Chef profile - Gianpaul Redolfi of Gusto in Hull

Though just a few feet away from the explosion, Gian and Alex both walked away relatively unscathed, though understandably shaken.

Gianpaul trained first under the wing of his father Gianfranco and then, at 16, he spent three years at various restaurants throughout northern Italy. There, he learned both the traditional simple-and-tasty style typical of the best Italian cookery and the more complex techniques favoured further up the country. On his return, he first employed his new skills working alongside his father at La Perla and, latterly, when he and Alex took over the restaurant and renamed it Gusto.

Since opening in 2013, Gusto has consistently been the best Italian restaurant for a 50-mile radius. As well as offering the usual pasta and pizza options, Gian crafts a daily specials board made from the best seasonal ingredients available, fish being a particular speciality. Gusto has recently reopened after the lockdown and, even with social distancing and other measures observed, appears as popular and buzzing as ever.

Can you remember the first dish you ever cooked – and was it a success? I vividly remember making pasta sauce for my sisters when I was about nine, but the first successful dish of my own was cheese soufflé. We were supposed to make cheese straws for food technology at school but I’d been to work with my mum, who was helping a friend with a restaurant opening in Lincolnshire, and I told her I didn’t want to make boring cheese straws so she showed me how to make soufflé instead. Even though I say it myself, it was superb.

Who is your inspiration in the kitchen and why? My dad Franco, who’s also a chef. I used to go over to his work at Pierluigis in Hornsea and play with the pizza dough when I was about five. I just loved the smells from the pizzeria and the buzz of the place. When I was becoming more passionate about being a chef, my dad would say to me: “Are you sure this is what you want to do when you grow up?” because he knew the industry was renowned for long, hard hours with poor pay, but I knew it would be where I’d get my adrenalin fix from.

What was the first recipe book you ever owned? When I was 14, I went to the BBC Good Food Show at the Birmingham NEC with my sister Gemma. We saw a Jamie Oliver cooking demonstration and got the chance to meet him, so I bought a copy of The Naked Chef book and he signed it for me.

If you organised a dinner party, which three people would you invite and why? My first choice would be Massimo Bottura, who owns one of the best Italian restaurants in the world, Osteria Francescana in Modena. I’d love to ask him about his recipes. Second would be Freddie Mercury, simply for the entertainment. And finally, RuPaul, one of the world’s most influential drag queens.

What is your favourite ingredient and why? It would have to be double zero flour, because it can be used for so many recipes. The things I love to make the most are bread, pizza and fresh pasta, so you don’t really need much more than flour to create all of those.

What have you been up to during lockdown? Lockdown has been so productive. Me and my partner Alex were making meals at home with all the ingredients we had left over from the restaurant after we had to close. We were handing them out to family, friends and customers according to their need, which we both felt really positive about. I also put a lot of time into our garden. I’m a keen gardener and have recently been harvesting round zucchini, which I grew from seeds I brought back from our last trip to see family in Italy.

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