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Fiorella Migliore, more than an actress

07/06/2018 Donatella

When did your acting career started and what are the emotions that have you experienced at the beginning?

As far as I remember, I started when I was in school, in a Romeo and Juliette’ s scene I had to play 2 characters (somehow dressed as male and Juliette, while Romeo was interpreted by the boy I was in love with at the time!). Then I studied acting in Paraguay as a side activity of being a girl.

I can feel so much fun now that I think about those experiences, even now, if I have to be honest, every time I have to play a character or host, I feel (a lot) nervous..! That’s my fuel to perform, I guess.

Both theatre and cinema gave you the privilege of turning into different persona on stage. How does this contribute to your professional and personal growth?

Interpreting a character is always a big lesson for me. Not only because I have to go through emotions, do research on the personality or creation of my character but the most important thing I’ve learned is not to judge. You learn to put in someone’s shoes even if he/she’s a person you’d consider a “bad person”… then you travel to their personal experiences that led them to be that way… you definitely learn to be more empathetic.

Fiorella Migliore actress on the stage — Photo courtesy of G. Nunez Photography

How is working in Television and cinema throughout so many different countries in South America, Italy and US? What have you learned from so many diverse backgrounds?

From my own personal experience, they’re three very different levels in all senses, almost like 3 different dimensions interconnecting somehow. So hard to explain without a personal perspective. I learned that no matter where you are, if you give 108% of your effort, you’ll have good results. What I learned the most is to KNOW and FEEL what I want in my path. What is my goal, rather than if I want to be known in the whole world or only a small town. That’s my personal fuel. Today I don’t have a programmed “American Dream” as my North but my personal purpose in life that guides me to manifest where I want to be, what project I want to be in, the people I want to work with and the message I want to spread with my work.

The Shameful Story is a new documentary that presents you as an essential co-star who interpret the role of herself. It is, without any doubt, an introspective experience. This last job has deeply connected you with your Italian roots. Would you like to tell us more about the impact that this doc had on you?

Omg yes. As soon as I read this question, I have in mind a specific scene we filmed with the Sicilian musician Alfio Antico inside an antique castle in a charming Sicilian village. It was a moment where I could feel my grand parents’ emotions… while listening to his music. There was something in the air as well as his voice… All my experiences filming The Shameful Story was like time-traveling. We also did a scene where I walked down the stairs of my grand mother’s childhood house. I felt their hands running down as kids while touching the same handrail… This project is so special to me. Specially how we connected with Italian director Nella Condorelli who has Paraguayan roots somehow. Amazes me how everything is so interconnected. I could go on… it’s just so special to me.

Fiorella the actress, the model, the chef, the tv host, the musician, the activist… in what other field would you love to challenge yourself? Do all these professional aspects of yours enter in conflict with each other or do they positively overlap?

I feel all of them together (and all the other versions of myself that are yet to come) have a voice in my everyday life. All of these paths taught me something and keep teaching me a lot. Not only for the inspiration they all bring when I express something but the discipline they all brought to my life. All of them. I may say I would love to master being a good partner and friend, a good sister, a good daughter, a good mother. My personal life is very important for me. And that leads me to go deeper into becoming a better human being everyday, using all the tools I’ve learned and continue learning in my professional paths.

Next milestones planned?

To combine all paths with audiovisual projects. To Manifest my dream, to apply all I’ve learned either as actress, TV presenter, chef, activist… in projects to spread urgent messages to the humanity in the world. My dream, which is coming true, is to unite the Spanish speaking world with the English speaking world, and share a common message proving that diversity of languages and cultures are incredible excuses to get closer to each other.

As an actress, what are your dreams and the goals to be reached?

I want to be useful to projects that have a message to be spread. Today, my art and my expression, aren’t mine anymore. They belong to a project, a person, animals… that have something urgent to say. I feel acting is a lifestyle; that taught me to speak a language of people I need to reach, a story I need to tell, a message that needs to be shared. I’m just a channel.

