We are really not far from the archaeological site of Pompei, in the heart of Campania, a region that is alive for its history and food and wine tradition. For those in search of essential elegance and a warm welcome in full “Italian style”, the President restaurant, with one Michelin star, is a must.
The President was founded in 1991 as a family business. In 2006 Paolo Gramaglia, a very talented chef, took the helm of the restaurant, giving it an increasingly specific characterization, both in the restaurant and in the kitchen, a typical Campania cuisine, linked to the roots of the territory, its raw materials and traditions that distinguish it.
Seasonality plays a leading role in the preparation of the menu; the products, as Michelin itself points out, are of the highest quality and Paolo’s moderately creative interpretation of them does not exclude interesting reproductions of ancient Pompeian flavours.
A kitchen that has been built over time and that continues to evolve, to be built through important bearing columns. “Subtract to multiply” is one of these: subtraction of elements, which is in the kitchen, to enhance the sensations of pleasure in the dish and the taste of the raw material of excellence, which is in the room, reducing covers to increase the maniacal attention to detail in the service.
And to think of this detail is you, the other soul of the President, Laila Buondonno. A lawyer by profession, a sommelier by passion, she is co-owner of the restaurant with her husband Paolo. Its mission is one, only one: “to place the customer absolutely at the center of attention”.
In so doing, Laila proves to be the complementary part of Paolo’s cuisine, because the success of the dish at the President starts with the excellence of the raw materials, passes through the skill of the chef and ends in the world in which it is presented by the person in the room.
In short, the experience at the President is an emotion to be experienced, which begins with the service and ends with the service, passing through a gastronomy whose success is, in the words of Paolo Gramaglia, in tradition, it is enough to know how to interpret it without “nostalgia“.
Enjoy even more @ Restaurant President Pompei
by Marco Di Giovanni