The kitchen of Michelin star chef Viviana Varese in Milan

Viva!

Immersed in a living world, seasons, ethics, joy, fun and enthusiasm.
We are alive. Discovering, searching and creating.
Experimenting, we are nourished by curiosity with which we nourish our ideas.
In life, but most of all in the kitchen.

Viva!

Diversity, points of view, differences.
Speaking, listening, mixing.
Melding cultures and thoughts, stimuli and memories.
Today, more than ever.

Viva!

Creators and creatives with bubbling minds, and those who pause to think.
We feel, we change, we exist.
We never stop discovering and reinventing ourselves.
Always looking forward.

Viva!

That flash of genius
that some may call folly.
It keeps telling us we are alive.

THE MENU

VIVIANA VARESE

Viviana Varese’s cuisine is a direct expression of the Chef’s personality. Bursts of creativity and equilibrium, dedication and passion, substance and colour. Right from her childhood, the goings on in the family fish restaurant fascinated her, the first stage of a journey that lead to her leaving Campania to go exploring, learning, shaping her future. People and places became anchor points: Albereta and Maestro Gualtiero Marchesi, El Celler De Can Roca at Girona, Relae run by Christian Puglisi, Angel Leon’s Aponiente and Albert Adrià’s Enigma in Barcellona. It was in 1999 that Viviana Varese launched her own Girasole, in the Province of Lodi. The year 2007, when she met Sandra Ciciriello, saw the birth of the Alice restaurant in Milano.

In 2011 came the first Michelin Star and soon after the move into Eataly Smeraldo. And today? Viviana Varese is changing, growing, taking risks, though remaining faithful to her true self.

She is still bold, real, enthusiastic.
Today, more than ever, she is VIVA Viviana Varese, she is ALIVE.

THE KITCHEN BRIGADE AND FRONT OF HOUSE TEAM

The kitchen is full of people living shoulder to shoulder, communicating through glances and gestures that transmit exactly what they mean. The VIVA Viviana Varese brigade is strong, young, prepared, compact. Ready to follow Viviana Varese’s safe and unmistakable guidance. Front of house is where people are welcomed and the stories are told. Each member of our staff has a deep understanding of the ingredients, processes and ideas that lie behind every dish. A knowledge fed by passion and a desire to satisfy the curiosity of those who want to delve deeper and truly discover Viviana Varese’s cuisine.

There is enthusiasm, respect, culture. The active, serene and energetic stamp of the Chef is palpable throughout the kitchen brigade and front of house team. Viva!

THE TERRITORY

Milan welcomes us, hosts us, inspires us. We feed off Milan’s cosmopolitan soul, where every meeting leads to growth and every contamination to riches, and we bring all this into our kitchen. An inclusive, diverse, welcoming space: we are a social workshop and we revel in what makes us different.

We admire Milan’s beauty, touching on influences and finding creative stimuli. A reference point for art and design, fashion and innovation, every day Milan teaches us never to stop, to cultivate our imagination and never mislay our curiosity.

Viviana Varese’s cuisine pays homage to the energy that permeates our city: open, constantly renewing itself, totally ALIVE, VIVA.

THE SPACE

VIVA Viviana Varese is living matter, colours, life. On the second floor of Eataly Smeraldo, the room is illuminated by the light streaming in from the huge window looking out on Piazza 25 aprile. The space – that can host up to 90 people – has been thought out personally by Viviana Varese. The tables are from di Riva 1920 and the solid wood comes from Venice’s briccole, poles that mark the gondola stops along its canals.

Togetherness and conviviality, Viviana Varese’s constant and essential trademarks, find their place on the Social table designed by Renzo and Matteo Piano in antique Kauri wood, a symbol of new life and returning light.

The kitchen is a unique Molteni design. It is open to view so that guests may appreciate the dynamics of the brigade and follow what at times looks like a frenetic and yet precise dance. Giò Ponti designed the cutlery, that sits alongside ceramics designed by the Chef and were specially created for VIVA Viviana Varese.

AWARDS

010 – Gambero Rosso – giovane emergente dell’anno
2010 – Identità Golose – miglior chef donna dell’anno
2011 – 1a Stella Michelin
2015 – Membro del consiglio direttivo guida “Le soste”
2015 – Chef Ambassador Expo Milano
2019 – The Grand Gelinaz
2019 – 50Best Discovery