interview

Brussels Airlines b.there! magazine January 201216

of euros worth of truffles in a crumpled paper bag. It’s a constant process of negotiating, making sure we get the absolute best – at the right price. Our truffles are all Italian, mainly from Istria and Umbria. The best way to check the quality of a truffle is the obvious way: the smell.

I speak six languages fluently: English, French, Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Japanese. For me, it’s another way of making our clients feel welcome, and putting them at their ease.

Every Sunday when Truffe Noire is closed, I eat out – it’s my ritual. In Brussels, I like Le Coq en Pâte (259 Tomberg). It’s Italian, with a French twist. The chef, Olivier Bacchetta, uses absolutely top-quality produce and the atmosphere is very relaxed.

Molecular gastronomy is finished. I’ve eaten at some of the great temples of molecular cuisine: Ferran Adrià, Marc Veyrat, Pierre Gagnaire. Their food can be wonderful in very tiny quantities, I think, but not for a whole meal. I don’t like the way it forces the customers to eat in a certain, prescribed way. For me, a customer should be able to choose to eat how, and what, they like. That’s our style at La Truffe Noire.

People always crave the food from their childhood. For me, the best food in the world is my mother’s: her tomato sauce and her grilled peppers. Italian cuisine is superlative. I love Bologna, especially the beautiful Grand Hotel Majestic (8 Via Indipendenza), and Naples: there’s a wonderful restaurant on the Amalfi coast, in the village of Sant’Agata sui due Golfi, called Don Alfonso (11/13 Corso Sant'Agata). It's very simple, but very accomplished.

Since we won back our Michelin star in 2010, we have had the best two years in our history. The crisis hasn’t really affected us. Some customers are more careful with what they order, or what wine they choose, but mostly people come here for a special occasion and they want to have an unforgettable evening. If customers leave

saying “Yes, it was expensive, but it was worth it,” that’s a great compliment.

I don’t care about how much money I make in an evening. I’m perfectly happy if our customers choose our €50 set menu and a bottle of water. What matters for me is that they have a good time, because then they come back, again and again, and they tell their friends about us. We have one customer who

has been coming every week for 18 years. He’s a friend now, we always spoil him.

The best way of serving truffles is the simplest: raw, freshly shaved on to pasta, risotto or lightly scrambled eggs. It only takes four or five grams of black or white

truffle per person to create a plateful of flavour, so it’s really not that

expensive if you use it right.

La Truffe Noire, 12 Boulevard de la Cambre, +32 (0)2 640 4422, truffenoire.com

Luigi Ciciriello is the godfather of truffles; his restaurant La Truffe Noire in Brussels has been treating discerning Belgian gastronomes to the fabulous fungi for more than 20 years. Emma Beddington learns more about Ciciriello's passion for both his product and his customers, and discovers his favourite places to dine out

Luigi Ciciriello

I’ve been passionate about food since I was eight. When I was growing up in rural Puglia, we lived next door to the village patisserie and it smelled so wonderful – I was always begging for cakes. One day the owner said, “If you want cakes, you can work for them.” So every afternoon after school I would help out, carrying trays of pastries to the baker’s oven down the street. I learned how to make cakes and ice cream, and I helped at weddings and communions. When I was 11, people even started hiring me to cater for their weddings by myself. I arrived in Belgium to work as a commis

chef aged 16 and I have lived here ever since, always working in the restaurant business.

The Truffe Noire has been open for 23 years and I still have the same two head chefs that I started out with – Erik Lindelauf and Aziz Bhatti. We’re not set in our ways though; we like to experiment, to push ourselves. We make everything on site, including four types of bread every day and 10 or 12 homemade ice creams.

A restaurant needs a soul. Here at La Truffe Noire, that’s me. I’ve always been dedicated

to what I do, that’s my secret weapon. I try to be in the restaurant for every service, even when I’m not in the mood; I shave the truffles and prepare our special carpaccio façon Luigi for customers at their table. It’s part of the ceremony of eating here; people look forward to it.

The truffle business is very personal and secretive. I often work with two of the biggest names in the world of truffles – the Zigante and Urbani families – but people also just turn up at the restaurant without warning, sometimes with thousands

Clockwise: Ciciriello loves to eat at Don Alfonso on the

Amalfi Coast; Bologna's Grand Hotel Majestic is a favoured

bolthole; The highlight of Ciciriello's cuisine; La Truffe

Noire's dining room

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