The chef I admire the most is still my mother. She taught me the basics of cooking and passed on her passion to preparing the authentic local Italian pasta.
Maestro di pasta, Andrea Lippi, has joined the Hotel Lev cuisine team and its chef de cuisine Uroš Hribernik. As for his title, you might have already guessed, Andrea will be preparing authentic Italian pasta made by hand, at Restaurant Pri Levu and in Hotel Lev.
Restaurant Pri Levu is the perfect location in the city centre, where you can enjoy business lunch out of your everyday work environment or meet your business partners and clients while tasting their chefs’ excellent cookery. They will definitely pamper you with refined gastronomic specialities and a variety of quality wines.
Q: How would you describe your style of cooking, your kitchen philosophy?
Italian homemade cooking, simple, natural and tasty.
Q: What convinced you to join the Hotel Lev cuisine team and its chef de cuisine Uroš Hribernik?
I believe it was simply a great opportunity to work abroad and collaborate with a foreign chef and his team.
Q: As for your title, Maestro di pasta, what specialities are you preparing for hotel guests? Do you have any special way of preparing pasta?
My favourite ones are homemade ravioli, gnocchi, focaccia pugliese (traditional Italian street food) and tagliatelle. My special way of preparing authentic local Italian pasta is made by hand – since fresh pasta simply tastes better and absorbs sauces much more than regular boxed pasta.
Q: Do you have a »signature dish« or favourite dish you enjoy cooking?
My favourite dishes are lasagne, Pasta e Faggioli (meaning “pasta and beans”) and eggplant parmigiana (a casserole dish made by slicing eggplant thinly and frying it in olive oil).
Q: If you could cook for and dine with anyone who would that be?
That is an easy question. It would be for architect Renzo Piano.
Q: Can you reveal the three best restaurants in Slovenia?
Since I have not been in Slovenia for such a long time, for now I can only say Krištof Restaurant, which is at the moment my favourite one. Am still waiting for Uroš (Hribernik, Hotel Lev’s chef de cuisine) to suggest me some restaurants. Cannot wait to visit more of them to discover the ones for the 2nd and 3rd place.
