The first thing that comes to mind is Italy’s cultural richness, centuries of traditions, and unique gastronomy. Italians are commonly associated with the concept of family and good food. That is probably why the events that happened to these customers of the one-Michelin-star Bros restaurant in Lecce caused so much controversy.
Now, those customers share the details, what they have to say about their experience in the Michelin restaurant, and why the review goes viral.
No menu option
Isabella Poti and Floriano Pellegrino are the Chefs and owners of the Bros restaurant, located in the city of Lecce, Italy. When they imagined what the cuisine and the offer of the place would be like, they decided to remove the menu option and only offer two tasting menus, each with a different number of dishes.
From the inventive and unusual tasting meals – many of which are concluded with a theatrical flourish at your table – to the wonderful desserts, they were sure that the courses selected would provide guests a clear glimpse into their cuisine.
They had great expectations
Receiving a Michelin star is one of the most prestigious awards in the Gastronomic industry. That was precisely why Geraldine DeRuiter, her husband, and their friends went to the restaurant Bros with great expectations. Geraldine DeRuiter is an internationally known author, public speaker, and the creator of the award-winning Everywhereist blog.
Rand DeRuiter, Geraldine’s husband, has a career that sends him all over the world. After being fired from her job, Geraldine began to accompany her husband on his travels. She affirms that blogging allows them not only to keep track of everything they experience but also to remember what they see during their travels.
Only the best of the best
But let’s recap a bit about what it means to be part of the Michelin Guide. Its publications have been available since the early 20th century. In it, you can find restaurants that, for different reasons, earn the status of excellence and deserve to be part of this exclusive list.
Inspectors are usually conservative when it comes to awarding stars. Sometimes they believe the restaurant is good but not quite ready for two stars yet. Achieving the three-star level involves more than just great meals. The difference between a two-star and a three-star restaurant, according to inspectors, is emotion.
Higher stakes
We all had bad experiences at food places at least once in our lives. However, when it comes to such a prestigious place, the impact is usually greater, mainly due to the contrast between what one expects to receive and what one ends up obtaining.
As told by Geraldine in her article, “There is something to be said about a truly disastrous meal, a meal forever indelible in your memory because it’s so uniquely bad, it can only be deemed an achievement. The sort of meal where everyone involved was definitely trying to do something; it’s just not entirely clear what.”
Unrealistic appearance
As you know by now, the group headed to the restaurant with high hopes. The party of eight was led into what Geraldine recalls as a “cement cell of a room.” She remembered It was scorching hot, and there were no other customers around.
She also remembers that early that same day, they saw the statue of a bear while walking around the city’s streets. The funny thing is that the statue seemed like a perfect allegory of what would happen hours later since the figure of the bear looked very unrealistic, just like the food in the restaurant.
They tasted 27 courses
The group tasted 27 dishes that night. Needless to say, the words “taste” and “plate” are used in their freest versions. The meal lasted approximately 4 and a half hours, during which time Geraldine relates that she felt like she was in a fictional novel. Apparently, nothing that was served was even close to a real meal. Some “courses” looked like edible paper chips. Some drinks were glasses of vinegar.
Everything tasted fishy, even the dishes without fish. And almost everything, including the noodles, which by the way was the single most substantial dish they ate, was served cold.
Became more and more bizarre
The couple was used to experimental cooking; in fact, it was not the first time she had visited a Michelin-starred restaurant. Geraldine said in her review, “I was anticipating something a little unusual and fun. I was not expecting a 4-hour hunger-induced fever dream.”
Obviously, after this experience and Geraldine’s opinion on her blog, it’s no surprise that the review went viral. One of the phrases she used to describe the scene was “it made her feel like she was a character in a Dickensian novel.” By their faces, you can tell the confusion they felt as the dinner progressed and the dishes became more and more bizarre.
