On the 40th anniversary of Tatler Dining Guide, Estro’s Fabio Bardi humbly acknowledges his place among the most respected pastry chefs in the world
Born into a family of restaurateurs on the Italian island of Sardinia, little would have indicated that Fabio Bardi would one day become one of the most respected pastry chefs halfway across the world in Hong Kong. Yet, like many before him and many yet to come, Bardi embarked on a globe-trotting journey that would eventually lead him to our corner of the world.
Having completed culinary school in Italy and hungry to broaden his horizons, Bardi secured his first kitchen job at the rice and pasta section in famed New York restaurant San Domenico, though the pull of the pastry and bread section proved too strong. He further honed his skills at Ladurée in Paris, and later, postings in Ireland, Italy, Singapore, London and Osaka, dreaming up pastries and desserts for everything from steakhouses to luxury hotels and even café chains—not to mention a two-year stint as executive pastry chef at 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana in Hong Kong.
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All this is why we’re inclined to trust the veteran pâtissier when he says, “In order to survive and thrive over the years in any city, but particularly in places like Hong Kong, any F&B outlet must have a strong identity and be able to offer something that is both unique and yet approachable to the people.”
At Estro, the transportive Italian fine-dining restaurant by Antimo Maria Merone where Neapolitan gastronomy is refracted and reinterpreted into an almost Bauhausian rendition of itself, Bardi’s sweet creations somehow tread this fine line. Case in point: the pistachio gelato that combines a familiar nut with a familiar type of ice cream, but has somehow captured the imaginations of diners, becoming a much-anticipated final crescendo at the end of each meal.
In a roundabout way, Bardi has become a Hongkonger himself. “I still remember my very first meal in the city over a decade ago,” he recalls. “I was visiting Asia for the first time in my life, and the thing that captured me the most was that the aroma of food was omnipresent. I fell in love with how you could be eating on the side street the most authentic bowl of noodles and then find yourself a few hours later dining inside some opulent restaurant. Eating should be considered a national sport or hobby.”