teonzo

You can freeze lemon juice in ice cube trays, so in this case you would just need to pick a lemon juice ice cube from the freezer, cut a small chunk and done. When cooking at home, especially for a single person, the needed amount of lemon juice is most times a fraction of a lemon. Personally I squeeze 5-6 lemons at a time and freeze the juice, so I have fresh lemon juice whenever I need it without the hassle of squeezing a single lemon at a time, with leftover juice and a juicer to clean. Teo

There's not much use for a freeze dryer at home. I know only one restaurant in Italy that has one, if it's not sought after by chefs then go figure how much useful it is at home. The only case where it's useful is when you REALLY want to reduce the water content in a produce, see the uses for confectionery. Other than that it has not much sense, frozen and re-heated food tastes better than freeze-dried and re-constituted food. If you want a new toy then it's better buying a blast freezer, especially since you already have a vacuum chamber machine. Maybe add a new freezer too, to have more freezer space. Teo

If you want to make something reliable then you are not going to end up with a system of linear equations, but with something much much more complex (logarithms and worse). Each ingredient interplays with the others, when you change the amount of an ingredient then the difference is not linear. Combine all this together and the result is a nightmare. If you structure this study with linear equations (which is what is done by everyone) then you get a decent approximation in the area very near to the experiments you are using for this; but it's still an approximation, so you need to make a trial and then fine tuning. The farther you go from the "trusted zone", the less reliable the approximation is; in this case your first trial will give something far from desired, so you need to do a raw tuning then fine tuning. What's the procedure without this kind of programs? If you want something in the trusted zone, then you just need to pick a trusted recipe then fine tuning (same exact thing as when you use those programs). If you want something out of the trusted zone, then you try a new recipe blindly, then raw tuning and fine tuning (again, same exact thing as when you use those programs). At the end of the day, these programs do not make any difference, you are going to make the same efforts when trying a new recipe. You are not basing your formulas on cocoa solids. Which is a major mistake. Cocoa solids affect aW (they absorb water) and texture. You can't estimate these effects with only the cocoa solids % in the chocolate, it varies with other factors, like the particle size: if the solids are ground to 15 microns or 20 microns average, then there will be a sensible difference in the aW and texture. Sugars interplay with each other, so the effect of 3% glucose and 3% fructose in the same recipe won't be the same as the sum of them taken alone. Different fats affect emulsions in a different way. Each class of fats (cocoa butter, milk fats, nut fats, so on) is composed of many different fats altogether, you are not going to find the same composition of cocoa butter in each chocolate. Or the same balance of fats in milk. So on. Fruits contain sugar. Purees usually have 10% added sucrose for many reasons, but that 10% is the value of the added sucrose, not the total value in the puree. Try googling "nutritional facts strawberry" (or whatever fruit you fancy) and you'll get the average sugars content. Which is average (can vary a lot) and is the overall class (including sucrose, fructose, glucose). There are fruits containing sorbitol (like plums), this will affect all the features of ganache in a sensible way. Dried fruits are packed with sugars, hard to know their balance. So, following the linear way will take a good amount of work for something that won't be reliable for when you'll need it. Taking the deep way is a herculean task that has no sense to be undertaken. I totally understand the will to learn these things and the "fun" in creating these formulas. But I'm more of the idea that time and energies should be spent for something useful. I think there are much more useful areas to study. Considering this peculiar moment in history, I would give the priority to get informed on psychological studies about marketing and so on, when this mess will end up people will be in an emotive state much much different than usual. Being able to re-start with the proper marketing campaign will make more difference than anything else. Taste is another side that most people neglect. Reading cocktail books will give many clues on the use of the bitter taste and how to balance it (mixologists are the masters of the bitter taste), this is something totally overlooked by chocolatiers, which is puzzling since chocolate is bitter. There is umami, another overlooked thing, it can give surprising results, to know how to deal with it you need to go out of the pastry zone (the dedicated books by Mouritsen and Anthony, many restaurant books). There is the pairing theory, a bonbon based on a well balanced pair of flavors will give more interesting results than a single flavor bonbon. And many others. If you spend your time and energies on these things then you'll get a better payoff. Teo