Some research
On the restaurant’s website, it is said that they obtained the distinction of One Star Michelin in 2016. Furthermore, their page clarifies that the restaurant offers eight and 13-course meals. However, during their stay, DeRuiter claims his group was sent out 27 items. Her review brilliantly captures the strange nature of the event while also skewering the pretentiousness that exudes from the eatery’s performative dining service
According to DeRuiter’s evaluation, all 27 options were tiny, weird, unnecessarily fussy portions, and nearly all were served cold. She stated, “Assembling two-dozen of them together amounted to a supper, just as amassing two-dozen toddlers together equated to one middle-aged adult.”
Main Course
In the image you can see how what should have been supposedly the star dish of the night, was in fact the equivalent of just a spoon of food. The couple were able to check on the Trip Advisor platform, that other people who have visited the restaurant, have been served with real food plates. Some featured meat, pasta, or even slices of bread.
In some images it was appreciated that the dishes needed the use of a fork and knife in order to be eaten. But this was not the case for the DeRuiter’s and their friends.
The Largest Course
“Italy is synonymous with pasta”, right?
However, it seems that the Bros restaurant was not trying to convince its guests about this fact. The pasta dish they were offered was really scarce. Although it seems incredible, this was the largest dish of the 27 that passed.
As you can see in the image, DeRuiter put it in perspective with the bread plate to have a better appreciation at scale.
A Sliver of Oyster
Another step in the tasting consisted of a piece of oyster bread with foam. We’ll use the exact words used by the blogger in her post to describe it: “an oyster loaf that tasted like Newark airport”.
Despite the indescribable nature of the situation, it seems that Geraldine still manages to keep up with some sense of humor saying, “David’s face here says more than I ever can.” The photo says it all…
Teaspoon of Olive Ice Cream
And what better than a good ice cream for dessert, right? Even better if you are eating in one of the most recommended restaurants in Italy. Unfortunately, this group was not lucky enough to say they enjoyed it. The ice cream portion consisted of a small teaspoon of olive ice cream.
The blogger recalls “I still haven’t gotten over that, really. I thought it was going to be pistachio.”
The Frozen Air Dish
The following dish undoubtedly makes up a perfect metaphor for what the evening was like for this group. Up until this point the couple was desperate for some real food but the disappointment continued. Apparently, it was a plate that melted on the table before they could put it in their mouths.
DeRuiter takes it with humor as this feeling of emptiness and volatility was something that accompanied her throughout the night.
Chef’s kiss
Without a doubt, the most bizarre moment of the night occurred when the dish called Chef’s Kiss arrived. It consisted of a spice of citrus foam delivered in a plaster mold shaped like the chef’s mouth. On DeRuiter’s cast, some of the foam dripped from the parted lips, which finished giving it the surreal touch.
As if that were not enough, they were not even provided the cutlery, the waiters indicated that they lick it directly from the mold itself. “We were told that we needed to kiss the mouth of the ramekin in order to slurp out the foam,” said Geraldine.
Random Incidents
Obviously, there was still the hope that somehow things would improve or maybe at this point the group felt too disadvantaged to make a decision. Whatever the case, they did not decide to leave despite the incidents that occurred.
For example, when one of them got up from the table to smoke, but the waiters forced him to return to his place, or when, because they did not know how to adapt to some of the allergies of one of the guests, they just chose not to bring him anything for 3 consecutive dishes.
Not too much
Another incident that the blogger reported in her post was when one of the waiters reprimanded her for eating. It turns out that one of the tasting dishes consisted of an orange. By this time, she was hungry and dared to ask if she could eat the whole fruit. The waiter replied that she shouldn’t, and surprisingly for everyone, he took the fruit after she ate 2 segments of it.
It was a kind of agony, as the group sat for hours while the small portions of food passed by and the redeeming plate never arrived.
Meat droplet course
The group sat in the restaurant for hours, hoping that at some point some food that could be considered dinner would arrive. However, the parade of tiny dishes did not stop. The “meat drop” dish was one of the most disappointing ones. “We have infused these droplets with meat molecules,” explained the server and then left. In the image you can see how some dark colored drops stand out from what seems to be a kind of thick liquid.
To this date, Gerladine continues to wonder if the experience they had is common in this restaurant, since from other reviews from customers it seems not to be the norm.
