About
Fabio was born in 1989 in San Severo in the Apulia region of Italy. His journey into the world of bartending began with him following in the footsteps of his older brother Mario. Mario is also a bartender, now based in Hong Kong and working at St. Regis Bar. Fabio always felt a certain affinity for hospitality, probably coming from his education: he studied at the hotel and hospitality school in Termoli, in southern Italy. His first work experiences were in pizzerias and cafes; then during the second and third year of hospitality school—at the age of 15–16—Fabio started traveling around Italy to get to know other regions and hotels. This is where he first started to broaden his knowledge on bar service.
One of the best experiences he has had was at the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni on the shore of Lake Como. Working there, he could feel a real ceremony of hospitality every day and during every shift. After Fabio graduated hospitality school at the age of eighteen, he lived in Milan for one year where he worked at the Carlton Baglioni Hotel. After that he moved to London, where he started working at Montgomery Place in Notting Hill. This particular bar marked a big step in his career, as it was one of the most renowned spots in the London bar industry for many years and one of the best bars in the world at that time. After three-and-a-half years in London, Fabio had an opportunity to move to São Paulo, Brazil, where he started to work at SubAstor. He felt that this job was providing him with a unique environment where special attention was being paid to guests, anticipating their needs, instead of simply serving food or drinks.
SubAstor
SubAstor is an “urban chic” bar that opened in June 2009. It is the first modern-style cocktail bar in Brazil and, since opening, the main goal has been to provide guests with the best experience and to introduce them to the new international cocktail culture that goes beyond the Brazilian classics. The team consists of nine people: three bartenders, one bar cook (a bartender in charge of the kitchen), three cocktail waiters, one hostess, and of course Fabio. A strong work ethic is very important to all of them. The team looks after one another and every one of the team members is in charge of training and welcoming new employees. The floor manager trains the new member on the floor, bar-backs for bar setup, orders, and cleaning schedule, and so on. The menu changes every three months according to seasonality, as the menu is based on the different biomes of Brazil. SubAstor has a capacity of seventy-two seats. The cocktail bar is owned by Companhia Tradicional de Comercio—a company that was founded in 1996 and today has a total thirty-seven establishments in São Paulo (burger bars, pizzerias, brasseries, and botecos).
Inspiration
Fabio believes that inspiration should come from any of your personal passions. It could be music, arts, or exchanging ideas with people that you are close to and are part of your everyday life. At the same time, according to him, five points should be paid attention to in order to spark your creative process: awareness, inspiration, interpretation, execution, and evolution.
Favorite cocktail
A cocktail Fabio really likes is the Bijoux Caju from his own menu. It uses gin as a base, falernum, lime, a dash of yellow Chartreuse, vermouth bianco with hops amarillo and mocororó (fermented cashew juice, which is like a fruitier cider that dates back to indigenous Brazilian culture).
Check out Fabio’s recipe: Pimenta de Cheiro.
Favorite bar
Untitled in London.
The future of the bar world
Fabio feels that the bar industry and the global bartending community are moving towards a much more mature and accurate education on how to run a bar, based on common sense (including preparation and environmental issues such as sustainability) and how to spread this knowledge to a new generation of bartenders—also involving producers (of spirits and fresh products) in the process.
Advice for opening a bar
The best advice Fabio can give, is to travel the world as much as you can before opening a bar. This will inspire and add more ideas to the bar concept in order to be more authentic.
Craziest customer experience
While working at the Baglioni Hotel in Milan at the age of eighteen, Fabio received a “life or death” request from a guest, Signor B., owner of a local vineyard, but really a “business-talking” man. Most of what he was saying might not have been true, but he was always spinning a funny yarn while sitting at the bar drinking his champagne. He was the kind of guest who could entertain the whole staff and all the guests around the bar floor. He was always there with his security guard. One day the security guard went out to get some food and Signor B. suddenly called Fabio over to him. When he went over to Signor B.’s table, he was in the process of preparing an injection and he asked Fabio to help him inject it. “I thought about calling the spa to help him, as the spa was the closest possible place to fulfill this kind of request.” But the man insisted Fabio do it, saying that it was the sort of medication that must be taken immediately. “So he started pulling his pants down . . .” The only thing Fabio could think of doing in that moment was to take him to the back of the bar, to a washing room right behind the shelves, and give him the injection.
São Paulo
São Paulo has a unique energy! It’s a tropical city but heavily influenced by many other countries (Italy, Japan, Africa, and Lebanon, in particular). It’s the perfect place to develop a mixed product based on your environment. In São Paulo, one is never afraid of creating something that won’t suit one’s customers, so long as it’s based on a concept and is easy to understand.
Target in life
His main target is to develop and create a new type of bar in Brazil based on immigrant culture and local biodiversity.
Best decision in life
To move to Brazil!
Images: ©Wellington Nemeth & Ricardo d’Angelo
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