In the heart of Cairo, Chef Brutto\u2019s \u2018environmental cuisine\u2019 bridges Italy, Egypt, and the Mediterranean which separates them.<\/p>\n
If M squared\u2019s Cairo Food Week debut last year was about crafting an intimate affair in the centre of the city, this year the Downtown District Partner came in with a loftier dream: to showcase to the world the very best of what Cairo\u2019s beating heart of arts and culture has to offer in a night of unique culinary creativity. For that, they had more than a little help in the form of Chef Francesco Brutto, the visionary Italian chef who co-leads the Michelin-starred Ristorante Venissa in Venice.<\/p>\n
M squared hosted Chef Francesco Brutto\u2019s takeover of Mazeej Balad for the fourth edition of Cairo Food Week, starting the culinary festival\u2019s second weekend off with a star-studded fine dining experience overlooking the city\u2019s skyline. The conditions were perfect; fall had arrived in earnest, bringing with it cool weather, a tempered sun, and a mood that encouraged reflection. Chef Brutto, for his part, didn\u2019t just bring the ingredients or the Michelin-starred experience. In the truest of Mediterranean fashions, he brought the energy that turned Mazeej\u2019s rooftop destination into a grand social affair.Originally from Treviso, a city in northeast Italy less than an hour from Venice, Chef Brutto trained under the acclaimed Pier Giorgio Parini before joining the kitchen at Venissa in 2017, where he found a home for his interest in environmental issues relating to the culinary world.<\/p>\n
At Ristorante Venissa, which sits on Mazzorbo Island in the Venetian lagoon, Chef Brutto and Chef Chiara Pavan cook what they call \u201ccucina ambientale\u201d – environmental cuisine, crafted with ingredients sourced from the island and the Adriatic sea surrounding them. Their menu tells a tale that captures the lagoon landscape and its flavours, while also being attentive to the environment. Chef Brutto\u2019s approach is therefore one bent on minimizing the impact of cooking while enhancing flavours using hyper-local ingredients and age-old techniques of fermentation and preservation.For their pursuit and execution of this vision, Venissa was awarded Michelin\u2019s Green Star for sustainability in 2021. It was the very first year the award was introduced, and joined the Michelin Star the restaurant had already been awarded in 2012.<\/p>\n
For his takeover of Mazeej, the menu prepared by Chef Brutto was similarly attuned to the importance of sustainable ingredients, but combined a flair of flavours that spanned Italy, Egypt, and the Mediterranean Sea which separates them. M squared further furnished the night with art by Le Lab Gallery, turning this experience in the heart of Downtown Cairo into a melting pot of gastronomy, art, and cultures.As guests arrived, a ceviche of leerfish, corn and honey melon enshrined a festive atmosphere to the dinner. Courses of lamb with onion and white beans, blue crab and blue spirulina with tubetti, and chicken with almond and mediterranean herbs were served, offering diners an original take on one of the most celebrated cuisines in the world. When finally the night was topped off with a dessert of sesame and cardamom tiramisu, there was an itching to go back and do the whole thing all over again.<\/p>\n
As Cairo Food Week wraps up its intimate chef takeovers across Cairo, where international chefs have made a temporary home in some of Cairo\u2019s best kitchens to work with local teams to create new meanings around food, stay tuned to SceneEats for more exclusive coverage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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