The chef and the restaurant
Ineo, Meaning what I’m starting. It has the flavor of a debut, however Heros de Agostinis, the position of executive chef at the fine dining of Naiadi Palace, in the neoclassical spaces sketched by the architect Gaetano Koch, co-author of the Vittoriano, in Piazza Esedra above the ancient Diocletian baths, sometimes visible under the glass floor. Transformed into a hotel with sumptuous furnishings, it now also focuses on catering and has called it for this purpose, trusting in its vast international experience.
In fact, if De Agostinis is almost a novelty for Italy, the world already knows him well, given the peculiarities of his nomadic career. “I was born in Rome, to an Abruzzo father and an Eritrean mother. At home we ate both Italian dishes and African specialties, such as spicy stews and legume soups. So I enrolled in hotel management and in the end I was lucky enough to get an internship at Pergola: a totally new experience for me, when fine dining was still rare in Italy.
I started going back and forth between the restaurant and different countries, whose cuisines I studied in depth: England first under the guidance of a student of Marchesi; then Germany by Heinz Winkler, fundamental for the technique and the ‘vital’ style, classic but lightened; then Marc Veyrat’s France, focused on wild vegetables and contact with nature. All while I maintained a common thread with my mentor and gradually advanced in the Pergola organization chart.
After a short internship at Mugaritz, I felt ripe to lead my first kitchen, at the Terme di Merano; after which I left for Indonesia, working for a German hotel group in Jakarta and Bali, where I rediscovered spices. Heinz then sent me to London, then to Monte Carlo with Robuchon, where I carried out the catering and hotel service. But I wanted to start my own business and after a couple of stints in Switzerland and Bahrain, in 2022 I received the offer to return to Rome.”
The professional profile, with its mosaic of kitchens and the know-how acquired at large facilities, was perfect for an ambitious hotel with an international clienteledemanding but not too reckless. TO Naiadi Palace today De Agostinis follows everything: the breakfasts and the gourmet, but also the other outlets like Seen, where you eat sushi with South American accents, the chef is Brazilian but the managerial supervision is his. “Ineo arrived a year ago and I wanted it to reflect my journey“, tells.
“There are contaminations that tell of many experiences, including France; but also my origins, the pleasure of savoring a trip out of town or a Sunday on the coast. And the seasonal vegetable, discovered abroad and also made available to those with allergies and intolerants.” They inspire three tasting menus priced at 110, 130, 145 or 160 euros, depending on the number of trips.
The dishes
Among the assets of the restaurant, gathered in a room with around thirty seats, there is the bread trolley (including Lariano, South Tyrolean with spices, puff pastry and breadsticks). “Because in Italy it is synonymous with hospitality and family, something sacred. And the cart acts as an icebreaker between waiters and guests, sparking dialogue. If there is anything left over, it goes into the next day’s breakfasts with a no waste approach.” An experience that doubles in the end with the cheeses, the selection of which is entirely Italian and largely from Lazio. “Masterpieces to be made known to the world”. Paired with the sommelier Federico Spagnolo manages a rapidly growing wine list of 350 references.
The attack is more than welcome: it involves different consistencies of chicken, which begin to draw from the chef’s biography. “For me it is the memory of when my grandmother came to pick me up from school, stopping at the market in Piazza Vittorio, where at the time the chicken farmers sold live animals. So she, who was an Eritrean war refugee, took them home, finished raising them and then made us a berbere soup: a feeling of home.” On the plate it becomes a sequence of delicious and centered bites: the broth with stracciatella and gnocchi sautéed in the Abruzzo style, classic hot liquidity at the opening; crispy chicken skin with mayonnaise; the olive waffle with chicken and peppers; the Mexican taco; the glass of chicken broth with bacon foam; the caesar salad in a tartlet among the flowersfor the bar classic.
From the menu Rome and surroundings the fresh one arrives panzanella with marinated anchovies, which wants to convey the emotion of a trip to the seaside, with its red bruschetta, in a riot of acidity. From Around the world the ceviche with passion fruit laced with mango, raw Sicilian red prawns and coriander oil, which expresses the chef’s passion for exoticism. “I love ceviche as a complete dish in contrasts, but I make it a little Italian through the red prawns, which we are used to acidulating”.
“The dish that best represents me, however, is the maccheroncini al ferretto, a typical handmade Abruzzo pasta, an example of high craftsmanship, which I cook with Madeira and serve with Parmesan foam and a ragù between the Genoese and the Eritrean stew, with veal, onion, ghee, green chili pepper and berberè. Between Italy and the rest of the world”.
The latter are more classic, and also hide a contamination: the grilled amberjack with asparagus, Thai and Béarnaise sauce and the chicken ballotine and duck foie gras, sort of Pithiviers without pastry which is used to use the breasts left over from the appetizers, marinated in the Peruvian anticuchos style, as the sauce.
For dessert peach Melba or ricotta and sour cherries, ghetto classic in a lighter version, with ricotta foam, sour cherry ice cream and crumble for the pastry.
Contacts
Ineo- Anantara Palazzo Naiadi
P.za della Repubblica, 48, 00185 Rome RM
Telephone: 06 489381
Website
