Edisi June 2016 Final

Q&A with Chef Francesco
Balestrieri of Joe’s Bar
How do traditional Italian food culture and cooking styles feature
in your menu? How do you see your Italian influences merging with
the food culture and cooking styles in Australia?
Everything about my country is represented in my menu – passion,
colour and love. My menu is very authentically Italian with fresh
ingredients prepared traditionally. Australians travel a lot these days
and many have experienced authentic Italian cooking, so they know
what to expect and Italian cooking is very accessible for Australians. I
am a traditionalist though, so everything I cook is just how it is back
in Italy.
Many people have an established idea about what traditional Italian
food is. Do you feel that modern Italian cuisine is heading in new
and exciting directions?
New technology in cooking sure helps, especially cutting preparation
time but I believe in honouring tradition, with slow cooking, love
and patience. I think that Italian cooking is more about doing the old
things well rather than trying to make things new and different.
Where do you source your produce? How much of it is sourced
locally in the Canberra region?
My mortadella and salami is from the Canberra region and the truffles
are the best from around here, but I have a lot shipped from Sydney,
where there are fantastic suppliers. The prosciuttos and the 24 month
oldparmagianaregana are coming from Italy but these days such great
produce comes from Australia and Italy has some problems with regulation
and food safety standards that we do not have here.
What is your view on the local food scene in Canberra, its evolution,
direction and produce? What is unique to this region?
In the last five years, Canberra has exploded with food concepts.
Canberrans now understand and appreciate great food and the bar
has been lifted much higher. Five years ago this was like a small town
but now is on a par with Melbourne or Sydney for food. It’s amazing
the change.
How are you influenced by global food trends? What do you feel are
the leading trends at the moment?
I try to keep away from food trends as I feel they stifle my creativity –
why do what the others are doing? For me food is my art, so I want to
create beautiful dishes that people will love and will know comes from
my heart. I prefer old-school, technical methods with my own twist,
rather than new trendy ones!
Can you tell me about yourself, your personality, and what inspires
your cooking? Also about what you are interested in right now, what
is inspiring you outside of the kitchen?
My true love is food and my inspiration is my family. I am really passionate
about fresh produce and I’m constantly thinking of new and
exciting ways to create. When I have time to myself I love to simplify
– mow the grass, do little things around the house. My personality is
fun and relaxed and I hope this comes through into my cooking. I try
to keep my life simple and not too complicated and this is also true of
my cooking.
HOTELIER INDONESIA | 26th | Vol 11 | June 2016 | www.hotelier-indonesia.com • 21