UMBERTO BARBIERI – THE STORY
Here I am, sitting at a table on a stilt platform overlooking
the beach, a Thai traditional thatched roof above me repairs
me from today’s inclement rays of the scorching sun. In front
I have the most spectacular scenery to me familiar: the Andaman
Sea with the various islands dotting the horizon that belong
to this beautiful and amazing province: Krabi. The tide is growing;
the gentle noise of the waves breaking onto the shore is beautifully
mixed with the soft music produced by the restaurant speakers.
The occasion of this visit to Sala Bua & Lo Spuntino, a
restaurant with two joined yet separately managed kitchens,
is meeting Italian Chef Umberto, a popular figure in the Ao
Nang culinary scene. Umberto is an Italian ex-pat with 8 years
permanence in the area, and his path has not been the easiest.
Unlike many of the restaurateurs who arrived in the region 15
years ago when opportunities abounded and the food sector was
still undeveloped, he has had rough times. Umberto is a small
but strongly built man with a witty smile on his face. Today
he is the chef of one of the most successful restaurants in
Ao Nang. We make a toss with some red wine and start the conversation.
Umberto’s culinary passion was inherited from his family: he
is an only child of a couple whose family’s women have always
tended to the kitchen, gathering up on Sundays to exchange recipes
and cooking secrets. Since very little, he had the habit of
tasting his mother’s dishes before they reached the table. From
that to starting to play around with kitchen’s utensils and
food himself was an easy step.
Umberto was 16 when he made his choices and decided to join
the School of Food and Hospitality in Acqui Terme, in the North
of Italy. From that moment, his life was dedicated to food.
He knew he straight away he had made the right choice: after
2 years he was sent for an important stage at the Swallow Hotel
in Northampton, UK, and on his return to Italy he started to
work in 3 and 4 star hotels. For 3 years he was an itinerant
chef, and he had to be flexible and dedicated in order to learn
important variations in Italian most important culinary regions:
Tuscany, Umbria, Liguria, Val D’Aosta, Emilia Romagna.
Umberto was 22 when he decided to become self-employed and opened
a gastronomy shop that sold traditional culinary products; during
his time in that business, he considerably improved his pasta-making
and homemade breads techniques. After a year of experience,
he opened his first restaurant, the ‘Casa Carina’ (Pretty House),
serving typical regional dishes from Piedmont region such as
meat, starters and fresh pasta dishes. It was a very successful
establishment that served 150 seats on an al fresco terrace
and 60 seats on the inside, an experience that rewarded him
with the Autunno Langarolo, an important gastronomic trophy,
for 4 consecutive years. Umberto worked predominantly with the
tourist sector, feeding Italian delicacies to foreign holidaymakers
to the region. After this period, he spent 2 years as a freelance,
putting into practice the know-how matured and consulting the
starting-off of various restaurants in the area. The last Italian
adventure was the opening and managing of a Mexican style restaurant,
where he specialized in grilled meat.
I contemplate all this while I enjoy my lunch break at Lo Spuntino:
misto goloso mari e monti - a huge mix of cheese, cold cuts,
swordfish carpaccio, baked shells and tomatoes bruschette impressively
served on a huge wooden plate, which usually leaves clients
speechless.
Umbertos’ career, at that point, reached foreign lands. The
brave moving abroad was for Umberto an opportunity to widen
his cultural baggage and share his Italian cooking expertise
in foreign countries. He started with Singapore; he had always
been attracted to Asia, and Singapore was the one that most
resembled of his European reality. There, he worked as Executive
Chef in an Italian restaurant, but the food they cooked needed
to be adapted to local taste and he was not feeling good about
that, being too rooted in traditional tastes. He soon discovered
the city to be too big and crowded and decided to move on, embarking
on a trip north; he crossed Malaysia by land and arrived in
Ao Nang, Thailand, by chance, on his way to Koh Phi Phi. Also
by chance, he was offered a job in an Italian restaurant, a
job he kept for 2 years.
Back then, Ao Nang was developing fast; Umberto liked the laid
back atmosphere of the place and he saw plenty of business opportunities
arising. Despite the problems southern Thailand experienced
due to Sars and the Aviary Flue, tourists kept filling Ao Nang;
they were mostly middle class Scandinavians, the kind that would
not miss the chance to eat in a quality Italian restaurant.
Umberto defied the high/low season fluctuations of the area
and opened Lo Spuntino in September 2004. Its first location
was at The Beach Resort, opposite the Irish Rover Pub soi. Lo
Spuntino specialized in starters, fresh pasta and homemade breads,
and had a huge success in the first 4 months of opening. December
2004 was characterized by the tsunami, an event that did not
affect the Ao Nang area so much, but that scared away tourists
and undermined the financial basis of Umberto’s establishment.
He still had to pay a high rent and several salaries in the
following months, with takings being next to nil. By August
2005 the losses had reached a high proportion and forced him
to close down. It was a sad moment. The future looked bleak,
yet Umberto felt optimistic despite all. He had a Thai wife
and they were happy here, already well integrated in the area.
The turning point in Umberto’s career in Ao Nang was the meeting
of Soony, a Thai national educated in Switzerland and well accepted
by the local Italian community. Soony needed a boost for his
Sala Bua restaurant, which was then located near the Noppharat
Thara boxing stadium, and Umberto needed a fresh start. They
decided to make an experiment and teamed up to form the Sala
Bua & Lo Spuntino. After a reasonable high season at that
location, they decided to strengthen the union and to upgrade,
moving to a more walked-on location, the current one.
Today, Umberto is a satisfied and proud man. Lo Spuntino still
serves, according to many local ex-pats, the best Italian food
in town. It took some time but Umberto has finally managed to
team up with a good partner in business and can now afford to
reach his initial objective: to have one of the most beautiful
and successful restaurant in Ao Nang. He is happily married
with Tan, and they have a beautiful three-years-old daughter,
Emi. They all call Ao Nang home.
After over 8 years in Ao Nang, Umberto is still the only Italian
chef that officially works in a restaurant. It must mean something…
“DEDICATED TO THOSE WHO HAVE NOT HAD ENOUGH FAITH” - Umberto
Barbieri
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Interview to Umberto Barbieri - Chef cook of Lo Spuntino Restaurant Ao
Nang Krabi Thailand