And that's totally fine. What I wanted to say is that there isn't a definitive theory out there, all the formulas are just approximations based on (very) limited research. All professionals that are selling classes, consultings, programs and so on will keep saying they have the be-all end-all solution for balancing recipes. That's just marketing, there's no final answer for this. The same Bourdeaux and Cestari say that you won't get the real results with their program (it's been discussed in this thread). When you are developing a new recipe that you are not able to base on another one you already have and trust, then the chances that you'll find reliable help in formulas and books are minimal. Most probably you are dealing with something that has not been tried and "studied" yet. If it's not been tried then there is no approximated formula for that, and even if there was one then it would be approximated. When jumping in the dark in these cases, you need an overall understanding of the effect of the various ingredients, then a trusted method to check the results. The most trusted method for the shelf life is the Aw meter, which you are smart and lucky to have in your operation. The second one is taste, where customers reign supreme and this is unpredictable. There aren't formulas out there that can give the perfect balance for every case you need (where you write X% of this, Y% of that and so on, then get the correct result). Especially for the cases where you would really need such a formula, which are the ones out of the lines, so out of the generalization. People who sell "perfect formulas" are just selling smoke to make money. Teo

When making pastries you should start from the method, not from the numbers. There is no sense in looking only at the numbers if you have not learned the method. You are asking if a ratio of 1:1 is fine. This means you just read the numbers and not the rest of the words. When you make a coffee infusion some liquid (mostly the water in cream) is absorbed by the ground coffee. So the ratio is not 1:1, it's different because you need to subtract the amount of liquid that has been lost (absorbed by the ground coffee). To me it seems like you were searching for a white chocolate ganache, first one you found was this coffee one and stopped at reading the numbers. Before asking for explanations about numbers you should learn to read the methods. Teo

Instagram is made to look cool, not to show you the real work flow of an operation. Easter eggs molds should be washed only at the end of season, when you put them away for almost a full year. The work flow with praline molds is totally different. It's been discussed at length many many times in the past. A thread about this has been opened this same week. I hope you will understand if people get sick of repeating the same answers times and times again, so please search in the archives, you'll find all the answers you need, written and repeated dozens of times. Teo

It's only telling you that you have warm hands and warm hands leave marks on chocolate. It's always suggested to wear disposable gloves when working with chocolate and be quick when touching your pieces. About the release marks, it's a problem due to the geometry of that mold. You ask for some hints on how to solve this, you just need to read this same page: a couple posts above I wrote those hints you are asking for. If you bought only one mold and decide to go on with your chocolate hobby, then better switching to easier molds (domes or demispheres). Teo

Personally I think there is no need to create a new recipe each time. You can group the ganaches in few classes: infusions, fruit purees, nuts (many professionals use ganaches not giandujas for some nuts like pistachio and macadamia, just to save costs)... Then there are the different chocolates you are using: dark, milk and white, maybe a combination of dark and milk. The total of these basic recipes is not huge, once you found the basic recipes that satisfy you then your job is almost done. You just need to fine tune your next recipe, starting from a basic one. If you want to use a new spice then there is no need to create the recipe from zero, you just need to pick the recipe you are using for another spice and you are almost done, you just need to adapt the amount of spice and maybe the infusion method (hot, cold, whatever). Fine tuning is not going to ruin the balance of your recipe, its impact is comparable to the human fluctuations. Someone could be able to develop hundreds of new flavours without knowing a single thing about the technical aspects of balancing a recipe. If a ganache separates and it was not a human error about execution, then it means the recipe was created blindly. To avoid this it just takes to start from a trusted recipe for a similar class. I can think of some exceptions for some weird ingredients like gorgonzola, but I doubt they are included in any study. Whole milk (sold here, I'm reading the label from the package) is composed of about 4.5% carbohydrates, 3.5% proteins, 3.5% fats, the rest water. So whole milk powder should be composed about of 40% carbohydrates, 30% proteins, 30% fats. If the Opalys is composed of 32% whole milk powder, then this 32% is around 12% carbohydrates, 10% proteins, 10% fats, so this explains the difference between the cocoa butter % and the total fat %. This amount of milk fats explains also why Opalys has a good taste and is such a PITA to work with. Usually white and milk chocolates are made with skim milk powder to save on costs and troubles. Teo

