Ep. 324 #iobevoacasa - LOCKDOWN SERIES | JC Viens and Umberto Bombana

And did you pick up any new hobbies during your two weeks of lockdown? I I think I pick up too much sleep. Welcome to the Italian wine podcast lockdown series. Every Monday will be connecting with Italian wine people. Join us to find out what they're doing and drinking today. Two, three, action. Mr. Pompana. Thank you so much. Good afternoon. The measures in Hong Kong is that I need to answer the rest of her with my mask. Yeah. Now right now we're checking up. And better to please check them and better to them than that. We can go ahead, remove your mask. That'll be thirty six point three. Perfect. That's fine. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Good. Thank you so much. So, mister Bolana, you had quite an adventure. When you return back from your holiday. Yeah. You have difficulties to come back to them. Yeah. They canceled my flight. They make me go to Surrey to catch another flight going to London, London. I had to stay in, with my son when because my son and my daughter go to university. So how long did you stay in, in London? I stay in almost three weeks. Three weeks. In a charter So three weeks of self time in the in the UK with your son and daughters. What did you do during that time? Oh, just, just wake up. If my son had some work to do in the university, the other right think about what to be lunch and dinner. They've said, what to cook lunch and dinner? So so you're feeling ahead. This time, it's a chef at home for lunch and dinner. Yes. That's a pretty good service, Anakazah. Yeah, Akazah. Because, but it's always fun. Because you go to the market, you see one time you see for fish, one time you see the beef, one side of your Every day, I do different protein, a different pasta, the the table. So during that time, did you exe experiments in your recipes? Yes. Yes. Yes. Concept new ideas. What did you give me? No. For me, it's interesting to see his point of you know? Yes. Yes. He's nineteen. He has a different mindset than than mine. So I want to catch, his thinking. We give number to the one to ten, to the food we tried. They drink, the wine we drink, what he thinks. And, funny enough, maybe my mind is set up. I know technically, flavor and everything. But more or less, we we achieve similar, similar point. You know. What do you mean? You each cook the same dish? No. When we do, we cook something, and then we give, if you scores. No. No. Each other stuff. We give a score to the dish. Okay. Okay. From zero to ten. Okay. Okay. If it come out very good, maximum we give is nine point. I see. Usually it's between seven and nine. I see. You see. And so we do it for the wine and, And also the wine you you you told me that you you tasted many, many new ones that you had never tasted before. Yeah? Well, first of all, you know, when I'm at the restaurant and I like some wine, I tell my family, okay, buy one case and then I drink them. And then I throw my ass so many wine. So I had the chance to try all the wine. I had that, you know, and then I it was a very nice, situation because he likes two drinks, and I like two drinks. And then, so we taste the wine. Every day, a different bottle. When I am at home, if I don't taste some good wine, I feel there's something missing. Yeah. So we have the chance to open the whole bottle and enjoy for, our staff. And did you pick up any new hobbies during your two weeks of lockdown? I I think I pick up to not sleep, my friend. You, you know, this short TV series in Italy called nona. I think it's non, not so sure. And she had advice on what to do during the quarantine and do this and do that. And then she was very fun. You don't know this nona? And then she said, actually, catch up on your sleep because most of you are underserved. Oh, that's right. And then so I think it's a That's a that's a very good surprise. I see. Yeah. Sleep is very healthy for, relax your brain. To have better experience. We have we have we have two tanks, especially in Hong Kong where everything moves so fast. Yes. Yes. But, here in Hong Kong for us, the measures are a little bit different than what we find in Europe and also the, so called lockdown is different. But we have to do the quarantine and the quarantine is actually monitored very, very tightly. Yes. Because, here in Hong Kong, we have been very, very strict for these quarantine measures. Yeah. First, we need to wear this bracelet. We need to download an app from the, from the from the internet, and we are monitored constantly by a huge army of volunteers. They want to know where you are. They want to know that you are in the home. And if they feel from the the movement that you're not in home, they call you, And they ask you, where are you? Take your temperature, give us your, your data? That's right. But, you know, I think you have to do this one for so much sight, you know, to respect the Of course. The resources. So, my wife's you know, buy the food for us. I have plenty of wine at home, so I didn't miss much on this thing. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. We had fun at home. I, in fact, I think these measures, this is what is helping us to to be close to each other today and to feel that the relative is safe in in common this moment, ma'am. My last fourteen day, we have zero case. Zero case. In Hong Kong. Zero local case. Of course, some imported one. But when they come to the airport, they test it right away at the airport. Yes. Yes. And you have to wait at least eight hour to get the result In case you are positive, you go to the government structure and you stay there, fourteen, twenty one days until you have negative. Exactly. Exactly. And still people, even if they are negative, they still need to do the fourteen days at home or the even if you are negative. Of course. Yes. So I think they did the right, They implemented stories. The Yeah. That's the best time. A very good measure that today. We can feel safe and Yeah. We should be safe. And, you know, by honest, now fourteen days, everybody in the street wearing still a mask, you know, with the the measurement, we have the alcohol, this impact done everywhere. We wash it. We know. Which table must be one point five meters? Yeah. It's one point five meter coming close. At this stage, no more than four people. It's table. Yes. Yes. They will change to eight in, I think, end of this week, something. And, I think, the measurement, they are quite good here because I allowed us to do the business Yes. In a safe way. Yes. Yes. These are good good examples. I I think, you know, what kind of matter on the world should should study their success case stories. I think Hong Kong is definitely a success story. How do you maintain the security of your of of your team? How to make sure that you feel confident