ENZO'S TASTE OF ITALY

5th October 2007, 11:01am

Rated among the Top Twenty chefs in Italy, Enzo Pette flew in to London to promote his Tuscany regional cuisine at a European food and drinks festival at the Leonard Hotel, near Marble Arch.

The 37 year-old chef at the Hostaria Bibendum in the Helvetia & Bristol in Florence, was previously at the Ristoranti Osteria del Vicario, when it gained a Michelin star. His latest concept for Italian diners is Tuscan Banquets giving authentic tastings of regional cuisine in modern style.

The London hotel is owned by the Warwick international group, and the Florence one is in the Warwick portfolio but owned by the Royal Demeure Hotel Group. The event at the Leonard Hotel featured local fare from hotels in France, Switzerland, Spain and Belgium as well as England and Italy.

On his stand featuring cooking hotplates, Enzo's sweet and sour offerings of perfectly cooked slices of duck with leek and onion marmalade, alongside a mushroom and rice risotto with mini prawn-topped pizzas was among the busiest for the 150 visitors.

Enzo, who appeared on Italian TV's A Taste of Tuscany, says: "I've worked with a lot of English chefs and they often express surprise at the facility of our dishes and the ingredients we use from our Chianina meat to truffles in a dessert! There's a fusion of salty and sweet items.

"Chefs in the kitchen are often like champions in the sports arena because they do something that is least expected with a simplicity that is extremely difficult to achieve."

Leonard Hotel manager Tudor Hopkins said: "We stage an annual Warwick Week backed by the group's hotels showing a range of regional food and drink to guests. We try to get away from the sales pitch of a trade show to make it more relaxed.

"Our own 25-cover Seymours restaurant, launched two years ago, tries not to compete with neighbouring eateries, and features true British traditional dishes, which have proved popular particularly with our foreign visitors."

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