Meeting Antonio Carluccio in Auckland

Last night I met my food hero from the days I was a very young, very poor student in London. I remember I was always cold and hungry and leaving in a grotty place in Kings Cross, and once a week I watched Carluccio on TV and dreamed of home and sun and food. 

Gusto at the Grand, in Sky City, organized a special Christmas lunch and dinner with Antonio Carluccio, I attended the evening with my old friend, and president of the Com.it.es New Zealand Sandro Aduso. Wow we got to sit at Carluccio's table, with name places and all. 

Well, good position for taking photos, right across from Antonio.

The menu was designed by Antonio and by Gusto's talented chef Sean Connelly. Antonio said that Sean really understood Italian food and he was very complimentary, and rightly so, the food at Gusto at the Grand is really really really good!

Well, after a while I got tired to be taking pictures while Sandro was doing all the chatting! Finally Antonio came to sit next to me, yuppy! What a nice man, he even told me that he is writing a vegetarian cookbook!

The guys at Gusto were great though: even if there were enough vegetables for me to eat the also bought me an 'off the menu' vegetarian dish: gnocchi with mushrooms. Remembered to take a photo only at the end… sorry, but they were delicious.

Great evening, thank you to all the team at Gusto at the Grand!

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini and friends ©