Time to leave
To crown the evening, the chef approached the group and handed them a bunch of balloons that had the restaurant’s name written on them. The idea was for the group to pose for the photo that would be taken with a Polaroid camera. After taking the picture the group exclaimed “That was abominable” as they threw the balloons into a garbage container.
Trying to find any meaning to this, the group thought that apparently the intention of the photo was that they would somehow help offset the cost of the food.
Total Cost
When the evening came to an end, it was finally time to pay the bill. The total cost was between $ 150 and $ 225 per person. DeRuiter said “The meal cost more than any other we’d eat during our trip by a magnitude of three.”
Of course, she took care to write about this in her review. She was very emphatic in her article about warning people not to eat there. In her own words “This was single-handedly one of the worse wastes of money in my entire food and travel writing career”.
Was it a prank?
The bill for the eight-person party, which included wine, came to almost 1,350 euros, which is a lot of money to think that it is a joke. If that were the case, it would be a crude joke. DeRuiter stated that she and her husband were the ones who paid for everyone’s meal and commented: “They’re either comedic geniuses or sadists, and hey that’s fine if that’s what your audience is expecting, but we sort of wanted to eat dinner.”
Lisa, one of the couple’s friends, tweeted “I ended up drinking an entire bottle of wine though so I was mercifully drunk”.
Chef’s declaration part one
Chef Floriano Pellegrino reacted to the negative evaluation with a three-page paper that included a sequence of photographs of a horseback rider. The first is a simple drawing, the second is Jacques-Louis David’s painting “Napoleon Crossing the Alps,” and the third is an almost unintelligible abstract picture.
He started saying “Being able to draw a man on a horse does not make you an artist. The result of your talent can be beautiful to look at, but it is not art. Drawing a man on a horse is the same as making food. Many people are able to make good food”.
Chef’s declaration part two
He continued his letter by stating that many people can draw the first picture, and many people can cook its gastronomic counterpart. “It isn’t difficult, yet the majority of people will admire you.” But only excellent cooks with years of study and training can provide “amazing meals,” as David depicted Napoleon.
He also mentioned being bored of those types of “shallow” art anyone can look at the Louvre or the Prado museums. Instead, he reinforced asking ¿What is art? ¿What is food? What is good taste? ¿What looks beautiful? ¿What is a man on a horse?
Chef’s declaration part three
By the end of the third image, Floriano takes it upon himself to make it clear that Pellegrino and Bros are interested in creating food that is comparable to the third abstract artwork. According to him, a meal like this makes those who prepare it “question everything, including themselves.”
Apparently according to his defense, the chef makes it clear that those who criticize his food and his restaurant simply do not understand art, and for that reason they are not able to appreciate his work. In his statement Floriano tries to convince us of his originality and creative thinking.
Media Impact
When something goes viral on the internet, it is almost impossible to be stopped. After the criticism that the restaurant and its chefs received, many media outlets echoed the story. And Floriano’s response further exacerbated the media’s hunger for continuing feeding public interest. Especially on twitter, the event became a trend and hundreds of memes appeared making fun of the situation and how the Chef decided to respond to the blogger’s review.
Without a doubt, this type of news provokes a sudden inspiration in people and some of the memes they make up can be really funny.
Something positive out of it
The Chef managed to benefit in some way after the harsh criticism. Even DeRuiter admitted that Pellegrino made some valid points: Food, like art, should challenge people and make them uncomfortable to a certain degree.
Interesting part is that the mold figure that was available for sale at their gift shop ended up running out after how viral the case became. As he states at the end of the letter “We thank Mrs. XXX — I don’t remember her name — for making us get to where we had not yet arrived. We are out of stock of ‘Limoniamo’, thank you very much.”
Story behind the mouth
The famous dish that attracted a myriad of thousands of people is called “Let’s Make Out”, and it is a paddle cleaner made primarily from citrus. When the time comes, waiters advise diners to lick up the pale orange foam that is delicately pressed into a ceramic mold from the chef’s open mouth.