your team is healthier and that they are they are safe to to serve, everyone here in the restaurant? How do you do? Okay. You know, first of all, in Hong Kong, we've been, we have some kind of, knowledge how to do because during SARS, and then we have we have the can flu. We have a few cases. So they know exactly what to do. Most important, what I did for, for myself, I put the sink at the entrance of the kitchen, everyone who come in the kitchen, they wash automatically. They know already, you know, they everybody is washing their hands. Okay. And then, Hong Kong people, they know if they touch the elevator, if they touch you, they touch the surface. They need to clean the hand either washing or put the alcohol if you don't have a a sink around. And then, very important not to touch your eyes, nose or mouth, you know, So we already know. We take taxi. We open the door. We know we need to disinfect because we touch some. Yes. So here, at your restaurant, so after your lockdown for two weeks, basically, you were able come back to the restaurant. And and, you told me last time we spoke together that actually here, the restaurant did some pretty good, turn turn over. Yeah. We actually yeah. We are. You're very successful. You know, going to the restaurant is a pleasure. It's a treat. You know? Of course. You cannot stay home and cry all the time. At certain moment, you need to go out and do your social, life and talk to your friend, go out with your wife, and, you know, you have to, you have to change a little bit even now. You know, you cannot fly. You cannot go to Singapore. You cannot go to Europe. You cannot go to America. So what do you do? You cannot stay I think restaurant is a great place to to get close to your friend, to eat, to. So I think, luckily, and then, I can see the turnout. We have in the restaurant. We are very happy, and the guests are very happy to come out a bit, you know. I have some guests saying to me, chef, you know, the first restaurant we go out is your place. I come back from there the first semester in Europe. We have to encourage to go out a little bit. In Italy, it was becoming very in. A lot of a lot of curiosity about the food, the wine, the, and, I suddenly stopped. But, you know, you cannot change your lifetime. And I said to my colleague, restaurateur in Italy. In June or July, people will start to go out. You know, incision now has tried. You know, where do you meet your best friend? Where do you meet, where do you take your, where you do your business in the restaurant, where you wanna bring your girlfriend to to impress her in a great restaurant. Is it part of our life? So I I say it to the older people in Italy. Go out. They're safe. And, of course, you take your, measurement, bring your alcohol, clean your hand, whatever you touch. And I mean, it's it's quite safe, you know. We we love to kiss each other, but we also love to go to the So these habits must change. And this is not a a bad thing. This is actually you're going. You see, we didn't even shake hands together. We know it's safe, but somehow we know also that at this moment is not the time to do it. And it's fine. We like each other anyway. We feel comfortable with each other anyway. No. Like you said before, in some way, we had SARS, seventeen years ago, and after that, we had the bird flu. As you said, then we had the swine flu, as you said, and then we had other issues, And so for us, maybe now we are a little bit aware. I think this is this is what's going to happen in in Europe. Yeah. And people will slightly be more conscious and things will get slowly back to normal, but in a very good way. We should not be so desperate at this moment. We should should not be. And I I know it's a new thing for, especially Europe. So, but, I think, we need to get used to. We don't have to change our life's style, we don't have to change our entertainment, our enjoyment, our pleasure with friends and family. So just just take some clear coat, and then it's it's gonna be fine. Know, it's exactly. I remember, I spoke to some friends actually this weekend. And we were speaking that for us, we were more scared during Salos, then we were scared during this crisis. Yes. Most people tell tell me that this crisis, it was not, unexpected. And most people told me they knew what to do. And so therefore, they were much less scared and they were more willing also to wear the mask during the south of me, I never wear the mask at all. I was too tough for this. I thought I was too too much sure. But this time, as soon as I returned back from Europe, I wore the mask immediately. Because it was also a question of, respect to each other, respect to each other, respect to the local community, but also respect to each other to make sure that, you know, I support you, you support me. That's right. And so that feeling of cooperation so that he became something that helped us very, very much in these guys. And it helped us feel less safe, more safe now than we felt during science because ours was very scary. You were here also just fine. Yeah. I was fine. Well, that moment, you know, at the peak, we had the, fifty deaths every every day almost. Fifty, sixty, sixty, and forty, thirty. But yeah. That was a small place I couldn't come. That was very scary. That was very scary. And then, only with this, coronavirus, we only have the Four deaths in total. Four deaths in total. I mean, we are almost ten million people here. Is is is not such a big deal. Well, I'm glad you survived you survived your journey back from Italy to Switzerland a few days in Switzerland after that to the UK three weeks in UK and finally back here Two weeks. Two weeks. Yes. And now back in the saddle. Yes. I'm very happy. Thanks slowly picking up there in terms of the amount of team income. And then, you know, you think about it. You know, when you are so stressed, I have so many things to do. And then suddenly you don't do anything, and you wish to go back to work. You wish to be peace. You wish to be active. So, you know, stepping back and look at things, sometime is good. You appreciate when you have things to feel. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. So I think, In fact, I'm so surprised to to read the newspaper, the news. So many people last December and January hated their jobs But now they are They love it. They are scheming to go back to work. That's right. That's right. That's right. And go back to normal life. Exactly. Exactly. Well, this is super super understandable. Thank you so much. We, we would be back here here for sure. Fantastic. And, thank you for everyone in Italy. And, hopefully, we're gonna get better all over the world. Absolutely. I'm sure of it. Thank you. Thank you. See you next Monday for another virtual wine journey Italian wine podcast lockdown series.