I stood in the lobby of
Gianni Kohvik on a Wednesday morning, looking like a tourist. It is
my fist visit to Gianni. The breakfast has just ended and the lunch
did not yet begin. So we are pretty much standing by ourselves at the
lobby. Gianni is divided in two: there is a restaurant with white
table-cloths and a wine aquarium, and on the other side a cafe. The
interiors can easily give you an image of a poshy uptight Italian
Restaurant. We wandered to the cafe, resting our eyes on the pastry
showcase at the end of the counter. ”Bet they come from a bakery”,
I pointed the macarons, quiches and cakes to my colleague
accompanying me.
Quite often the cafes simply don't have the room,
not to speak of craftsmanship, to prepare a very wide variety of
products. ”Do you think so?”, she asked. ”You'll see.”
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| Kuva: Gianni |
Chef Constantino Veglianti
arrives. To me he looks more like a German than an Italian
restaurateur. Dark hair combed back and a pizza-pot belly are absent.
He is given away though since the mouth is set for the usual
Mediterrenean rapid-fire mode. Before we get to exchange names
properly Chef Veglianti is geeting guests arriving through the
sliding doors at the entrance:
”Buongiorno! Come va?” The guests
answer in German so Constatino goes on: ”Achso, wie geht's mein
Freund? Alles gut? Wie schön zu hören!” Spoken like a true
cosmopolitan.
Long story short
The cafe started under the
name ”Fashion cafe” back in the day. I'm curious how things have
changed since those days. ”First it was hard to get ingredients. I
thought, when I came from Italy, that Estonia has a great variety of
fish. The sea is so close from here. I thought we just go fishing But
it didn't work like that. Some weeks you got the product you ordered,
some weeks you didn't. It was hard to plan a menu if you can't be
100-percent sure you get the ingredients,” Constantino thinks back.
Gianni has been running
for twelve years now. Constantino has been working there right from
the start, although he made a small sidetrack along the way. Now he's
been working in Gianni for six consequent years. That's an eternity
by any standards used in the industry. One must have an extremely
good employer and a passion for the work. Elen confirms that they literally have to chase him out every now and then
to have a day-off: ”He's among the first to come in the morning and
last to leave in the night.”
But chef Veglianti has days'off. Well,
sort of. During his sidetrack years Constantino found a restaurant in
Berlin. Having a restaurant in a different country sets some
obligations. While at it, Constantino fulfills his rites with wine.
He is a wine enthusiast and goes around tastings to haul back certain
small-batch treasures from Germany. This makes Gianni a peculiarity
among restaurants since it is somewhat an oddity to have the chef
involved in planning the carta de vinos.
Since four or five years
ago the restaurant revolution started in Estonia. New places opened
all the time and the standards got higher. Chef Veglianti points out
Tchaikovsky and restaurant Moon as among his favorites. While
Tchaikovsky represents the classic restaurant with some of the Old
Guard manning the posts, Moon draws from the innovations of the
younger generation and has established itself well within the
culinary scene.
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| Kuva: Kristel Pentus |
Service is the key
The sliding doors keep
opening. By and by it becomes clear that chef Veglianti knows most of
their customers at least by appearance. ”I look at the ticket in
the kitchen and see: 'ha, this lady likes her pasta full-grain' or
'he's always asking to have it gluten free'”, Constantino says. I
inquire whether they have a lot of regulars. ”Yes, yes. Many people
come here to have breakfast, or lunch, and then come back in the
evening for dinner. Sometimes we even keep the wine bottle they
started at lunch-time for them when they come back later that day. We
just put their name on the label.”
One of the core values
cherished in Gianni is service. “We are very flexible with our
guests. We want to personify the service.” Maybe they have done
some things right 'cause people keep coming back. Chef Veglianti
describes how even the guests know each other. “Often there are
loud cross-table conversations or one of the regulars sitting here
greeting all the other guests coming in”, Constantino motions at
the corner table. I can imagine the elder gent with a bottle of
Campari and a siphon set on the table.
The image of a poshy Italian cafe is starting to crumble. What
about the pastries in the showcase?
“Oh, the pastry chef
works from Monday to Friday. She's very busy. For weekends we have to
cover for her!”, Constantino exclaims. I stand corrected!
Thank you, excuse me and good bye!
Half-assed Chef.
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| Kuva: Gianni/Kristel Pentus |
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