- Conference Speakers
- Presenters & Awards Hosts
Topics:
- Business
- Food and wine
- Living
- Motivation & Teamwork
Speaker has been added to your wishlist.
Aldo Zilli
Aldo Zilli is chef patron of the Zilli Fish Group and is one of Soho's most flamboyant restaurateurs. His knowledge of the restaurant industry and flamboyant personality makes him ideal as keynote speaker about customer service and service excellence or to run a cooking demonstration or team building event.
Becoming a Chef
After catering college in Italy he was sent abroad for the winter season to hotels all over Europe. He finally came to England at the age of 19 and decided to concentrate on his passion for Italian food, and started working in Italian restaurants, introducing new cooking methods and eclectic menus, transforming them from little-known venues to celebrity haunts. However, he soon outgrew the kitchen, becoming executive manager and training other chefs in his own impressive style.
Eventually, certain of his own success, Aldo decided to go it alone and acquired his first restaurant in Il Siciliano in Dean Street. Word quickly spread about the quality of food and the atmosphere created by Aldo and soon the restaurant was packed.
The Rise of Zilli Fish & Winning Awards
Aldo bought the premises at 41 Dean Street and opened Signor Zilli and then next door with London's first authentic Italian bar, Signor Zilli Bar. Zilli Fish followed in Brewer Street. Great Italian food and Aldo's legendary sense of humour makes these establishments a magnet for people from the media and entertainment world.
He was awarded Best Italian Restaurant Award in The London Restaurant Awards and collected the award for Best Media Restaurant for Zilli Fish. He has also won Favourite Showbiz Restaurant for Signor Zilli in the Capital Radio Awards and the London Times commented 'Aldo Zilli's kitchen remains on top form, with a menu that favours upmarket ingredients put to simple use'.
His has presented Dinner Dates for LWT and has appeared on programmes such as The Morning Show (BBC), Rise TV (Channel 4) GMTV (ITV 1). He recorded several series for Carlton Food Network including One Man and His Hob, as well as Perfect Pasta with Aldo Zilli; Aldo's Italian Job and Aldo and Friends. Aldo co-presented a series for CFN called Two Chefs In Cape with Brian Turner and he has guested on a number of programmes including BBC2's Food & Drink, The Weakest Link, The Vanessa Show, The Generation Game, Channel 4's Light Lunch, Dinner Dates for LWT, GMTV, The London Programme and The Food Factory for ITV. He is a frequent contributor to National and Local radio on food and culinary issues and launched Restaurant Week for London's Totally London campaign.
Author, Columnist and TV Personality
Aldo has been resident chef for The Sun newspaper and has written books including Sainsbury's Quick and Easy Italian Food; Aldo's Italian Food For Friends and Zilli Fish, Foolproof Italian, The Zilli Cook Book, Simple Italian Cookery and Fish and Shellfish: The Essential Cookbook
He has worked as a chef consultant for Safeway and has designed a Zilli dinner service for Poole Pottery. Aldo's latest venture, The Zilli Cookery School launched in association with Magic of Italy, offers the chance to enjoy a unique cookery school and activity programme in the beautiful surroundings of Abruzzo in Italy.
Aldo is a dynamic personality on television and led the successful team to victory on Celebrity Fit Club on ITV1, gaining a new slender figure in the process. His success he partly attributes to the healthy eating plan he devised for himself, a diet specifically designed for men.
Aldo's television appearances were on Celebrity X Factor (ITV1) caused quite a stir when he and the other 3 singing chefs wowed the audiences with their songs in Italian, French and English - they proved enormously popular making it through to the last stages of the competition.