Cleaning polycarbonate molds in a dishwasher is risky. The more you put a polycarbonate mold through a heating and cooling cycle the sooner it will break, that plastic is prone to thermal shocks. Besides this, the water pressure is going to erode the cavity surface, ruining its shine, especially if you are using hard water. Don't use the dishwasher detergent. If you can set the temperature of your dishwasher, then keep it around 45-50°C, not more. Try looking for the "light" cycle, meaning the less aggressive. You need to place the molds in horizontal position if you want the water to reach all the cavities surface. I've seen a dishwasher made especially for cleaning polycarbonate molds, but it was really expensive, it takes a big operation to justify its cost. Your best course of action should be setting your work flow in such a way that your molds will keep far from the dishwasher. Plenty of explanations in this forum, you only need to read the old threads. Teo

I have the French edition of his book, he calls for: 400 g white chocolate 400 g cream 20 g ground coffee So the ratio is different than yours. I don't know if you have the English version and there is a print error there or what else. You also don't talk about ground coffee. When you make the infusion, then an amount of liquid from the cream is going to be absorbed by the ground coffee. To save your liquid ganache, remelt it and add 120 g white chocolate more. Teo

If you want to be totally precise then you'll end up in a hospital, not by covid but by madness. The composition of milk solids is going to vary each time: fats will be different from season to season, same for sugars. The balance is going to change from chocolate batch to chocolate batch. As much as purees are standardized, they are going to be different from batch to batch and year to year. Not to tell from producer to producer. You can't expect that bananas will have the same exact dextrose to levulose ratio every time. Then you need to consider the human factor. If you want to do things correctly then you need to boil your liquids before making a ganache, otherwise it's hell for shelf life. The evaporation during cooking and boiling will always be different, it depends on the amount of liquids (you are not going to do same exact batch size each time), on the surface area (you'll end up using different bowls / pans), on the room humidity, on the time to reach boiling (different stove, or different microwave, or whatelse). Cooking will affect sugar inversion too. Then there is mixing, depending on how you mix the ganache you will have a slightly different result each time. Even if you were able to get all the perfect data for your ingredients, then you would end up with a different result each time. Which is not a big trouble: a 0.02% difference in the aW is not going to ruin your batch. You already have the best tool for this, which is your aW meter. After that you only need to know the general rules for altering the balance, so if the recipe you are trying is giving you a non desired aW reading then you know what to do to adjust it (less liquids, more sugar, different chocolate, what else). Even if you had the perfect formula, then you always have the human factor that will add a % of error to your end result. In few words: all those formulas are meant for selling classes, consultings, programs and so on. You already know the theory you need. And you know that the most important factor is in the customer / reseller hands, you have zero control on that. Teo

EU laws force every producer to write the nutritional infos on their package: they must write a table that states for every 100 g of product how many of them are carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Plus the label must state the total amount of cocoa (cocoa mass + cocoa butter) in that product. These numbers can help for dark and white chocolate. All the fat in dark chocolate is given by the cocoa butter, so you just need to look at the nutritional infos to know the % of cocoa butter, then calculate the difference with the total amount of cocoa (cocoa mass + cocoa butter) to know the amount of cocoa mass. If a dark chocolate says 70% cocoa and the nutritional infos give 41% fat, then you have 41% cocoa butter and 29% cocoa mass (% of the total weight). All the cocoa in white chocolate is given by cocoa butter, so you just need to look for that number. For milk chocolate you are saved if the producer used only non-fat milk solids for that product, in this case you reason like for dark chocolate. If the producer used whole milk solids (or a combination of whole milk solids and skim milk solids) then you are screwed and are forced to contact them, hoping they will give that info. I don't know if labels in the USA must follow similar laws. If not, you just need to look for the European label of that product. Or contact the producer saying some of your customers want to know the nutritional infos of the chocolate you are using. Opalys is stated at 33% cocoa, so this means 33% cocoa butter. This supposing the Opalys sold in the USA is the exact same in Europe. Teo