We enjoyed this cheerful chat with Fiorella, you can find more information about her career and projects just right here, have a look: Fiorella Migliore Official Website

Food

LA VENTANA (TAPAS 26)

Galleria 13/05/2018 Donatella

In the lush heart of Singapore, a little masterpiece of European and Asian fusion cuisine began in June 2015.

La Ventana is not only a restaurant, but a destination. The end point between two countries in a meal, surrounded by a lush garden in a timeless colonial building.

At the helm of this wonderful balance of flavours is Chef Tony Valero. After his training and fame obtained in Costa Brava, driven by his thirst for knowledge, Valero heads to El Viajante in London and subsequently to the Moo, Omm Hotel in Barcelona.

Inspired by the Globetrotters met during his path, a new ambition of bringing his passion into the World and the World into his passions settles in his mind. After Europe, a call to the East was inevitable. The road heads up with the executive head chef role at the search and interpretation of a modern reconstruction of Spanish cuisine, with fresh and local ingredients, in a latino-oriental mix which turns out magical. Now, after the successful experience in Malaysia at The Internmark and the Coquo, in Kuala Lumpur, the arrival at La Ventana, where Tony’s mission continues with Spanish and Asian’s influences in a caliente equilibrium zen.

Beauty and flavor in dishes and location, where the search for perfection emerges.

So, if your path brings you to Singapore, stop and rediscover, with a delightful delicacy, the world on a plate.

La Ventana was recently rebranded Tapas 26 with a new look and new website www.tapas26.com.sg Address: 26a Dempsey Rd, Singapore 247695 – Phone: +65 6479 0100

Food

Dodging Bullets: 3 tips for handling negative reviews

Immagine 04/03/2018 Donatella

Article written by Lyn Siew

A chef-friend of mine recently opened his first cafe, and sent me this message:

“Hi, Lyn, all is well until we received a 1* rating on Facebook on our kitchen inefficiency during our opening day. Must admit, it hurts. Read another a few days later, said our food wasn’t good enough. How can I not take it personally? It hurts me as it has brought my entire ratings down.” Surely it does. If you ever take anything or anybody seriously, surely any downside will hurt.

There is so much to learn from diners’ feedbacks that I have often joked about publishing online reviews into a retrospective print.

I have received everything from semi death threats, as astonishing as the ugliness of my outlet that my interior designer ought to be shot, that our food is so subpar to a food cart that it’s surprisingly that we are still in business, to ridiculing the lack of English proficiency from my team, to the threat of reporting my business to the ministry of trade due to not meeting a customer’s fine dining expectations.

As a restaurant owner, I can wholehearted admit that we are not perfect. We fucked up. I can also wholeheartedly apologize for being an utter failure for not meeting your expectations. I should shoot myself. I hear your anguish and I am truly sorry. Emotions aside, a business still runs as a business. We can only learn, improve and take the positive out of any situation no matter how catastrophic. Here are my tips for handling negative reviews:

Not everyone is your customer

Rule numero uno in Hospitality? Please everyone. A restaupreneur mentor who operates a successful chain in London often reminded me that pleasing every Tom, Dick and Harry is for the weak; simple because it is IMPOSSIBILE. We are a society of diversity – every individual is built on different tastes, preferences and expectations. We would be Gods if we could win every heart!

Hence, know your demographic. Who do you want in your restaurant? Target those. If you are operating a vegetarian eatery, keep the vegetarians happy. Don’t run after Bangers and Mash fanatics. It’s really that simple.

No one is perfect

We live in a democratic cyber age whereby anyone, with or without merit, are able to label themselves as food critics. There are those kind ones who care about humanity, and will provide your business with constructive feedbacks in confidence. Tip: Restaurateurs tend take these more seriously than a crazy public rant, and will provide you with compensation if necessary because we are truly appreciative towards your empathy and sanity.

