Chef Bernardo Paladini, who worked with Bottura for seven years at the restaurant, which was ranked as the world’s number one by the World’s 50 Best Restaurants in both 2016 and 2018, is now managing Torno Subito’s kitchen at W Dubai – The Palm.

Recently celebrating its two-year anniversary, the restaurant at W Dubai – The Palm is a world away from Bottura’s three Michelin-starred Osteria Francescana in Modena. For Bernardo Paladini, the young chef tasked with leading Torno Subito’s operations in Dubai, getting this point across is a vital part of the experience. Paladini says: “Yes, there is the name of Massimo, so the most challenging thing for me when I meet guests or for the people on the floor is to be able to explain in 40 seconds that this is not Osteria Francescana. Osteria Francescana is one, it’s unique, and it’s in Modena. This is something else. This is the dream of Massimo Bottura to rebuild his childhood in Rimini, Riviera Romagnola, from the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, La Dolce Vita. This is Torno Subito.”

The chef answers questions about whether he will open his own restaurant as follows: “I still need to give back a lot of what I’ve had from Massimo, so now it’s far away for me to think about another thing. Of course, one day you see yourself opening a restaurant but for now I don’t need this. I felt Osteria Francescana was my restaurant, I feel like Torno Subito is my restaurant, and you can ask the same to all of the guys here and they will give you the same answer. For now we just need the world to restart again and there’s just positivity in my mind.”