From a young age of 18, Andrea de Paola started his career in food and was eager to become head chef. He looks up to Beppe de Vito of the ilLido Group, who has been essential in his career.

 

Andrea de Paola, 26

Osteria Art

 

In this series, we meet chefs under 35 whose restaurants were awarded stars in Singapore’s Top Restaurants 2017/2018.

Andrea de Paola, chef de cuisine of Osteria Art, a silver-service Italian restaurant and bar under the ilLido Group, is one of Singapore’s semi-finalists going into regionals to vie for the San Pellegrino Young Chef 2018 award.

Chef de Paola started his career at 18, and was eager to become head chef, pronto. To do so, he worked 15-hour days, studied culinary books, experimented with ingredients to know what works and what doesn’t and to develop his own style of cooking. But he did not do it alone. He considers boss and restaurateur-chef Beppe de Vito of the ilLido Group his greatest mentor. Chef de Paola has worked in the group for the past four years across their various concepts such as &Sons Bacaro and ilLido restaurant and has been helming Osteria Art since 2015 as its chef de cuisine.

He says, “To be a leader, you have to follow a leader. For me that person is Beppe de Vito. He’s played a key role in my career, showing me how to be better at managing a kitchen, giving me advice on how to be better whenever I face any challenges.”

At Osteria Art, chef de Paola gets a chance to incorporate some of his favourite hometown ingredients, like tomatoes from Naples. “Because of the ash from Mount Vesuvius that acts as a natural fertiliser, the land there cultivates tomatoes with a unique flavour. The thick tomato skin holds all the sweetness and aroma that can’t be found in all other tomatoes. At Osteria Art, we use these Neapolitan tomatoes in our sauces, such as the bronze dye spaghetti with octopus and smoked paprika.”

This was first published in Wine & Dine’s September 2017 issue – Singapore’s Top Restaurants, ‘Early Risers’