As much as an imperfect restaurant can learn from constructive criticisms in their strive for perfection, let’s face it, there will always be trolls. Trolls who are little obsessed with a singular bad dining experience that they would take time to troll, and troll, and troll until they are heard. They will get all their friends to write you bad reviews. Just like a bad breakup, you kind of wish that they would just move on. And then there are also competitors who will disguise themselves as Micky, Goofy and a Babushka to take you down. These are the real creeps.

Show that you are making progress

I call this passive reactionary action. No matter your haters, there is nothing more annoying than shouting out to the world that you do take your work seriously by constantly innovating and progressing. I believe in the laws of the world, that if we subscribe to a simple law of hard work by focussing on the right criticisms, you will succeed. Believe in your product. Take the positive from the negative. Unless it’s the Michelin or World’s Top 50, don’t be consumed by social media ratings.

And when you succeed, there will be envy. And when there is envy, there will be competition.

We can’t make everyone love us. Even religions can’t, so don’t take heart. Learn. You may think: How are such pissy remarks even fair towards your team who have worked blood, sweat and tears over long hours? There are so many of us out there, working our arses off because we truly need the jobs to pay our bills – just to be trashed.

The restaurant business is not merely a job. This is a lifestyle. And it’s real, bad ass one.

Based in Kuala Lumpur and having previously lived and worked across 8 countries, Lyn Siew is the owner of an award winning Contemporary Chinese Hybrid Restaurant, Ruyi & Lyn, and a Western eatery Monte’s by the Red Herring. She is currently incubating a local startup project for culinary students, and building an online platform for the global food community. Relationship status? Married to food and champagne.
Follow her daily eating and drinking adventures on Instagram!

Food

Managing a restaurant. Of love and business.

Galleria 16/01/2018 Donatella

I have recently written here about how food evokes nostalgia, and how nostalgia evokes emotions. When we ingest food ( and drinks!), we are literally putting sources into our bodies. Hence, you can regard food (and drinks!) as a core energy fuel. My preferred fuel sources are vintage champagnes, Belgian fires, mayonnaise and battered fried chicken as my cheat accomplices behind my commitment to MyFitness App. These bad boys don’t zap my energy low – rather they inject me with happiness and the friendlier side of me…

What are yours? I am a staunch believer in pairing good food with good drinks in evoking happy emotions.

HOW TO LEAD A TEAM. An outstanding team management strategy is your key in the restaurant business.

Recently I have been working with my bar team in creating a fun pairing of cocktails and bites. I won’t bother going into detail into what the cocktail above comprises of, but all I can say is that it is pretty, tasty and fun. How do you feel just by looking at it? I feel happy because I am proud of my team’s creation. Every effort that goes into creating food and drinks excites me.

WHAT MAKES A BUSINESS SUCCESSFUL. Sheer hard work. Passion. And creativity.

By nature I am not a chef, food stylist nor a mixologist – but from a bystander’s point of view, I’d like to provide opportunities for those who persevere in this industry. The food business is currently hingeing on a self prolific destiny through celebrity chefs, restaurateurs and media personalities as marketing ploys. Recently I have come across dire cases of personal branding which I think is utterly poorly distasteful.

We are not eating Gordon Ramsay. We are eating food. There is one simple philosophy whereby if food is good, people will come back for it. Emotions through ingestion should govern our basic laws of nature and desire. I shouldn’t think returning customers should repeatedly pacify a person who c conceived, invested nor backed a shitty restaurant. Sadly, in our deteriorating national economy, I have seen cases whereby even when the food sucks, there will always be suckers. Restaurants that thrive for every other reason but the food. The socialist in me screams unfair for those who persevered hard in this industry.

STARTING A RESTAURANT IS HARD. To start a successful restaurant is even harder.

Admittedly the food industry is one of the toughest – the turnover rate of failing businesses is amongst the highest within the retail, hospitality and service sectors. You may have come across this fundamental business mantra: the more aggressive you are, the more successful you are. But can aggression sustain the culinary word?

