Matteo Ferrantino

MATTEO FERRANTINO hails from the small town of Mattinata in Apulia in the south of Italy. He arrived in Portugal seven years ago after a long and winding route through Europe, working in some of the top restaurants along the way. He believes he has found his place in life in the Algarve.
‘I have found what I like in my life: the food, the products... I seem to have found the right place for my tastes,’ he says.

Ferrantino’s kitchen style is modern, but he has learnt a lot of traditional Portuguese recipes from friends and colleagues, books, and visiting fish markets and farms. He likes to bring these up to date in terms of presentation, while maintaining the best of time-honoured flavours. Mediterranean in style, everything is cooked fresh, using a lot of olive oil and a lot of fruit. Fish is often lightly grilled, or served raw, with a lot of lemon, oil, and coriander, almost ceviche-style.

Ferrantino has worked with a lot of ‘celebrity’ chefs over the years, both as part of the International Gourmet Festival, and at Hangar-7 in Salzburg, where he worked alongside Eckart Witzigmann, Roland Trettl and numerous guest chefs from around the globe. One of his favourite chefs is Joachim Wissler of the three Michelin starred Vendôme in Bergisch Gladbach, near Cologne, Germany, but he also highly respects Joan Roca of El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, Spain.

Nevertheless, Ferrantino sees himself as something of an ambassador for Portuguese cuisine, and he firmly believes that it is becoming and will continue to become ever more popular: ‘Portugal is a really small country, but it is rising really well in the ranks.’ Speaking on a more personal level he adds: ‘Now is my time. I have a lot
of experience and I love my job more than anything. I want to use my name around Europe.’