Restaurant: Sapore
Sapore head chef Alicia Xerri, formerly of il Fornaio (another St Kilda favourite), has an impressive culinary history for someone so young. Initially Xerri worked front of house and it was here that her passion for what went on behind the scenes grew and her transition to chef began. Training at Becco, where she completed her apprenticeship under Elizabeth Egan and Marco Lori and at La Linia under Arni Sleeman, Alicia did her time in London with positions at the esteemed 192 restaurant in Kensington and the directors table at HSBC, Canary Wharf.
Back in Australia she has a few awards under her belt including a gold and best in heat at the regional heat of the National Salon Culinaire in 2003. One of Alicia’s favourite ways to spend a day off is catching up with friends over coffee. Her top pick restaurant-wise is Mo Vida where she sees the food as a brilliant raw product which, with some simple preparation, is deliciously flavoursome. She looks to her mentor Marco Lori for inspiration and her words of advice to us cooks at home are not to “limit yourself to the produce you are working with. Use universal ingredients, respect food and ask questions.”
Veda Wickens, November 2006