Shrewsbury's very own Italian Chef wins again! Alessandro Degiorgio has won Chef of the Year again for 2024 in the Italian Awards but his restaurant Osteria has also won Best Restaurant in the Midlands.
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00:00My name is Alessandro Di Giorgio. I'm the chef and owner of Osteria, Tewsbury.
00:06Sunday we've been awarded as best restaurant in the Netherlands and again for the second consecutive year I've been chef for the Italian Award.
00:16We have four judges this year who give us the chance and the opportunity to arrive where we are.
00:23We could do nothing, to be honest with you, without our customers' vote.
00:28This is sort of like a three-stage process. You go voted first, then it depends on the category.
00:37In our case, we've been to the Cheshire Culinary School in Manchester and we've done the cook-off over there.
00:47Then after the cook-off, we have the gala with all the announcements of the winners.
00:53And that was two days ago, Sunday, on the 6th.
00:57Aldo Zilli gave us the good news on the podium and it's fantastic, to be fair.
01:05It's very good. It's nice. It's a very good personal satisfaction to be recognised and to be appreciated for all the hard work that we're doing here.
01:18I'm like a man, you like me or you don't.
01:21I'm trying so hard to offer some genuine Italian experience here, some authentic food.
01:29I respect my rules and my tradition and this is what I show in my dishes.
01:36Some people think like me. This is why you will see that they're doing some genuine Italian food.
01:42Some others don't, but the word is good because it's various and everybody does what they want.
01:48I like to keep the spirit up and carry on with what I'm doing because by the look of it, it looks like I'm doing something good.
01:56I've been in Shrewsbury for almost 14 years and I wasn't planning on staying here this long, to be fair.
02:04My plan was to stay in the UK for a couple of years, then learn the language and a bit more about the food.
02:12Then move to Spain, learn the language and food and move to France and to Germany.
02:20And after eight years, go back home and open a restaurant.
02:24What happened? I fell in love with Shrewsbury and I decided to open the restaurant in 2018.
02:352018 was nice. I took over a place which was called Paolo's.
02:39Fortunately, 2021 we got flooded very badly and we were out of business for 18 months.
02:47Then we reopened here in 2022 and since that day, I'm literally spending my life here 24-7 in this place.
02:56I treat this like my baby and I'm proud I am because I'm trying to do the best.
03:04And I want to show everybody what proper Italian food looks and tastes like.
03:12And slowly, slowly, people will understand. Hopefully.