A real art gallery in constant motion that becomes a mirror for the dining experience
A few months ago a new incredible venue opened in Milan, in one of the symbolic places of the city, the
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. This is V Bart & Restaurart, the restaurant and bar inside Galleria Vik Milan,
the luxury hotel where art, beauty and design intertwine creating an unforgettable experience.
The restaurant, which follows the philosophy of the hotel, is a real art gallery in constant motion, where
both the paintings and the statues inside the room alternate.
And it is precisely from here that the concept behind the restaurant also starts. Just as you look at a painting and share it with another person, talking about it, telling the experience you have lived and exchanging thoughts and feelings, so it is also for the kitchen of the V Bart & Restaurant. As the Restaurant Manager Oscar Cavallera tells us, “ours is a kitchen to be shared”.
Leading the kitchen brigade is Nestor Rodrigo Hernandez, born in 1981, born in Tunja, on the eastern Andes
mountain range. Colombian origins that in the course of his experience have been blended with
Mediterranean cuisine. At the helm of the bar, Eros Altavela, born in 1989, a young barmanager from
Marostica with international experience of the highest level. The room is managed by Ferdinando Garcia
Velasco, of Peruvian origins, who accompanies guests to discover the numerous labels, but also to pairing
with the cocktails prepared by the barman.
So let’s be guided to the discovery of this new place, directly from Oscar and Ferdinando.
“When the collaboration with Alexander Vik and his wife Carrie began, the idea was to find a new catering
concept for the Galleria,” Oscar tells us. “Here, in fact, there are already various gastronomic offers, – he
continues – from traditional catering, to Cracco’s gourmet cuisine, from Oldani with Camparino, to classic
international cuisine.
We therefore felt the need to create a new idea, and to do so we started from the
concept of joie de vivre, the joy of living, and around this we created the kitchen. We like that the customer
comes to us and has a nice time with us. Ours is a very colorful menu and chef Hernandez has been able to
fit perfectly into the concept created. Our cuisine is Mediterranean with obviously South American accents
thanks to the chef’s origins. The most particular thing, however, is that most of the dishes can be built by
the customer “.
The dishes on the menu are in fact served together with a series of additional ingredients,
which customers can combine as they wish, according to their tastes or the mood of the moment.
“This joie de vivre characterizes us. We love to play with ingredients, always looking for new flavors. We are
ironic and we do not take ourselves too seriously but we are very attentive to the quality of the raw
material, which we choose with meticulous care and a lot of seriousness ”, continues Cavallera.
But who is this new venue for? We asked Cavallera: “More than the target is the lifestyle we are looking
for, a lifestyle that wants to have fun, is curious, appreciates good music. We do not look at the age of
people, because what we are looking for is a mental age and not an age. We are aimed at those who want
to experience an evening in the Gallery but in an informal way.
The prices of our restaurant, in fact, are not
5-star luxury, and we offer the possibility to taste the most suitable dish at any time of day and evening “.
Alongside the chef’s more creative proposals, the restaurant offers club sandwiches, hamburgers and
toasts on the menu. A line of cuisine not really tied to the classic parameters of the restaurant.
The other peculiarity of the place is that the dishes are designed to be shared, in order to let you taste
more things. “We encourage our customers to play with the ingredients, to give free rein to their creativity
but also to share the chosen dishes with their friends” confirms Cavallera “and so a table of several people
can decide to taste more dishes by sharing them, without spending very high figures “.
And it is precisely in the signature dish that the whole blend of South America and the Mediterranean is
revealed: the Columbia Mia mor is a Colombian soup, made in the mountains from where the chef comes, a
poor soup that is served with a slice of black code on top, the Alaskan black cod. An unusual combination of
fine fish and poor soup.
“This dish is proposed in combination with a special cocktail”, Ferdinando Garcia Velasco, maître of the V
Bart & Restaurant tells us “We suggest customers to taste it together with Sex in the Cinema, a cocktail
served in the classic plastic container of popcorn, where inside there is an infusion-based cocktail of
popcorn combined with cashew milk, Bourbon and rum ”. In fact, what characterizes the restaurant is that,
next to the high-end wine list, the cocktail pairing is proposed.
“The cocktail list ranges from the classic and
most popular, to the most innovative proposals with our“ Is not ”selection. This selection of cocktails
revisits the more traditional and while maintaining the same presentation, similar colors and taste, it offers
them with totally different ingredients from those of the original recipes ”continues Velasco.
“Our range of
cocktails is very broad and ranges from those that are good for an aperitif, to those for dinner, and finally
those that are most suitable for after dinner.
To date, people are very interested in pairing coctkail with
dinner, it is a proposal that fascinates 80/90% of our customers “, concludes the maître.
The restaurant is made up of a young staff.
“We have created a new, young concept, and we need young
people but above all spirit to reinterpret it. This is why we tried to bring young people who embrace this
spirit of ours, who already have that lifestyle.
In this way they can tell it in a more authentic and heartfelt
way ”, Cavallera tells us again.
The venue opened in late October and is doing well in the first three weeks.
From the stories of Cavallera and Velasco, customers are happy, it is a new sharing experience that they like
and that makes you want to share even more, also thanks to the music that for the moment is only
available on Thursdays with a djset, “but the idea is to expand it several times a week ”concludes Cavallera.
