“First - be humble, second - study and learn skills from everyone”
Al-Taglio’s Enrico Sgarbossa has spent the past 7 years in Australia paving his way to success with perserverence and great humility, with the dream of one day becoming the head chef of his own restaurant. Traveling to Italy 2 to 3 times per year to up skill and to extend his horizon of pizza knowledge, it didn't take Enrico long to become a flour technician to four flour mills in Sydney. What’s inspiring is not merely his qualities of determination and perseverance in his steady road to success, but also his leap of transformation within a short span of time. Enrico landed on Australian soil with only a few English words in his dictionary and a very limited sense of knowledge of the busy city of Sydney which he now calls home. “I used to work so much that I had no time to go to any school, so it took me more time to learn the English language.”
And today, Enrico is a flour technician teacher and owns the Pizza Restaurant ’Al Taglio’ in Surry Hills, where he instills his passion for fresh and sustainable ingredients and products from start to finish. His eagerness and willingness to learn led him to discover new pizza flavours that have made his menu so greatly sought after. He refers to his food as “What he'd like to find when he heads out for pizza.”
Enrico’s hunger to thrive did not stop here, soon after his restaurant’s opening in July 2016, he decided to share his knowledge to inspire other chefs with mentoring classes as his restaurants. His neighbouring restaurants are also using him to supply them with fresh foccaia as they cannot get theirs to be as outstanding as his.
But why Australia?
Enrico’s love for career nourishment and personal growth were the reasons he decided on Australia. He considered London at the time but held back as it was close to Italy and not enough of a challenge for him. He aimed to really throw himself into the deep end as he was seeking a destination where he would ultimately feel that he ‘has to look after himself’.
Enrico's the advice to foreign student chefs who are studying in Australia:
“First be humble, second, study and learn skills from everyone. Australia is good to learn different kinds of cuisine - Sydney is a multicultural city.”
Where to from here Enrico?
“To be the first gourmet pizzeria in Sydney is a big claim, but actually, that's what we are. We want to be known for the most unique flavours of traditional pizza straight out of Italy and into Sydney’s dining life."
Shop Enrico's chosen Cream Workwear style today http://bit.ly/2cwW08k And visit @al_taglio_artofpizza for more information and to book a cooking/mentor class.