“The idea is love at first bite instead of love at first sight,” said Floriano Pellegrino, the chef and mouth model. According to his recent declarations, the 58-euro castings had sold out, but hundreds more had been pre-ordered, and their supplier was scrambling to keep up.
Good news
As the saying goes “any publicity is good publicity”, and this seems to be the case for Floriano and his wife. It’s no secret that the restaurant industry thrives on advertising. In fact, Ms. Poti’s culinary skills and cheekbones have drawn the attention of fashion magazines and led to collaborations with important brands such as Nike. They have sponsorship agreements with sunglasses firms, ice cream shops, their own rugby team, and a clothing line.
Given the circumstances, there is a great possibility that the couple will benefit from this wave of publicity and even manage to open more branches in other cities.
How the couple met
Two years before obtaining the One Star Michelin recognition, Mr. Pellegrino met Ms. Potì in Otranto, where he was working as a restaurant manager to help pay for his study abroad. Over the next few years, he received training at some of the world’s most prestigious restaurants, and lucky for them, he and Ms. Potì became regulars on lists of emerging stars in Italian cuisine.
Mr. Pellegrino, who’s 31 years old and Ms Isabella Potì, who’s 26 now live nearby the town of Scorrano, located in the Province of Lecce and they are both expecting their first child.
How it began
Mr. Pellegrino worked in a restaurant in the resort town of Otranto with his mother when he was 16 years old. After that he pleaded for a seat in the kitchen in a Facebook message to Ilario Vinciguerra, a well-known chef outside of Milan.
Mr. Pellegrino claimed that his culinary desire, as well as the discipline he developed playing rugby, helped him avoid the criminality that had engulfed many of his friends. “You had to keep the reins on him, or he’d kick like a horse,” Mr. Vinciguerra said, recalling how the eager-to-learn adolescent followed him about constantly and was always trying to conceive something new.
It’s in the family
Bros’ restaurant was founded in 2015 by Mr Pellegrino and two of his brothers. Although they eventually determined that there were too many Pellegrino brothers in the Bros’ kitchen and split off, their website shows that they are still partners in other projects within the family.
Some of the projects include the “Roots Trattoria” located in Scorrano, where they serve pasta and other Mediterranean food. In the site, they also offer limited editions from their collaborations with other famous chefs and brands and a quite unique pass to meet the team and the behind the scenes from the Bros restaurant.
The dinner theater
It is likely that despite the criticism, the restaurant and its chefs will continue to offer their customers the art proposal in their food. In fact, when Geraldine DeRuiter described her experience, she compared it to a kind of independent theater or “dinner theater.”
She mentioned that comparing it to a dinner theater and taking away the notion of dinner allowed her to begin thinking about the situation more like a scene in a movie. In her own words: That is how I’ve come to regard our dinner at Bros, Lecce’s only Michelin-starred restaurant, as a means of preserving what’s left of my sanity.
Other options
In addition to the avant-garde dinner offered by the Bros’ restaurant, Mr Floriano and Ms Poti also offer other alternatives such as a Masterclass, where they invite you to learn the secrets of their cuisine together with them and try the dishes that are being made at the moment.
The chefs also present the option of having your own event at home, where you can organize a party and assist in a live demonstration with them cooking for you and your guests. Private corporate events are also another option they have listed on their website.
No Menu
With all that has been said so far, you probably already accepted that this restaurant provides a unique experience. But in addition to all this, a detail that ends up characterizing the place is that Bros does not have a menu. When you get in the place, they give you a blank newspaper with a QR code that leads to a video of one of the chefs speaking straight to the camera about subjects unrelated to cuisine.
This means you won’t be able to order anything other than the tasting menu, and you’ll have to rely on the servers to explain what’s going on.
Chef explains
Following his 3-page letter in response to criticism from writer Geraldine DeRuiter, Mr Floriano took additional time to explain why referencing art and painting was the best way to reply. He said that he quickly recognized parallels between his kitchen and a painter’s studio after reading the blog post.
“Many of the artists who are now part of the establishment were mocked when they were younger” he said. He also compared it to a museum, where there will always be a group of individuals who go in and have no idea what they’re going to see.