Born in '96, resident chef Edoardo Traverso is the true soul behind the "shared" cuisine of the International Gastronomy Hub, which hosts hundreds of taste artists every year. The purpose of his work? Reinforce the venue's personality through an "identity" menu.
Who is Edoardo Traverso
Born in 1996, in Genoa and raised in Bordighera, a small town on the Ligurian coast in the province of Imperia, chef Edoardo Traverso inherited his passion for good food and cooking from the women in his family. From a young age, he had a clear vision of wanting to be part of the restaurant world. He attended the Hotel School in Arma di Taggia and embarked on internships and training experiences that took him across Italy and abroad, exposing him to different hospitality concepts, from five-star hotels to beef bars in London.
In 2016, an encounter with Andrea Ribaldone led him to work in Milano Marittima and then in the Langhe region, where he started a new restaurant from scratch at the boutique hotel Uve, located in a former convent in La Morra, in the province of Cuneo. When his mentor decided to create a hub in the heart of Milan, a place for promising young chefs and a theater to host renowned culinary artists from Italy and around the world, Edoardo immediately joined the project. In 2018, he became the head of the appetizer section in the team of Identità Golose Milano, the restaurant where he has been the executive chef since 2021.
The chef: countless personalities in the kitchen
From the beginning, Traverso found himself at the center of Andrea Ribaldone's ambitious goal to create a place in Milan where the best of Italian and world cuisines could meet and interact, a tradition that started with Expo 2015. As a result, Identità Golose's kitchen has seen a rotating cast of celebrated Italian and international chefs, invited week after week to showcase menus representing their culinary styles.
"The presence of guest chefs soon became a habit, which I did not experience as an invasion of space but rather as a precious opportunity for exchange and learning," explains the chef. "Staying behind the scenes and giving them the stage during service was the price to pay to immerse myself in their kitchen and personalities, to observe, taste, learn tricks of the trade, and gather inspiration to develop my own style. From these diverse sources of inspiration, each with its own uniqueness, I learned, for example, how important geographic origin and family heritage, filled with childhood memories, are in defining a culinary style. But I also learned how cooking can become a way to express one's personality, an alternative means to distinguish oneself from the 'trends' of taste, sometimes provocatively."
Everyone for one. Significant legacies at Identità Golose
The chefs who have passed through Identità Golose's kitchen (350 since its opening, with 77 hosted only between January and July 2023) all have unique personalities, stories, backgrounds, different approaches to food, and menu organization. "Getting to know them and finding the key to connect with them was a privilege, both from a human and professional standpoint and in terms of technical learning," continues the chef. "Synergies and elective affinities come together in the kitchen. That's why after hosting and getting to know the chefs, it's great to repeat the sharing experience, to witness their growth over time and the evolution of their culinary philosophy."
For Traverso, all of this represents invaluable richness. Among those who have left a strong impression on him is Corrado Assenza, who best represents the most human and intimate aspect of the chef's work (marked by sensitivity, humility, and generosity): "From him, I learned to respect ingredients fully: from the attention to sourcing local products to choosing processing techniques that enhance the characteristics of the ingredients." Then there are Moreno Cedroni (awarded a Michelin star and the very first guest at Identità Golose) and Marco Stabile: "Both impressed me with their ability to stay true to simplicity while innovatively elaborating it. For instance, the former showed me a way to serve a carpaccio of fish with a crispy outer layer and raw inside, by breading and frying it while still frozen; the latter introduced me to the secrets of 'reverse cooking' by preparing a smoked or marinated Florentine steak, slow-cooked at low temperature (in an oven at 45°C for 4-5 hours) and then grilled and sliced."
A restaurant in search of an author
Drawing from these experiences, since the post-Covid reopening, Traverso has embraced the firm intention of making Identità Golose more than just a "transit restaurant" for hosting food-related personalities and events. He aims to give it a distinct culinary identity, clear and defined enough not to be overshadowed by comparisons with other cuisines.
"My offering begins with the intention of letting the ingredients speak first, respecting and showcasing them to the fullest through recipes with few elements that can enhance flavors clearly and make them recognizable and appreciated while minimizing waste," explains the chef. In his choice of dishes and ingredients, the influence of his Ligurian roots, suspended between land and sea, is evident, as is the legacy of his Calabrian heritage: "In my cuisine, the predominant element is the savory taste of the sea, which blends well with courtyard ingredients, garden gifts, and citrusy flavors, following seasonality, without excluding some evergreen dishes (like the Roast Beef Fillet with herb-infused bread), renewed throughout the year with side dish variations."
