Matias Perdomo, ex-head chef at Al Pont de Ferr, now head chef at Contraste (Milano, Italy)
Matias Perdomo. Photo: Courtesy of Al Pont de Ferr
Matias Perdomo is well known as “the Uruguayan chef who has turned a traditional Milanese trattoria into a Michelin-starred restaurant”. Caramelized Tropea onions stuffed with goat cheese and blown like Murano glass, “framed” calamari in honour of Juan Mirò and then the chocolate cigar, with a scent of Montecristo and rum ice cream are just three of his signature dishes. He unites what he has learnt from the great Ferran Adria and others with his own roots in Latin America and with Italian traditions. With all this, he has created for himself a wide playground where his fantasy can fly. He talks to us about chocolate and his famous dessert “This is not a game. A kaleidoscope of childhood flavours”.
“Chocolate means a lot to me. It is an amazing product, really versatile; it is an element that I like to use not only in desserts but also in savoury dishes because of the nice contrast you get through a bit of bitterness.
Chocolate can be totally different (changing consistency, flavour, shape) but it’s always great. What I really love about it is that it has the power to bring you back to the past. Everybody reacts to chocolate almost like children. That’s why I made a dessert shaped like Lego called “This is not a game. A kaleidoscope of childhood flavours”, the idea to make people laugh and relax without leaving the taste behind.
In this dessert, you can find different elements – different percentages, techniques, temperatures, shapes … The biggest challenge I would say was to not ruin the medium: to work with respect to the chocolate.
Techniques used: tempering chocolate and silicon casts that we make ourselves to shape the chocolate as also fruit and jelly, plus a white chocolate ice-cream.”
Matias has in spring 2015 left Pont de Ferr and is in September opening his own restaurant in Milano.
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