All we need is a little humanity back in the food industry. Despite the integration of technology into fast food chains, restaurant businesses are still driven by a living team consisting of manpower which makes things work by creating, innovating and strategizing. Without humans, there would be no emotions fed into the foods we create.

I love to believe in people. And I’d love them to believe in me, too.

While managing a restaurant, let’s not forget that the culinary world will always be driven by humans, not machine.

Lyn Siew

ruyi@orientalrestaurants.com.my

Photography Blog

Collaboration in alien city. Photography in London.

Immagine 11/10/2017 Donatella

So here you leave everything in the past.

All years of hard work behind you in your home town, pack your camera and move to this huge, uncomfortable metropolitan city. You barely speak their language, you barely know what to purchase for your breakfast in the food store. Everything is new, unfamiliar and you throw away first yogurt, because it turned out to be made of soya. This situation should be familiar to everyone who left their home town behind. The same thing happened to me. Adaptation is really tough; for some people it’s easy, for others it’s hard. For me it took almost 3 years to finally feel comfortable. But today I’m going to talk about how to get back to what you have already created back home.

I tried to start from zero.

Take pictures of people I know for free, just to amaze them and hopefully in the future get real orders. But believe it or not, no one wanted to pose for me. They were busy with their lives or just didn’t care about me whatsoever. I didn’t have any friends here, but back home I had the whole team – make up artist, stylist, hairdressers and I even had backups. If one of them was busy, I had another 2 or 3 people to work on the project. I was able to create really awesome photo shoots. But in London it wasn’t so easy. Time passed, I invited some of my colleagues to my Facebook page and the next day when I came to work one of them asked me “Hey, Alina, I saw your images, they are so amazing! But what are you doing here?” Really, what I was doing in retail for 2 years? That got me thinking out of the box.

London is famous for fashion industry, but hey, where are all this fashion people?

Where are these artists looking for collaborations? I started to look for them. The greatest source of artists came from Facebook groups. You have no idea, but nowadays groups in such cities as London are very strong. People connect and open for collaborations. Search for stylists, makeup artists, photographers and many more, add the name of the city, and voilà. London has almost 9 million of people, at least 1 million of them are somewhere connected to arts. People here are passionate about art and they love to collaborate with others. It doesn’t matter if the photo shooting is tomorrow, doesn’t matter if no one pays you.

Living in London people are happy to work for the sake of art.

Tell people who you meet randomly what you do. Show them your pictures, give them your website. Inspire them with your ideas about photography, you never know what side projects they have. You never know what is their passion outside work. And finally, you never know who is going to be your client. Don’t be shy.

Another great source is University.

Some people get themselves to Uni’s just for connections and you should also consider that. Maybe just some short photography courses, maybe some other workshops that you could join. So you’ve found them, now you need to inspire them, explain your idea, show them examples and wait. Be nice to people, respect them and give them food on the shootings. They work for you for free, right? Don’t be scared, in such big city you’ll always find people who see the world in a similar way. And remember, people love what other people are passionate about.

Inspire them and share your visions and they will follow you.

Support them, and they will support you.

Good luck and never give up!

Alina Agarkova Photographer

www.alinaagarkova.com

Food

Behind Taste and Michelin

04/10/2017 Donatella

A friend from high society once joked (or rather, jeered):

“Lyn, you are a restaurateur, but you seem to have not visited many Michelin stars restaurants! ha ha ha! How can you even define good food?”

Ha ha ha, indeed. When I was much younger, my dad used to take me to a roadside stall in a dodgy part of Kuala Lumpur to buy these crispy wontons from an elderly man who fries them from a beat up gas stove by the street, come rain come shine. 20 years later to today, the elderly man, if not more elderly, still fries the same wontons amidst the rising shadows of a metropolis.

Dad said, “These are the last surviving wontons”.

