Chef Edoardo Bonavolta brings you genuine Tuscan cuisine at Luce Italian Restaurant

February 16, 2014

When the very first branch of Luce Italian Restaurant, a brand belongs to the renowned Marchesi de Frescobaldi family in Tuscany, Italy, was opened at Eastin Grand Hotel, I wondered who will be the Chef de Cuisine. As a prominent brand with already three branches in Italy, Moscow and San Francisco, the Frescobaldi family are fastidious about choosing the right chef for the restaurant. They even inspect each of the restaurants themselves to make sure all the dishes in the menu are perfect pairings for their award-winning wine.

Here, Luce at Eastin Grand Hotel, they have chosen a 33-year-old Italian Chef, Mr. Edoardo Bonavolta, of Tuscany origin to be the Chef de Cuisine.

Chef Edoardo started his career as an apprentice cook in his home province before opening his own wine bar. He was then selected as the Chef de Cuisine at the highly-rated Peccati di Gola restaurant where he honed his culinary skills, specializing in traditional Tuscan cuisine. Before joining Luce, he was the Chef de Cuisine for the Bed Supper Club.

Chatting with Chef Edoardo, I found that he was a talented chef. Although he explained that he used a lot of his own home recipes with simple cooking for his dishes, what he presented to us was not as simple as he explained. The best example is his homemade Tuscany style spaghetti tossed with slow braised Italian free-range duck cooked in traditional Siena style recipe.

The name of the dish may be quite long, but to a person without much knowledge in cooking like me, what I see in this dish are two main ingredients – pieces of meat and over-sized spaghetti. At first, I was quite hesitated about the taste of the dish. Many arguments and questions popped up in my head instantly. “Timing in cooking spaghetti is very vital. If the spaghetti was not cooked right, it would never be tasty. Second, there was no sauce, no other vegetables to add in extra flavours, colour and texture, would it be tasty?” However, this simple dish impressed me with awe! The spaghetti itself was al dente and tasty, which I believe quite a lot of effort was put into preparing the dough. I am not sure how many thousand times the dough was kneaded, the homemade spaghetti did taste far better than dried pasta. It absorbed the essence of the braised duck and it did not seem to get dried out that easily. The braised duck was amazingly delicious, it was rich in flavour but did not cover up the tastiness of the pasta itself. This is a 5 thumbs-up dish, and is the best example of what Tuscan cuisine is all about – simplicity.

After this delectable dish, I also tried his signature dish – Burrata cheese with Colonnata & oysters
If you are a oyster lover like me, you could immediately tell the oysters Chef Edoardo used were not local produce. The oysters are all imported from France. One bite, just one bite, you will want to slurp the whole dish! The Burrata cheese didn’t steal away the charm of the oyster. They were very well-balanced, making it an appetizing dish for your meal.

Finally, I ended my beautiful meal with a dessert – Chocolate Mousse. I am never a great fan for dessert, but I must admit their chocolate mousse is a must-try. It was smooth, rich and not too sweet. It is a kind of heavenly joy to have this dessert to end my meal with perfection.

Now, we totally understand why Chef Edoardo was chosen for Luce, the first branch in Asia. His ability to demonstrate sophistication in simplicity is really impressive. I am sure you will love his dishes at first bite! Thank you for adding amazing flavour to the gourmet world in Bangkok!

To try out Chef Edoardo’s dishes, you should not miss their Lobster Love Affair Vol. 2 Promotion. For review on this promotion, please visit https://www.gourmetbangkok.com/the-charm-of-lobster-love-affair-vol-2-luce-italian-restaurant/
For more information on Lobster Love Affair Vol. 2, please visit https://www.gourmetbangkok.com/lobster-love-luce/

For more photos for Chef Edoardo’s dish, please visit Luce Gallery.

Like Gourmet Bangkok on Facebook: Gourmet Bangkok
Follow us on Twitter: Follow @Gourmet_Bangkok