Daniel Redondo & Helena Rizzo as Guest chefs in the Ikarus

December 2011 at Restaurant Ikarus: D. Redondo & H. Rizzo

Cuisine infused with love

It's a well-known fact that the way to a man's, or woman's, heart is through their stomach. In the case of Helena Rizzo and Daniel Redondo, however, their entire cuisine is infused with love, because when they got to know each other a few years ago in Girona, Spain, they not only both found the love of their lives, but also the perfect partner for unique culinary experiences. The result is their restaurant Maní, in São Paulo, which opened in 2006.

At the age of 14 Helena Rizzo wanted to be a model, but when she cooked for her friends she quickly realised food was her true passion and decided to give up her impending career as a catwalk model. Admittedly she does have the face and charisma to be a model, but anyone who has tried a dish from her kitchen knows that she made the right decision. After training with French chef Emmanuel Bassoleil at Roanne (São Paulo), she worked at Gero and Fasano, and for Brazil's most famous caterer, Neka Menna Barreto. She finally got a job with a chef de cuisine at Na Mata Café (São Paulo), but that wasn't enough for Helena Rizzo.

In 2000 Helena Rizzo decided to go abroad, to Europe, with the aim of garnering new experiences and making her own culinary techniques more versatile. For four years she worked at restaurants such as La Torre and Sadler in Milan (holder of two Michelin stars), until she finally arrived at El Celler de Can Roca, in Girona, which had in the meantime been awarded three Michelin stars. During this period Joan Roca became one of her most important mentors, as did his Catalan chef Daniel Redondo … and we're back to where our story started.

Back in São Paulo, Rizzo and Redondo opened Maní, based on the concept of perfecting traditional Brazilian cuisine by refining it with exquisite ingredients sourced from all over the world but primarily from the surrounding region. Redondo's Spanish-Mediterranean influence is very evident – Peruvian gnocchi with samphire pesto, root vegetable risotto and poached fish are prominent and sit self-assuredly on the menu alongside national dishes such as bacalhao and experimental dishes such as a soya and sesame burger with wasabi potato purée and a mixed salad on honey and mustard dressing or roast beef with an exotic crust of lapsang souchong tea. The couple skilfully cock a snook at the incontrovertible basic principles of haute cuisine and serve the seemingly obligatory foie gras in an unconventional form – as a praline with fresh guava and a splash of port.

In no time at all Maní blossomed into one of the most popular restaurants in São Paulo – exclusively by word of mouth. Helena Rizzo has been awarded numerous prizes by Brazilian gourmet magazines. Food & Drink crowned her chef of the year in 2009, the same year Maní won Best Contemporary Restaurant. Restaurant critic Alexandra Forbes, who amongst other things blogs for The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, frankly called it her "favourite restaurant in the whole of São Paulo".

These hymns of praise are not really surprising, because Maní's exceptional and superb cuisine, coupled with the approachable friendliness, almost shy charm, of down-to-earth chef Helena Rizzo, and the restaurant's unconventional, uncomplicated atmosphere convey something that may be the most important thing of all when eating – deep passion. And for the rest of his or her life, anyone who has eaten Helena Rizzo and Daniel Redondo's cooking will be very sure that the way to someone's heart really is through their stomach. Sorry, through cooking.

Further information

Restaurant Maní

Maní
Rua Joaquim Antunes
210 Jardim Paulistano
São Paolo, Brazil
Telephone: +55 11 3085-4148 / 3062-7458
www.manimanioca.com.br
contato@manimanioca.com.br