As humble as they look, they may arguably be the best wontons in the world.

We may never replicate the full recipe. And perhaps, they may be worthy of a Michelin star dish. Same goes to the millions of hawker stalls in the world and the billions of home cooks. And your grandma’s recipes may be worthy of a Michelin.

My first Michelin dining experience was Alain Ducasse in Paris when I was 18. I remembered that though the dishes were intricate, it was unbearingly long winded and so overwhelmingly posh that I was unable to gulp water for fear of turning heads. It was so prosecuting that I thought if I had dropped a fork I would be kicked out.

Naturally, I am not the posh sort.

2 hours later, I wolfed down 20 bbq chicken drumlets from Quick. I was very happy!

Growing up I pretty much ate at home, The Ship, hawker stores and Chinese restaurants. I consumed mostly trash, instant noodles and frozen foods from Sainsbury’s in my rebellious teens. My 20s comprises of mostly alcohol and salads as I fought my weight gain. Fine dining leaked into my early 30s given that I had acquired some spending power. As I moved into the restaurant business, I widened my horizons to eat almost everything to remain in competition: street food, Haggis, wet market sushi, milkshakes from a cow, Joel Robuchon you name it.

Two weeks ago, I visited Ultraviolet by Paul Pairret in Shanghai. Using multi sensory technology on a ten seater table – we were served 20 meticulous courses fit for an emperor. I enjoyed every second of its complexity. Out of the plethora of tastes, I identified tinges of the hawker store wonton which is barely 1 euro out of this 600 euro Michelin star meal.

Just like fine wine, vintages grow in complexity. Whatever we eat, taste incubates into a greater prism of our consumption psychology as we grow older and sideways. If you had grown up purely on fine dining, you may never identify with nor appreciate the basic culinary building blocks of cooking. That molecular dish you had just raved on? It stemmed from a chef’s grandmother’s simple recipe.

No matter what you eat, be it in a Michelin star restaurant or at home – taste nostalgia should evoke priceless, happy memories.

Food is meant to be enjoyed. And the more you eat, the more you discover.

Taste is subjective, and good taste is often, acquired.

———————————-

Lyn Siew

Highlights

The day I told myself: “I am an artist”.

Galleria 11/09/2017 Donatella

I never thought of myself as an artist.

I never believed in the concept of “talent”.

I never thought that photography was an art.

What I truly believed in, however, was hard and tough work. My life as a photographer can easily be divided into two phases: The one where I believed photography was a technical profession with no room for art, and the phase where I came to the realisation that photography is indeed art. So let me tell you first how I got there.

“To convey your soul into your work. Art is about an emotion, an idea, a message.”

At the University the way I studied photography was very technical. We didn’t talk too much about abstract art or what a particular photographer wanted to say through his pictures. Instead we discussed lights, lenses, composition, physics, chemistry and much more science. After all these years at Uni I realised that I was learning almost anything by just analyzing other photographers’ works. By observing closely any portrait work , I could tell precisely how many lights a photographer used, what kind of soft-boxes were chosen and, after a few years of practice, I could even tell how he implemented his post-processing.

“The key is to integrate our art into our life, not the other way around.”
― Brooks Jensen, Letting Go of the Camera: Essays on Photography and the Creative Life

And that’s when I started to work. At the beginning of my career I was doing a lot of photoshoots to whoever agreed posing for me – my friends, my colleagues, my classmates. Then, one by one these pictures reached social media. People started asking who was behind those shots and so I pushed myself into the position of no-stop-working forgetting about weekends, 8 to 14 hours a day. Too much? Right. But at that time, I believed that I needed to practice and practice, in order to shape myself into the professional I wanted to be. The funniest thing is – I didn’t know yet who I wanted to become. I believe I pushed myself into that corner by focusing on portrait photo-sessions and wedding photography. My work was totally commercial and technical with no space for artistic expression, also so oriented on the satisfaction of the client that I stopped enjoying the profession just after 4 years of being a freelancer.

