Ep. 2544 Crafting Michelin-Level Hospitality with Sommelier Marco Nardi | Wine, Food & Travel with Marc Millon

I have created a wine list that aims at showcasing the family behind the winemaking. So Okay. There are a few families that are featured from Italy and France. They have literally a half a page or an entire page dedicated to them where in a very interactive way, I try to transform the wine list into a book where you can literally take your time, read it through, learn a few things while you're reading it about the family or about wine in general, and then make your choice. I think the three most important feature of a wine list are family orientated, the pee we claim for the future, and, the heritage of Bordeaux or our Bordeaux collection. Fascinating people with stories to share, fabulous wines and the best local foods to accompany them, and beautiful places to discover and visit. All of this and more on wine, food, and travel with me, Mark Millan, on the Italian wine podcast. Join me for a new episode every Tuesday. Welcome to wine, food, and travel with me, Mark Millan, on Italian wine podcast. Today, we travel to London to Notting Hill to meet my guest, Marco Nardi, who is wine buyer and head sommelier at the acclaimed Michelin star restaurant, Carretera. Good morning, Marco. Thanks so much for being with us. How are you? Good morning, Mark. How are you? All good. All good. It's not raining, which is already a positive sign. And he's also he's all good. All good, I think. Well, I'm in, Devon, and it is raining. It's pretty pretty horrible day. I'm coming up to London tomorrow, so I hope it's it stays dry tomorrow. Hope for you. Okay. Well well, Marco, first of all, take our listeners who are located all around the world. Take us all to London, to Notting Hill, and to Caractair. Share with us the story of this highly rated Michelin star restaurant that's the creation of Emily Roo and her husband Diego Ferrari. So Notting Hill is beautiful part of London that has been really, redeveloped and rediscovered in the past twenty five, thirty years. And, now is one of the places where you want to be in London amongst other, but definitely, Notting Hill is where you want to be today. Very classy, but not too classy, very modern. There is, everything you can ask for in the food scene, and so we're very pleased to be in Notting Hill in this moment in time. About Caractera, Caractera is, the first child of, Diego and Emily, was born out of an idea, I think, at the 2017, but it really opened the door in October 2018. And here, they started, basically creating a fusion, a real fusion of two of the oldest and most admired food culture in the world, which is the French and the Italian. We feature a menu that is divided in trades, which is quite, an innovative things that I witnessed. The pleases customer because he allows you to choose not only in your a la carte option, but also you build your own tasting menu, which is something that I've never seen before. I worked in Michelin star before, and I worked in rest of the featured different tasting menu, but it was always a set tasting menu. When here, you you build your own. The only rule that we have is that the entirety of a table has to go for one of the menu, either a la carte or tasting menu. But, really, when I see when I see tables so pleased to be able to choose their own individually, it creates kind of a a completely different vibe at the table and a completely different experience to the customer. That is really interesting. I look forward to hearing more about that. That's, intriguing idea. I would imagine it would lead to long discussions and perhaps sometimes arguments as people want to try different things. Absolutely. I would say that for a couple, I will say, is the best menu you can give them because they can literally say, you know, it's a five course tasting menu. Every trade in the menu, because it may just divide in trades or categories as you prefer. Every category has two different option, and they're like, okay. You're gonna have this, and I'm gonna have that. So basically, by the end of the order, we're gonna try everything on the menu in in one night, which is, I think one of the best thing you can or you you can ask for more because when you want customer to experience what you're capable of, sometime I hear correctly chef saying, but if you go for free courses, you're kind of missing out on the old picture. When here, having this kind of option, you always have the entirety of the menu at your disposal and in the two, three hours depending on how long you want to be, you have the full experience. I'm not gonna lie for the wine pairing is also great fun and a great challenge, which in fact, I do I run four different wine pairings, four different wine experience, two for the a la carte free courses, and two for the tasting menu five courses, but none of them are written because very much I want to stay on the same philosophy. My question was, why if chef decided to give that kind of freedom to the customer to decide by putting himself in a bit more of trouble? Because, of course, if you don't have a set, a tasty menu is always about, you know, complying to what the customer will is. And also, chef is very, very good at catering for pretty much any diet requirement, which is something that is extremely challenging for the kitchen, but I see a restaurant moving away from it, which I understand I understand the reason why. I'm not gonna judge anyone. I understand the reason why. I'm just pleased dating in here. We can accommodate pretty much anything if possible with so if you are outside listening, please let us know in advance as much as possible. But, but we've been into situation where we had to cater last minute, and, we did that. And for the wine, it's a bit the same. I have encountered customer that were like, you know, I don't think I'm gonna have the wine pairing because I only like red wine. And I'm like, you don't have to worry about it. I'm gonna make you a full experience based solely on red wine. Obviously, you have to bear in mind that I am adapting the menu for you. So if the red wine that I'm giving you with the tuna tartare it's not really the perfect pairing. You have to excuse me for that. And I see people very pleased, very, very pleased, which in fact, 80% of our customer go for the wine pairing option or one of the wine pairing option, especially if they are returning customer, which is another thing that I found in this restaurant as one of the key component of a sensation that the family rule gives you. And I tell you why I think that is different in a minute. But the fact that people, when they return, they know already that the menu is gonna be adapted, that the wine pairing can be adapted. And so they just go for it, happily, and they have a lot of fun having it. So they actually challenge me when they are returning customer like, oh, what are you gonna give me today? And because the the wine pairing is never written, it's every time a new feature. So it's a new experience and a new home and a new opportunity for the customer. Yeah. So you've really described a restaurant that sounds completely unique in its approach and in these opportunities for the diner to be interactively directly involved both with the selection of the menus and, of course, the wines. Now I must mention, of course, you mentioned the family rule. Emily, of course, is culinary royalty. Yep. Her grandparents, father, and uncle are amongst the most well known and celebrated chefs in The UK, most famously, of course, for Le Gavroche, which opened in 1967 and earned and held three Michelin stars, as well as the Waterside Inn, which has held three Michelin stars for forty consecutive years. Diego spent three years at head chef at Le Gave Roche. So Yes. The creation of character is this must be the realization of a dream for both Diego and Emily. Is that right? I say definitely yes. And, I think the exact reason why Emily didn't take over Le Gavroche is I am sure 90% of people would expect. You k