Paolo Milanesi - When you’ve spent $6 million on a restaurant fit out, you take care to hire a chef that will match your financial investment, with his culinary skills and passion.
Paolo Milanesi was born in Voghera in the North of Italy and spent part of his childhood in Sicily. Growing up in a family of restauranteurs, celebrating with food was always a big part of Paolo’s upbringing. Paolo has taken the best of the regional cuisines from both the North and the South, to create his own mouth watering repertoire.
His family owned and operated a 2 Michelin Star restaurant, named “Belevue” in Gidiasco, in Italy’s south, where his mother was the chef and his father was the manager and sommelier. It was here that Paolo spent the first 10 years of his career and began to build his culinary base.
Since then Paolo has worked as head chef in restaurants across Europe, from Italy and Spain to Germany and the United Kingdom. Paolo opened a series of three restaurants for entrepreneur Keith Whitehouse in Birmingham and Lanzarote in Spain.
Now, with the support of Rydges Hotels and Resorts, Paolo is the culinary backbone of what will be Canberra’s best restaurant, Locanda Italian Steakhouse.
Paolo summarises his philosophy…
“I take pride in bringing more than just my dishes to the table.
My Tradition, my Taste, my Culture........
At Locanda, we believe that the excellent foods and wines should be combined with efforts to save the traditions of cheese, vegetables, fruits, grains and animal breeds that are disappearing due to the prevalence of convenience food and agribusiness.
For these reasons, in our restaurant you will find local, fresh, organic and seasonal produce, together with Italian ingredients and some wine which we import to provide the most authentic Italian culinary experience, centuries-old history of making, to avoid their disappearance and the end of the way of life connected to it.
Italy is the country of flavours and anyone who has lived or travelled in Italy can tell you that a simple definition of “Italian food” is impossible – Italy’s cuisine is as exciting, varied, and wondrous as the country itself. Italian cooking is really regional cooking, fiercely individualistic and shaped by local geography, culture and history.
My cuisine takes the experience handed down from generations of Sicilian Chefs, revisited in a new way, recreating an antique taste, rigorously endeavouring to highlight and extol the virtues of the fragrances and flavours.
The Menu demonstrates that Australia’s local meat and fish, can create some of the best Italian regional dishes that you will find in the world.
The Locanda team looks forward to having you in our Restaurant”