I posted some traditional Italian recipes for rabbit here: Teo

Beware: if you go to Vicenza and ask for rabbit, then you will be served cat! This is a running joke in Veneto, there are feuds between every city, so the guys in Vicenza are called "magnagati" (cat eaters) by all the other people in Veneto. It is said that cat's meat tastes really similar to rabbit, so when someone says "coniglio alla vicentina" (rabbit in the Vicenza way) then he is joking about a dish with cat's meat. This joke is based on dramatic roots, since during the world wars people really ate cats (not only in Vicenza, but in most Italy) because there was nothing else left to eat.The most desperate ended up eating rats too, my grandmother lived through both world wars and she recounted some really sad stories. If you ask to people who went to North Korea you will be told they've never seen a single bird flying there, people ate all of them by desperation. But this does not mean there aren't "extreme" people here. When I worked in a restaurant one of the customers was a so called "gourmet" (meaning he had the money, but couldn't discern a potato from a chicken). He always asked for the weird stuff, like chicken tripe (takes MANY chickens to make a single serving of chicken tripe, we joked we killed a whole hen-house for him), beef esophagus and so on. Once we asked him to tell some of the weirdest things he tried. He said he was able to find a restaurant willing to prepare a dish with cat's meat and tried that. He asked us if we were willing to find and prepare hedgehog. We said we would do our best (in his dreams). Teo

I really envy your meter long mulberries! No mulberry trees within 200 meters from here, if they prolong the lockdown then I'm going to miss them. I already missed wysteria season damn. But I'm not willing to loose mulberries, so I'll end up running by night as a ninja. Teo

Here in Italy, mostly in Veneto and Puglia, horse meat is a strong tradition. One of my uncles had a trattoria that specialized in horse meat. When you enter a bar in the Venice area then you can bet all the money in your wallet that you'll find horse meat in one of their tramezzini, usually with "sfilacci" (thin threads of dried horse meat). There are many farms that breed horses just for the meat. As there are many farms that breed rabbits. Most foreigners get upset when they learn we eat horses and rabbits. Personally I really like horse meat, but I haven't eaten it in the last few years. I cut my meat consumption to 1 serving per week, I don't like the horse meat sold by the butchers near here, so I'm not going to do 10 km just for a serving of horse meat. I'll put it in the list of things to do when this lockdown will be over. Teo

Definetely not. The problem with small operations is that you do not have the "pipe system" (I don't know the English terms). A medium/large operation has a single compressor serving multiple guns, which means lots of pipes running through the whole operation, with many attachments at every station. This pipe system acts as a reserve, even if the pipe is small (1" diameter), when you have meters and meters of pipes then the volume becomes high. A small operation has a single compressor that serves a single gun, so you only have the tank in the compressor as reserve. Even if you use a single gun, the problem is when it's active. If you have a small reserve and a small compressor, then there isn't enough reserve to let you work without a sensible fluctuation for a decent amount of time, plus the compressor is not powerful enough to restore the pressure you need. So you'll be able to work with your aimed pressure for short periods of time, then wait for the compressor to restore the pressure. If you have a big reserve then it takes much more time for the pressure to go down, which means you won't be forced to stop and wait for the compressor to recover. The compressor will recover during your dead times (changing colors, refilling the cup, cleaning the gun, picking other molds / entremets, so on). Another problem is that most people set the pressure of the compressor tank and work directly from that. If they need prssure X and the compressor can reach pressure 3X, then they set it at X, not 3X. If you add a pressure regulator and a manometer then your working time will be much longer. You just need to set the compressor at full pressure (say 3X as the previous example), then set the pressure regulator coming out of the tank at pressure X. So the whole reserve (compressor's tank + reserve tank) will be at 3X pressure, while your gun will receive air at X pressure. This will prolong the time you can get air at X pressure, even with the compressor off. If you don't use a reserve tank and work only with the compressor, then you'll need a compressor with Y power to keep working. If you use a big reserve tank then you can work with a compressor that has a power that's a fraction of Y. The additional cost of the tank is much smaller than the difference of cost of the compressors. So, whatever your needs are, buying a reserve tank + pressure regulator + manometer is always the best choice. First because they will last almost indefinetely, so if you'll need to buy a bigger compressor then you already have those 3 pieces. Second because in this way you will always have the air at your desired pressure, no fluctuations. So I say it's better if you buy a tank, 50 liters at least, 100 liters better, not much sense in saving 10 euro in this. For the compressor it's impossible to answer without knowing your needs and how you work. I would advice to buy the reserve tank + pressure regulator + manometer + gun, then asking around if someone can lend a compressor for a couple hours, so you'll get an idea of your needs. If you go to a trusted hardware store they should be willing to come at your place with 2-3 different compressors, so you'll see what you need, it's a sale for them and they are required to assist you for your better choice (just tell them "if you help me then you'll see you my money, if you don't then I'll go elsewhere"). I have few experience about decorating bonbon molds with colored cocoa butter, so it's better if I shut up about this and you listen to all the other professionals. About spraying entremets for the velvet effect, spraying neutral glaze (or apricot glaze or similar) on whatever you want, then it's better using a big gun with a big cup. You'll have to set the pressure regulator (for your desired air pressure) and the gun (depends on the model). If you spray stuff that's not shelf stable (especially eggs) then remember you need to sanitize the gun after each use, so look for one that's easy to disassemble. Teo

