Giuseppe Fuzio began his career washing dishes and training as an apprentice in a pastry shop on the ground floor of the building where he grew up.
The Puglia native has come a long way since then. Travelling across Italy from the seaside to the alps, before moving to the UK, Japan, and finally Australia, the chef has garnered experience across hotels, casual eateries, and Michelin-starred restaurants.
Now, Alessandro Pavoni’s Maestro Hospitality (formerly The Ormeggio Group) has named Fuzio – with his Italian seaside heritage and strong appreciation of quality produce – Executive Chef of Italian fine dining seafood restaurant a’Mare.
The chef is developing a menu that combines creativity and tradition with local and seasonal ingredients, “top local producers and the best Italian products”. His goal is to create a kitchen that is flexible to menu changes, and he plans to update the menu every few weeks “to ensure we’re using the best seasonal ingredients at the right time”.
“Pugliese cuisine is based on seafood and seasonal vegetables. Here in a‘Mare we are using the best vegetables that we can find and the best seafood that Australia’s ocean offers, then zests of lemon, a good extra virgin olive oil, and everything tastes incredibly good,” says Fuzio.
At a’Mare, Fuzio’s signature dish stems from a traditional Pugliese dish, linguina al sugo di granchio (crab linguine). He has adapted the recipe to use Australian products, including spanner crab from Fraser Island – “one of the best crabs that you can find in Australia”.
“We use the shells for the broth. After cooking the pasta in boiling water, we toss the pasta with semidried, extremely sweet cherry tomatoes and we refresh the broth with lemon zest. To complete the dish, we will dress the crab with some colatura di Alici citronette (anchovy brine),” says Fuzio.
As for the opportunities and challenges the chef expects to face? “The hospitality industry is facing a significant shortage of skilled staff particularly in kitchen and service roles. To defeat those issues, we are trying to offer competitive salaries, a good work-life balance, and continuous training to attract and train the right staff to stay with us and grow in a healthy hospitality group,” says Fuzio.
Fuzio also notes that the rising cost of goods and fluctuating pricesof meat, seafood, and vegetables are putting pressure on margins and making menu planning and budgeting difficult.
“Working more closely with farms, and long relationships with many local producers helps to keep the food cost under control,” says Fuzio.
The chef also expects social media to continue having a massive influence on dining and travel.
For now though, Fuzio is looking at fostering the best workplace for his team.
“I would like to cultivate a strong and motivated team where creativity and passion can succeed, by mentoring and providing opportunities to grow as a professional chef and a nice human being.”
