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OUR CHEFS 2016


Niko Romito

Niko Romito is the owner and chef of the Ristorante Reale in Castel di Sangro, at its new Casadonna headquarters.In the gastronomic Italian guides he is among the best Restaurant in Italy. He is also the head and educational director of  “Niko RomitoFormazione”, a professional Cooking School accredited by the Regione Abruzzo.

Romito is a self-taught chef. While Niko Romito was studying Economics in Rome, his father decided to turn the family pastry shop, in the little village of Rivisondoli in Abruzzo, into a restaurant. It was here Niko’s early career started, when he would come home on weekends and summers to help in the family business.

After his father’s death in 1999, Niko decided to change career and left his college studiesto become a chef. He moved to Venice to study at the Etoile and completed stages with chef Valeria Piccini and Salvatore Tassa. For a few months he worked at El Celler de Can Rocarestaurant in Girona in Spain. On returning to Abruzzo he refurbished and renamed his family restaurant and Reale was born.

For three star chef Niko Romito ‘simplicity’ is the fundamental value in the preparation of his dishes at the restaurant Reale. ‘My food is often described as simple’, he says: ‘This is very true, in the sense that it is not complicated, which is not to say that it is without significant complexity. In cooking, complexity can be advantageous; complication never’. And this particular kind of simplicity can only be achieved through tireless research, and a passion for balance.
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