And then I moved to London.

“The eye should learn to listen before it looks.”
― Robert Frank

It is really hard to believe, but I couldn’t touch my camera for another 2 years. I have had a huge passion for photography my whole life, but then I was not able to touch the camera anymore. Working in the apparel industry shop for 2 years led me to a huge depression because I abandoned what I love doing. That’s when I started to reflect on my life, finally. But now, looking back I’m really thankful for that provisional break-up with photography.

It made me realise something very important:

We all are artists.

This is the truth.

Every single person sees this life very differently. And that’s the most amazing thing. You don’t need to wait for inspiration to create the greatest work of art of your life. You don’t need to be special. You are special! All you need is to look inside of you, listen to yourself and express it in the way you can. Some people create music, some paint and some take pictures. In the past, I was looking at other peoples great works and couldn’t understand how they managed to create it. Sometimes I listened to my friends tips or I looked for the idea somewhere else, both the wrong sources, this is why I couldn’t find what I was pursuing for so many years. But, when I focused in the inside, when I listened to myself that’s when all of the creativity and ideas started blooming.

“All my images are self-portraits, even when I’m not in them.”
― Nuno Roque

Currently I’m working on a portrait project which I’ll call Nature Portraits. My idea is showing the beauty of nature and human being. The combination of both to show natural interaction of human and nature. I virtually set these beautiful faces into different kind of natural environment – bushes, flowers and leafs. I collaborate with Make Up artists to create a reflection of nature on the models’ faces. And then I’ll capture this artistic combination. You will judge yourselves how poetic and delicate the outcome is. I have another great upcoming project in mind guided by a very strong message. What I will promise to you from now on is to tell you different lessons which I have learnt in my career, followed by some valuable advices on how to avoid the same mistakes I did.

Today’s pearl of wisdom: “Listen to no one, but yourself. All greatest things are inside you”

“Photography is my other kind of music.”
― Romi Florea

Alina Agarkova

www.alinaagarkova.com

Food

VIVID VEGETARIANISM

14/08/2017 Donatella

What’s insatiable about being in the restaurant business is…

That you work with food and that you are surrounded by food. Everywhere there’s food. Chefs shower me with food. Friends spoil me with food. My Asian family forces me with food. I make a living from food. There’s no escape from food.

Such a gruesome first world problem that one must never, ever take for granted!

As food is so vastly available I have NO self control when it comes to bingeing. I have a personal record of consuming 25 KFC chicken pieces in one seating and I can scoop mayonnaise and eat it like ice cream. I am also not very discerning when it comes to anything that is deep fried, oh lord.

Hence the 4-letter “D” word does not exist in my vocab.

For health reasons and in a lame attempt to limit all that borderless gluttony – I commit to a 50% vegetarian and meatless diet plan once a month. I explored the vegetarian market in the UK as healthy eating is relatively on the global trend. My findings? Vegetarianism or being Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian if you permit yourself with the consumption of dairy products… can be fun!

Vegetables look pretty… and tasty!

Natural and raw ingredients are very colourful – imagine a rainbow of capsicums, aubergine, plant sourced sauces, beetroot, tomatoes, basil leaves – this is a food porn aesthetics dream! Here is a plate I gorged from a healthy buffet at ETHOS consisting of a glorious scotch egg (for those lacto-ovos), humus, sweet potato chips, mint cauliflower, grilled chilli egg plant and guacamole. Screw the Michelins, this is gloriously tasty and filing as HEAVEN.

Vegetables are filling… without the carbs and guilt!

Like me, if you have a metabolism of a cow – rule out rice and pasta because carbs are essentially sugar. Many forms of root based vegetables such as aubergines provide an excellent source of fibre without leaving you with indigestion and an awful dis-humanitarian guilt of slaughter. If those cold leafy salads leave you hungry – replace them with grilled broccoli or cauliflower, they can fill you up so you will not snack later in the day. Should you need one: honey roasted cashews is a hero’s source of energy and is mega addictive.