The new menu is a journey
Unveiled during a dedicated evening on June 3rd, Traverso's new menu (available à la carte or as a business lunch during the day, and as a tasting menu with wine pairing for €85 in the evening) takes diners on a journey through bold, simple yet concrete flavors, unfolding along an engaging and playful path where the sea converses with the land. From appetizers to desserts, the menu includes Seared Scallop with a hint of rose, zucchini blossoms, and essential coral oil, Raw Amberjack with datterino emulsion and fennel, Beef Carpaccio with parsley sauce and roasted pepper base, and Egg Yolk in cooking oil with tomato bread, crispy bread, and oregano mayonnaise. There's also Potato Gnocchi with bisque, raw pink shrimp, and lime, Linguine with mussel cream, parsley, tomato emulsion, Buono Rice with Parmigiano Reggiano, smoked butter, bergamot cream, and sorrel, and Bologna-style Tortellini from Divine Creazioni with roast sauce and Parmigiano Reggiano cream.
Not to forget the Red Gurnard Fillet in stew, samphire salad, fennel, and toasted almonds, Roasted Rabbit Loin alla cacciatora with melting spring onion, and Confit Eggplant Fillet, Piennolo Casa Marrazzo cherry tomatoes, Parmigiano Reggiano cream, and basil. To finish, there's Peach Melba (a peach scented with amaretto, financier and almond crumble, vanilla ice cream, and raspberry cream), Cherry and Thyme (cherry clafoutis, milk ice cream, and sandblasted oat thyme, and a salad of scented cherries with thyme), and lastly, Chocolate (a Komuntu chocolate sorbet and sauce, Guanaja chocolate foam, Coeur de Guanaja chocolate namelaka, and cocoa grué tile). It's worth noting some "signature dishes" as a tribute to the hosting city: Fusillo Milano with saffron risotto cream, bone marrow ragout, and gremolata, and Milanese "Identity" with fingerling potatoes, arugula, and cherry tomatoes.
A “work in progress” wine cellar
Identità Golose's wine cellar is the result of a project that began during Expo 2015, with the sponsorship of major producers such as Cantine Ferrari and Maison Champagne Veuve Clicquot, which provided the initial labels featured on the menu. Today, to accompany the dishes coming out of the kitchen with suitable wines, the chef, together with sommeliers, has chosen a selection of approximately 190 labels (mostly Italian), sourced from both prominent wineries and small producers (including new organic ventures) from all over Italy, from the North (starting with the great Piedmontese reds) to the South (featuring white Sicilian citrus and more). The offering is not exhaustive but designed as a "work in progress," to be regularly updated based on the seasonality of the menu, aiming to surprise even regular customers and create pairings that evoke the aromas of the ingredients present in the dish.
Not just a restaurant
Located just steps away from Via Manzoni and Teatro alla Scala, inside a prestigious late 19th-century building, Identità Golose Milano is a unique concept: not just a restaurant serving contemporary Italian fine dining, but also an eclectic, exclusive, elegant, and multifunctional space that bridges the past and future. It is designed to be an observatory where the daily evolution of fine dining can be recorded and narrated, but above all, it serves as an experimental platform. Thanks to its special architectural solutions, the venue (spread over an area of over 700 sq m) is equipped with spaces suitable for hosting entertainment and research activities related to high-quality dining (conferences, meetings, courses, presentations, guided tastings, educational workshops, cooking shows, team-building activities) and promoting a new form of conviviality open to new international languages and consumption modes.
Looking to the near future
The "educational" project showcasing the best of international cuisine carried forward by Identità Golose resumed in early September, as always, giving the stage to a guest chef for at least one evening a week. The appointments on September 6th with Philippe Léveillé and on the 7th with Pier Daniele Seu were well-received; and the program continues on the 18th of the month with Solaika Marrocco and then on the 24th with Giorgia Proia and Ornella De Felice. On other days, both for lunch and dinner, the stage is all about Traverso's culinary philosophy, supported by a close-knit and well-practiced staff, characterized by strong teamwork and a shared passion, technique, and study, all contributing to creating creative, perfectly balanced dishes that cater to all palates.
Cover photo: @ONSTAGESTUDIO
Info
Identità Golose Milano
Via Romagnosi, 3, 20121 Milano MI
prenotazioni@identitagolosemilano.it
Tel: +39.02.23668900
