1 Michelin Star Chefs: Adolfo De Cecco, chef owner, Casa Fofō

Adolfo De Cecco is the chef and owner of Casa Fofō in Hackney, London.

Named after the chef's grandfather, the restaurant opened in the spring of 2019, and, with the ex-Pidgin chef at the helm, was an instant hit with guests and critics alike.

biography

Adolfo first entered a professional kitchen when he was 19.

After graduating from high school, he went to Amsterdam on a gap year. 

It was in the Dutch capital that he started working as a kitchen porter in an Italian restaurant, and, as he describes it, "this is where it all started."

After three years of learning the basics there, the young chef moved back to Italy and went to culinary school.

This gave him the opportunity to start working in high standard restaurants - first at Perbellini, then a two Michelin star restaurant, where he worked for two years - then at “De Pisis” in Venice.

Next, he moved to Sydney in Australia, working at Tetsuya's - a 2 hat, restaurant; then to Brisbane ranked 4th on the San Pellegrino 50 Best list - and at a restaurant called Aria. 

Upon his return to Europe, the chef moved to London, where he landed a job at Galvin at Windows.

After suffering an injury, the chef was left unable to work for two years.

When he had recovered he followed a friend and fellow chef's advice to join him at the Corinthia Hotel, which he did, and worked there for a year. 

It was at this point that the chef was offered the head chef position at Pidgin, which for many placed him on the culinary map prior to launching his own restaurant, Casa Fofó.

 

Casa Fofó

Since he began working in restaurants, the chef always dreamt of having his name above the door. 

One day when he was working at Pidgin, he saw an empty venue in his home borough of Hackney. He went to visit, and, he said, "I felt right away that it was going to be the one."

He and his girlfriend invested all of their savings to refurbish the site and make it their own, deciding to name it after his grandfather, who went by the nickname, 'Fofò.

The 'Casa' (home in Italian) prefix is there for guests to feel welcomed into a homely establishment, not a formal, stuffy restaurant. 

Adolfo de Cecco and his food style

Adolfo describes the food at Casa Fofó as the result of collaboration between the team, a mix of everyone's experiences and ideas. 

He said: "Our approach to cooking is very instinctive and dictated by the produce we have available at that particular moment."

Sourcing only seasonal ingredients from producers whose ethos is similar to their own, he explained, "they love their jobs as we do love ours; the meat we use comes from respectfully raised animals, the fish is sustainably caught and the veg is organically grown."

Naming Tetsuya Wakuda as one of the most influential people in his career, Adolfo describes the chef's approach as "something that I had never seen nor experienced before."

"There was a maniacal research for the best produce, ingredients had to be treated respectfully and there was a minimalistic approach to cooking, which is what Japanese cuisine is known for," he said, adding that "these three points remain at the core of my philosophy and have shaped the chef I became later on."

Awards, accolades, books and Tv Appearances

When it opened, Casa Fofó was reviewed by the usual suspects - Time Out, The Infatuation, Conde Nast Traveller, the Evening Standard and Vogue, among others - before receiving a Michelin star in the 2021 guide.

Photo credit: Eleanor Field