The delicious options are endless: think sweet and sour carrot tempura, cauliflower cheese bake, creamed spinach, miso eggplants, onion bhajis in chutney, avocado and garlic dips… And these bizarre flour-less cakes are available from hipster cafes. If you are still hungry at this point, you must be kidding me.

Some restaurants do them… very right

In my opinion and to non-vegans, raw foods can be awful – plant based ingredients are mostly uncooked and the end result is often a deconstructed mess. Though there are incredible exceptions – Wild Food Cafe does an excellent pizza which tastes like pizza but looks nothing like pizza. This is the kind of dish that screams WOW and one that you will never forget – because you don’t really know what you have really eaten.

To top it off – there’s very little oil and fat in the vegetarian diet. Unfortunately carbs are present – but essentially your body requires fuel to burn, so be kind. I attempted a protein-only diet once in my early 20s and I ended up with constipation, weight gain and lethargy – hence instead of feeling sexy, literally I felt like a stuffed sausage.

Having said it all, let’s be mystified by the laws of nature: Elephants are vegetarians. Cheetahs are carnivores. Who’s leaner?

———————————-

Lyn Siew

Highlights

RAVE REPUBLIC

Video 03/08/2017 Donatella

WHAT A SENSATIONAL DUO!

Beijing. Nanchang. Changsha. Shangai. Guangzhou. Foshan. Xiaoshan. Zhenzhou… and more.

Oh, yes… so much more!

RAVE REPUBLIC is now touring China with 12 different shows covering 11 different cities, a tour that last one month.

“China is huge; we have been to Shangai and Beijing, both amazingly futuristic and very cosmopolitan. Nanchang, instead, presented itself as a developing city but a wonderful place to play. We are also heading to small cities. All everything is very diverse and exciting in this country!”

What do you like about the Chinese audience?

It has been different from the English speaking Asian countries for instance Singapore, where English is the first language. We had to adapt to the unique situation we encountered in China. If you think about it, the rest of the world listens to the same music; Latin inspired or English music, but here there is no way you can really have access to those songs from Europe or the US because services like Spotify don’t work. If we drop an Ed Sheeran’s track somewhere else we definitely provoke a huge reaction with people screaming, but if we do it here in China the people would be a bit confused, so we needed to change our style.

Why did you decide to leave your countries?

Matt: My father was transferred when I was 16 so I followed my family to Singapore, I finished my high school and university education and from there I transitioned into DJing. I also obtained an MBA but instead of following the business, I followed my passion.

Stas: Born in Russia and grew up in Australia. I moved to Singapore 9 years ago, I was a brand manager for Procter&Gamble, working full time, almost 10 hours per day. I started DJing on the side but eventually it became quite big. So, I decided that since I was still young, it was necessary to give it a go and see what happened… and it was amazing.

Could you have the same fame in your country?

No way! One of our biggest appeal in China right now is that we are two western guys, we stand out here! In Europe we would be just normal. It’s like developing any brand in the market; you have to be different from the norm and stand out. In a market like China this is even more obvious, they look for something really different, of course talent is required.

Three words to define your life.

Flexibility: Something I did not have before as I am coming from a corporate world where I had to work 80 hours a week. Now, I can freely manage my time, we are DJing 2 or 3 times a week, and finally we can pursue our hobbies.

Airplanes: We spend a lot of time on airplanes, every 3 days we are on a flight!

Self Motivated: It’s a key in this job. It’s very easy to get lazy and sit back, to hope that all things will come to you but it does’t work that way. We don’t have anyone telling us what to do and when, being self-motivated is fundamental. We keep growing our brand by networking and marketing, researching and creating new music, hustling basically.

Be self motivated otherwise you fail!

How did you meet? How did you know that you were right for each other?