What's most important is the volume of compressed air at your disposal, this comes before the compressor HP. Usually in a pastry shop / chocolatier shop you don't run the air gun continuously and during all the day. You run it for few seconds, stop for few seconds, run it again, stop for few seconds, so on until you complete that task / batch, then stop for minutes / hours (this depends on your production volume). For your choice, your pauses are more important than your direct use. If you have a compressor with low HP AND low volume capacity, then you risk going below your needed pressure while you are using the air gun. If the compressor can't keep up with the amount of air you are using, then the pressure in the tank is going down. If the volume capacity of the tank is small, then it takes few time for the pressure to go lower than your needs. This is what you want to avoid. Most people go for a powerful compressor. This is a good choice, but it's expensive. There is another solution: adding a reserve tank to your compressor. This way your reserve of compressed air is much higher, this means it will take much more time before the pressure goes lower than your needs. Your compressor will be able to keep up during your inactive times. This choice is much less expensive, a reserve tank is pretty cheap. The first thing you want to avoid is buying a compressor today and feel the need to buy a new one withing few years. You need to plan to make this expense only once. Or at least not in the next 5 years. But remember that a small compressor with a big tank is much more useful than a big compressor with a small tank. My suggestion is to get a small compressor, attaching a big tank to its exit, then attaching a pressure regulator and a manometer on the tank exit, then the pipe for your gun. You just need to set the compressor at maximum pressure, start running it some minutes before you plan to use it (when you are changing clothes) and allow it to reach full pressure in the reserve tank. Then you should be ok for a long time. If you have doubts just ask to your plumber or your hardware store. Reserve tanks, pressure regulators and manometers are ready for sale and easy to install. Teo

I hope he paid the royalties to use that logo. Teo

Try looking if there is a makers club (related to the maker culture) near you. If so, you can try asking for their help. Teo

