The Feel restaurant, in the center of Como, is celebrating a truly special birthday: 10 years of successes, growth and satisfaction (especially for those who were lucky enough to sit at those tables). Two souls, two complementary protagonists (it is no coincidence that “Feel” was born, as a word, from the fusion of the first letters of their respective names) and two stories that intertwined two decades ago but which already boast a path that started a long time ago. In a continuous crescendo that of chef Beretta, born in 1983 in Milan but with Venetian roots on his mother’s side: at the age of 20 he obtained a diploma in Catering Services Technician from the Amerigo Vespucci Hotel Institute of the Lombard capital, the city where he works for another decade (but alternating experiences abroad) before inaugurating the new Feel adventure with his wife in 2014.
For Elisa, an architect by training, that date marks the start of new goals in her professional growth: in 2017 she obtained the title of Sommelier at the AIS (today she deals with the wines on the list, between three hundred and fifty and four hundred labels linked to small production companies of the Alps as well as a “mini card” for Champagne) and, in the same year, also the Coffee Sommelier diploma from the Nespresso Academy. His vision characterizes the furnishings, colors and identity of the place, housed in a former shop and with customer-friendly dimensions: six internal tables present in the two ancient rooms for a total of 16 seats (reservations are therefore inevitable) and a “genius loci” that takes shape with the passage of time, becoming a peculiar feature of Feel’s proposal.
It is in this context that Beretta’s work in the kitchen represents the natural continuation of a very clear perspective from the very beginning: “The dishes I cook represent a personal vision of the territory in which I live made up of mountains, meadows, woods and inland waters – explains chef Beretta, summarizing years of commitment and experimentation in a few brush strokes -. This local cuisine offers unique flavors and experiences and translates the nature of this wonderful corner of the world.”
An ambitious vision, of course, but rewarded and confirmed by the various awards achieved by Beretta both from the press, sector publications and reference guides for Italian haute cuisine (think of the mention in the Michelin Guide and the articles appearing in Italian magazines and newspapers international organizations, above all the “Daily Telegraph” or the “New York Times”) and from prestigious companies in the sector. Already in 2016, it is no coincidence that Beretta became part of the “CHIC Charming Italian Chef” association.
In the same year he joined the Slow Food Chefs’ Alliance for his commitment to creating culture through food and only three years later he was called to the prestigious JRE, the Jeunes Restaurateurs d’Europe association. In 2020 – almost as an ideal completion of a cycle – he was appointed chef Ambassador of the Territory for the province of Como by the Gambero Rosso Guide while in 2023 he was “enlisted” among the Ambassadors of Taste, an association that promotes the best of “made in Italy” in the world. Last, but only in chronological order, is Beretta’s new commitment to the NIR, the Italian National Restaurateurs which brings together a handful of passionate “football chefs” committed (on the pitch, in the kitchen, in hotel institutes and in schools of all levels and degree) to promote the culture of legality, the principles of healthy eating and the values of sport.
That genuineness and originality are the basis of all this can be understood even without knowing the extensive curriculum of the two owners. Just read the menu. The proposals vary according to the season and what the surrounding woods, waters and mountains offer, the true “suppliers” of the restaurant, confirming how nature with its flavors and its ever-changing ingredients directs the chef’s work: herbs, fruits, flowers, mushrooms, buds, truffles, honey, essences, aromas, even the pine cones and rose hips (the false fruits, with a bright red colour) of the dog rose are the basis, complement and structure for meats, lake fish, birds and snails.
The identity of a territory in a dish: what better way than the experience that the senses give us to embark on a journey of knowledge while sitting comfortably at a table?.
