Girardet. Mimmo then returned to Italy to collaborate on the grand opening of the Marino alla Scala restaurant in Milan with the designer Nicola Trussardi, and during that period was lucky enough to meet the renowned chef Enrico Derflingher, once personal chef to HM The Queen. He joined Enrico at the Eden Hotel restaurant in Rome, becoming sous-chef.

He moved to the Amalfi Coast in 2007 and was subsequently appointed executive chef at Belmond Hotel Caruso, to whose kitchen ethos he emphasises the value of simplicity. “In my kitchen you can only find ingredients that derive from the locality, such as sfusato amalfitano lemon, anchovies colatura, provolone del Monaco cheese or maialino nero casertano cured meat.

I come from a territory where the mountain geographically blends into the sea, so I feel it’s important to have dishes that represent these ‘two souls’, and I mix them in dishes – so lamb can meet prawns, anchovies, lemon and so on. Guests who choose the Belvedere Restaurant want to have the best of our regional tradition, and our aim is to satisfy their wishes”.

Inspiration, he says, comes from everywhere: the hotel’s views, the Mediterranean gardens, visiting local markets and farmers, other chefs, the flavours of the region – all inspiring him to combine ingredients he loves “in a creative, artful and tasteful way”. Even the hotel’s historic building, and its great history, has encouraged him “to stay loyal to our cooking traditions”.

That said, every chef puts his own twist on tradition, particularly with a sophisticated and knowledgeable clientele to please. “My ambition,” says Mimmo, “is to surprise, to challenge preconceptions. The reason I go to work every day is to come up with new ideas all the time and improve myself and my team”.

Expect, therefore, to find inventions such as Ricco e il Povero (mortadella cold cut and lobster); Tu vuo’fa l’Americano (tuna hamburger and chips); Sciuscio Napoletano (seafood and fruit) – all dishes which can be appreciated for both their taste, with the ingredients shining through, and for their visual appearance. “To me,” concludes Mimmo, “a kitchen is like life. As in life, it is made of tastes and contrasts: and it’s those same tastes and contrasts that I want to recreate in my dishes”.

MEETING MIMMO

- What is the story behind your work as a Chef?

All my dishes need to be ‘excellent’. Need to have “an awareness of individual personality”. In one word, all the plates need to have “me” inside. This is what means to be ‘Chef’ for me: the truly belief that my dazzling peripatetic life is the best source of inspiration for my work and life.

- What inspires you?

For my dishes, I’m in constant search for something that makes me wonder or loose myself, escaping versus unfamiliar place capable of feeding my imagination.

- Food-wise, what is your guiltiest pleasure? What do you eat when you are ‘off-duty’?

When you travel the world and ‘taste’ everything, you do not belong to anywhere except your family and past. My guiltiest pleasure: an ice-cold beer to sip in good company on a warm evening together with a packet of crisp as I used to do with my childhood friends. I could never ask for more.

- Does the menu there represent various regions of Italy, or is it specific to that area?

All my dishes represent a side of Italy and exspecially of the Campania region (South of Italy) where I come from. I come from a territory – The Amalfi Coast - where the mountain geographically blends into the sea, so I feel it’simportant to have dishes that represent these ‘two souls’, and I mix them in dishes – so lamb can meet prawns, anchovies, lemon and so on. Guests who choose the Belvedere Restaurant want to have the best of our regionaltradition, and our aim is to satisfy their wishes.”

- Are the ingredients all sourced locally, and is the menu changed seasonally?

The majority of the food is grown here in the area. I like to visit local markets and farmers where I look for the best products such as sfusato amalfitano lemon, anchovies colatura, provolone del monaco cheese or maialino nero casertano cured meat. Inspiration for me comes from everywhere and everything inspires as me: the hotel’s views, the Mediterranean gardens, the flavours of the region – all inspiring him to combine ingredients he loves “in a creative, artful and tasteful way”. Even the hotel’s historic building, and its great history, has encouraged me “to stay loyal to our cooking traditions”.

- Do you have any signature dishes?

Among my signature dishes, “Tu vuò fa l’americano” a plate where the hamburger – the most iconic US dish – is completely reinterpreted through my Mediterranean roots. Here the tuna from Cetara replaces the traditional beef and becomes protagonist of the scene. As a frame: the established ‘chips’, the local tomato, the salad and the Caesar dressing; all part of this semi-ironic and jet tasty portrait of the American myth.

Not to mention, the Sciuscio Napoletano, which is the Mediterraenan version of the Japanes sushi. Here the (seafood and fruit) – all dishes which can be appreciated for both their taste, with the ingredients shining through, and for their visual appearance. “To me,” concludes Mimmo, “a kitchen is like life. As in life, it is made of tastes and contrasts: and it’s those same tastes and contrasts that I want to recreate in my dishes.

Piazza San Giovanni del Toro 2 - 84010 - Ravello - ItalyT: +39 089 858 801 - info.car@belmond.com

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