It was just one night. I had a pretty bad breakup with my ex-girlfriend and it was Wednesday, a day I usually don’t party on. Matt was Djing at this club which I also often Dj at but I wanted to have some fun and being noticed a bit.

“Yo Matt, let’s play back to back!”

That night we decided to play together. As Djs it’s difficult to find someone compatible, we started with a 10-minutes jam session and we ended up playing all night together. We developed it and eventually we came up with the concept of Rave Republic!

Déshabillé Magazine girls, are definitely waiting for Stas and Matt to party in Europe. It was a great chat with these two rising and amazing DJ’s!

DJ Duo Rave Republic: Mathias Schell and Stas Madorski, Singaporean at heart!

Since they formed in 2014, the duo have had club residencies in Singapore and have performed across the region, including Japan, China, Australia, Hong Kong and Philippines, they shared the spotlights with some of the most talented and popular DJs as Skrillex, Alesso, LMFAO, Far East Movement.

Can you feel the energy?

Food

HELLO AND HESTON

12/07/2017 Donatella

As an entry level restaurateur of 3 years, I love to eat.

By introduction, I work to eat. I live to eat. I eat to eat.

And that brings me much satisfaction till the next meal. My largest pet peeve is a dissatisfactory, half boiled concoction of ambitious/ amateur hipster recipes – very much manifested within the fast “increasing” (but slow progressing) food and beverage industry. Most of the time, your grandmother’s recipe of pasta bolognese is the real deal; rather than the complicated molecular concoction comprising of a multitude of foreign ingredients sous-vide by a grumpy chef. I once came across a strange combination of obese miyazaki beef slabs, foie gras, sea urchin, caviar to top of bowl of rice and labelling it as a cholesterol bowl – hence the Asian internet goes crazy. Just like having too much of something good at once, when you smash a multitude of tasty elements together – births contradiction.

Greasy and Gross. Blasphemy! Leave the poor sea urchin alone.

Sometimes we need a nudge as to, whether, what we put into our mouth is truly delicious? Or are we swayed by Instagram aesthetics – the unwritten rule that one must order, photograph and post up a pretty dish to show our friends we have been there done that. As a restaurateur working with food day and night – psychology affects our choices and consumption.

Taste, I believe, is innate. Alternatively, one can be educated into an acquired taste and appreciation.

Believe me, and I can vouch for this – good food is worth eating.

My column will feature a particular “Star Dish” every posting – foods that I stumble upon and why I think it may be worth contributing to your waistline. In theory, good food should not make you fat. Sometimes you should avoid that pretentious “fusion” maki just because a skinny blogger was paid to say so. Settle for curiosity, low expectation and satisfaction.

By the way, I pay for my own meals.

As a bombastic opening, my first “Star Dish” is none other than Heston’s iconic “Meat Fruit” at The Dinner in Crown Towers, Melbourne. This is basically a smooth chicken liver pate guised in a form of a peach, with a gelatin coat. It is cheeky, fun and makes a good conversational topic to ease a disastrous date. If your date continues to decline thereafter and you need to diffuse time in between courses, engage into a chat with the friendly manager because service at this place is simply top-notch.

Foodies and Fat Duck fans would be familiar with Heston Blumenthal’s psychotic, science driven food preps – I watched him on the Masterchef Australia Finals whereby he challenged the 2 finalists to recreate a complicated dessert with lots of scientific hullabaloo. I would pee in my pants if I had to cook in lab method – but I am also in awe, because he does create some really, beautiful dishes.

You can try this at his London flagship too.

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Not everyone is your customer

No one is perfect

Show that you are making progress

What’s insatiable about being in the restaurant business is…

Vegetables look pretty… and tasty!

Vegetables are filling… without the carbs and guilt!

Some restaurants do them… very right

Having said it all, let’s be mystified by the laws of nature: Elephants are vegetarians. Cheetahs are carnivores. Who’s leaner?

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