You can reduce the ethanol from 10 ml to 3 or 4 ml. Teo

Some more things to consider, hoping you will take them as constructive. You wonder why you did not get the recognition you were hoping for. You give the answers in that same post: "I can think of only a small few dishes (our of the nearly 100) that we created since opening that were dogs. A few nights with complaints of over-salting, and the like." and in another: "This is for the base of the ganache. I'll use something much less distinguishable for the shelling." The keys for a top class restaurant lie in the small details. A restaurant is as good as its valleys, not as its peaks. You will never hear a top class chef saying "we served only few dogs", that's out of his mind. If something is a dog it must not go out. The primary job of the chef and the sous chef is avoiding this. He serves a dish when he is SURE about its quality and is ready to swear about this. Some dishes won't be as appreciated as he thought, but he will never refer to them as "dogs". A dish must be tried and re-tried, up to when the chef is sure the dish can't be improved (his opinion) and is worthy to be sent out (always his opinion). If not, then it does not go out. Top class restaurants can try a dish dozen of times before putting it out. Most of their tries do not even see the light of the dining room. Restaurants that work with foraged stuff don't work day after day, they work year after year. They develop a dish on year X, then serve it on year X+1. This because it takes time to develop a dish, when they finished the developing process then the season for that produce ended too. They write the results, so the next year they have a trusted dish to go out the first day they receive that produce. If a dish is a bit subpar (a "dog" is much worse than subpar) it's nevr going to be served to a guest. It's eaten by the staff, this is what family meals are meant for: you eat your failures, so you learn from them. A chef / sous chef worth his salt would never send out an over-salted dish. He would detect it while on the pass, without tasting it. A top class chef is abl to do so using is other senses, smell primarily, but also his sight. Chefs stand at the pass not only to check the look of the dish, but also because they are able to detect these defects and send the dish back without it ever going in the dining room. The most important part of the training of a chef relies on this, on his capability of noticing if the seasoning of a dish is ok without tasting it. It takes years and years of practice. You learn this with years and years of repeating the same stuff. This is the value of the European apprenticeship system (even more for Japan). People start repeating the same menial tasks and learning to do them perfectly. First times a cook works the line he will frequently face the chef sending back one of his dishes. If the dish is oversalted, chef detects it, send it back and kicks the cook ass (literally, not metaphorically). Cook starts to learn this lesson and starts wondering "how did he detect it, does he have superpowers? I want the superpowers too". These are leaks you have as a chef, you should start to realize this. It's normal to have these leaks, giving your background. You are self-taught, you did not go the apprenticeship way. So you never experienced what it takes to grow with someone that kicks your ass (whose ass was kicked by someone else before, so on), you never had someone showing you these things. So you do not know they exist, if you knew then writing those sentences would have never crossed your mind. Being self-taught has pros and cons. Pros are that you were able to roam freely, this helped you to develop your creativity, your sense of urgency and so on. Cons are the ones I wrote above and many others. As for everything, there are 2 sides of a coin, there is not the perfect road for something. You want to express your creativity and value the produce you forage while it's in season. These are great qualities. But you should apply the correct sieve to your dishes. From what I read, your sieve has some holes that are bigger than others. Time ago an eGulleter visited your reastaurant and wrote something like "Rob said this dish was last night's turd". That's not the way to go. If I come to your restaurant (which is in the expensive group, not super expensive but still expensive) and you serve me a dish saying it's a "turd" or a "dog", then sorry, I get up at that same moment and go away without paying a single cent (or asking for a full refund if I paid in advance). That's not hospitality: you are saying you are serving something subpar, knowing it being subpar... not any good. First, a subpar dish should never see the light of the official menu. Second, if it escapes and is received badly by the customers, then you take it out immediately and do not serve it to any guest. You prepared a big batch and do not want to waste it? Well, you eat it yourself so you learn. You are not sure about a dish? You serve a very small serving to some guests, out of the official menu, asking if they are willing to taste a new experiment and give you constructive criticism, knowing in advance it's not refined and not the final version. Never serve something official saying it's a turd. If there is a critic in the room, then you are screwed. You will never be able to detect all critics visiting your restaurant, a critic worth his name has his ways to disguise his visit, being it personal visits (read "Garlic and Sapphires" by Ruth Reichl) or by his friends. Only way to succeed is treating every single customer as the most important critic, which means never serving a turd / dog to anyone. As I wrote, a restaurant is as worth as its valleys, not its peaks. You are not giving enough attention to your valleys. Looking at your peaks is really important, if you don't aim high you will never reach high. But your feet should be strongly rooted on the ground, your ground is your valleys. You need to refine your sieve and do not make the mistakes above. The field of competition is not small, it's HUGE nowadays. And it's composed by tons of people with years of experience in top restaurants under their belt. People who learnt to triple check a dish before sending it out. People who can detect oversalted stuff with their smell. People with higher valleys than yours. Maybe they do not have your creativity / personality. Maybe their peaks are lower than yours. But their valleys are higher than yours, and this is the first thing to watch and consider. To reach stardom level in these days you need many more qualities than years ago. You need high and constant quality (which means your valleys should be almost as high as your peaks). You need luck (right position at the right time). You need the correct diplomatic friendships. You need strong PR. Nowadays there are hundreds of chefs deserving the spotlight. People who worked 5+ years in 3 michelin star restaurants have developed all the necessary skills to open a restaurant at top class quality, they are not 5, they are not 50... they are in the thousands. Serving top quality food is not enough anymore. It takes much much more. Most of these people are going to be disappointed because they won't reach the spotlight they hoped for. And it won't be by their fault, they have the qualities. Simply the field is more and more full of high level restaurants. It's more and more difficult to reach the spotlight. Think about Paul Bocuse. It took almost 10 years to him to reach 3 star level, and those were the "easy" years about competition. 10 years. Paul Bocuse. Do you think you are a better chef than Paul Bocuse? Teo

