We opened Moebius Milano in 2020. On the ground floor you’ll find the casual Tapa Bistrot and the cocktail bar, which is ranked seventh in the World’s 50 Best Bars. Upstairs, we opened Moebius Sperimentale, which is a magic place for me. We serve 12 diners every night and the kitchen is part of the dining space.
I have always worked in kitchens – in France, in Spain, in the US and, of course, in Italy. Before Moebius, I had opened two Michelin-starred restaurants, one in the Dolomites in Italy and one in Calpe, near Alicante in Spain.
The two kitchens here are very different but the same brigade operates across both. We only open three nights a week upstairs while the bistrot is open every day.
Our menu in Sperimentale changes frequently, we work with the best ingredients we can find so that determines what is on the menu on any given night. We offer three menus in the open kitchen: one focused on the sea, one on the land and the third is an open menu called Libertà, where the diner lets the chef choose the dishes. It always includes some of our signature dishes, but we speak with the guests to find out what they like and then we go from there. We spend a lot of time on the creative process and I want to hear what the diner thinks. Today, 90% of diners choose the Libertà menu – they like to be surprised.
The longest menu is eight servings; and you can enjoy it in a couple of hours. I don’t think people want to eat for many hours. In my mind, this is 12 friends coming for dinner in my house and I think the diners enjoy seeing what is happening in the kitchen.
I have travelled a lot and seen the world but I am an Italian chef and I like to cook with our ingredients. You won’t see special effects in my kitchen. We like a type of cuisine that is genuine and we get the ‘wow’ factor with the simplicity of it.
For me this is not a job, it is a lifestyle, and the first ingredient in the kitchen is the energy we have and the vision. Every day is different and I love the creativity.
It doesn’t really matter if you are serving traditional or avant garde food – it is all about creating a guest experience. We can talk about technique and philosophy but, at the end of the day, we are welcoming guests who have chosen to come here to eat our food and that is what is important.
Tina Nielsen