I think you are taking it too personal. Which is perfectly natural, it would be worrysome if you weren't. You are putting your whole self in the restaurant, so whatever happens to the restaurant is like if it happened to your body and soul. You should learn to become a bit more detached, for the best of you and the best of things. Haters gonna hate, no matter what you do. If you did things differently then they would say you are a wuss, a no-balls, or whatever bullshit passes on their minds. There's no way to please haters. You should worry if there were no haters, if they are there then it's totally normal. You did the right choice on leaving the social media to your staff. You are taking the criticism in the wrong way. Behind each critic there are personal preferences, there are sponsors and so on. They are human too. Don't think that for sure the others got a visit while you didn't. Many critics rely on a close circle of friends: it's impossible for a single person to have the grasp of a big city, not enough meals during a year if he/she wants to do a good job (meaning visiting a restaurant multiple times). Many of them rely on other trusted people (trusted by the critic), then put their name on those comments/reviews. If you did not see that peculiar person it does not mean that you were not visited, most probably it was one of those friends that fall under the name. If you confront the critic then you are going to make an enemy, it's better if you keep your head down and move on running. You should try to think with a critic mindset. Their job is becoming more and more difficult. You are not the only new restaurant that is aiming high, with each year passing there are more and more quality restaurants. Just try to compare how many quality restaurants there were 20 years ago and how many there are now. It's impossible to keep up, and it's impossible to make trustful rankings. It's not that there is 1 restaurants deserving a 10/10 score, 2 restaurants deserving 9/10, a handful over 7/10. Now restaurants deserving 8/10 or more are a TON. How do you differentiate a 8.55 from a 8.62? When you visit a restaurant are you able to score it with such accuracy? It's simply an impossible task, a critic will always be dissatisfying many restaurants that deserved to be at the top rankings, there are way too many restaurants that deserve to be there and the criteria to differentiate are small personal details. Just think at what happened in France 50 years ago. There were way LESS quality restaurants at that time, competition was much smaller, it took MANY years for a restaurant to be rewarded 3 michelin stars. Nowadays people want to reach stardom in few months, and these people are A LOT. Which is good, because this means the average quality is skyrocketing. But you should not see this as a defeat, it's like if in the NBA there were 200 players at all-star level. Consider yourself really lucky if you can go foraging. Here we have the 200 metres limit. You should focus yourself on what really matters, which is happyness and well being. You are realizing the restaurant of your dreams, this should be more than enough to make you super happy. You succeeded in building a solid team in few months, which is no small effort. You built a loyal customer base which is being supportive, another difficult task. You were paying all the bills from the beginning, something most restaurants can only dream. You should think that the glass is 90% full, not 10% empty. It will always be 10% empty, because with time passing the glass becomes bigger and bigger, not matter how much wine you pour it will never be 100% full. And this is the big value of life, it's what keeps us moving forward. Teo

From Italy, I much prefer Amedei to Domori. My favourite by them is the Porcelana, then Chuao. From the USA i heard many good things about Fruition Chocolate. I would suggest to give a look at the International Chocolate Awards, usually they are reliable. Teo

I meant a light kiss on the forehead, not a French kiss. Teo