After traveling the world, chef Roberto Di Pinto opened his gastrocratic restaurant, Sine. Organic and locally sourced products are used to celebrate his Neapolitan roots – and vocation for art
Sine by Di Pinto, Milan: a restaurant against the unnecessary
Sine by Di Pinto in Milan is a restaurant with a minimalist philosophy, which is reflected in the slogan: «Happiness does not depend in the unnecessary». An aphorism by Italian singer, composer, actor, and playwright Giorgio Gaber, typed at the top of every menu. A concept remarked in the restaurant’s name, Sine, which in Latin means ‘without’. The idea is to avoid everything that is not mandatory for the plate’s balance and the customers’ tasting experience. This is why a minimalist style was also chosen for the restaurant’s interiors and mise en place, trying to balance elegance and informality.
Sine by Di Pinto is located in Viale Umbria, between Porta Venezia and Porta Romana, in a renovated former bike shop. Here, a creative cuisine with Neapolitan roots and international vibes is served, flanked by a selection of Italian and foreign wines from the chef’s cellar.
Chef Roberto Di Pinto’s restaurant: a journey of taste
Chef Roberto Di Pinto opened his restaurant in 2018, after working both in Italy and abroad. He started his career in a pastry shop in Naples, his hometown. Then, he travelled the world, discovering international culinary traditions and practices: from molecular to French to Asian cuisine.
After working as a chef in London, Florence, Paris and Milan, he found a home in Sine. Here, he launched his personal culinary concept, a modern reinterpretation of Neapolitan and Mediterranean traditional recipes with international touches. Every plate is conceived as a journey of taste, which starts from the chef’s own roots and follows his career around the world, only to come back to his motherland.
Organic raw materials and locally sourced ingredients as a mantra
Even though he does not disdain other cuisines’ lessons and is in favor of a culinary dialogue, chef Roberto di Pinto is against food globalization. To be ‘necessary’ for him means to use organic raw materials only, preferring locally sourced ingredients and small producers.
Some examples? Burrata and buffalo milk, typical Campania products. Pezzata Rossa meat, a bovine breed native to the Italian Alps. Salsiccia di Bra, a sausage recognized as an Italian Traditional Agri-food Product, original from the city of Bra, in Piedmont. Rosa di Gorizia, a gourmet variety of red radish, typical of the area of Gorizia in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. ‘Nduja, a spicy, spreadable pork sausage from Calabria.
The majority of Sine’s cellar is also dedicated to Italian labels, with a selection of biological white and red wines from Campania. Di Pinto partners with wineries from the Amalfi coast, Ischia and Capri islands, Naples, Avellino, Caserta, Benevento, and Salerno.
Sine by Di Pinto: a gastrocratic approach towards food
Sine by Di Pinto adopts a «gastrocratic» approach. This adjective comes from a word, «gastrocracy», the chef coined himself, joining two terms: gastronomy (the science of cooking) and kratos (‘power’ in ancient Greek).
Chef Roberto Di Pinto uses it to describe his mission to empower cuisine and gastronomy, meaning to free them from ancient standards and clichés. He claims the right to communicate with his customers in his own culinary language, revisiting rules and plates to try to reach a wider audience.
Every night at seven, when his staff lines up before the opening, he reminds them that customers are not coming to see them, as in a concert or a show, but to dine.
The apotheosis of gastrocracy is probably the Chef’s Table. Every evening, from Monday to Thursday, Sine opens its kitchen to customers, who have the possibility to taste a personalized menu. Those who book the experience will be asked to fill in a questionnaire several days in advance. Before dinner, they will also be admitted into the chef’s secret cellar for an aperitif.
Sine by Di Pinto menu: from Naples to Asia and return
Sine by Di Pinto menu is not just à la carte, but also features two degustation paths. Moreover, customers are always welcomed by a composition of eight amuse bouche. There is no fixed order to taste them, the chef’s only advice is: «Start from the warm snacks, you will enjoy them more». This is part of Di Pinto’s gastrocratic idea, according to which customers should be at the center of the tasting experience with no restrictive rule. Warm snacks include an egg filled with pecorino cheese, mint oil and orange compote; cod croquettes with lemon jam, saffron and celeriac; a fried pizza mignon dressed with seasonal ingredients; pasta omelette with dill, bottarga and tomato ketchup. The last two are typical Neapolitan finger food. Cold snacks feature Neapolitan fried pork meat, shaped as a piggy’s head; algae tacos with ceviche; bread with a turnip salad and marinated anchovy mayonnaise; Genovese sauce. The latter is made following Di Pinto’s mother’s family receipt.
The first degustation path is Sine Tempore, which is described by the chef as «My Napoli: memories, encounters, creativity». Here customers will find reinterpretations of specialties from the Mediterranean cuisine, such as fried pizza, parmigiana, Mescafrancesca (a Neapolitan first course where different pasta formats are mixed). Main protagonist of Sine Tempore is Mediterranean fish, including bonito, red mullet – served in carrozza style – and sea snails.
The à la carte menu features other courses where Italian and international cuisines mix, searching for a balance between different flavors
The second one is Sine Confini, «My journey and my dreams, constantly evolving». This is a culinary encounter between Di Pinto’s Neapolitan roots and his experience abroad. Oysters meet Peruvian cocktail Pisco sour, which is here turned into a granita. The first course includes Raviolo pizza and Umami rice. The former is a raviolo made as the typical raviolo caprese, filled with pizza Margherita. The dough, based on water and flour, is cooked in a pan as it happens for gyoza. The latter is a homage to Japan, a risotto with lemon and tuna bottarga, made green by the presence of twelve aromatic herbs. Then, Calabrian ‘Nduja, accompanied by cod and finferli mushrooms, is followed by heart with yuzu and parsnips.
The à la carte menu features other courses where Italian and international cuisines mix, searching for a balance between different flavors. Mackerel is marinated with salt, kombu seaweed, katsuobushi, and dressed with tzatziki sauce, red turnip and salicornia. Calamari are turned into a Carbonara-style sauce for pasta, with the adding of Lapsang Souchong Chinese black tea. Beef carpaccio meets cocoa, burrata and sea urchin ice-cream. Guanciale ravioli are filled with wasabi.
The dessert menu is another dive into Di Pinto’s cultural heritage, as testified by The Little Prince, inspired by his childhood memories of milk soup.
Sine by Di Pinto: Naples and cultural humor
At Sine by Di Pinto Naples can be breathed everywhere. Even though the chef chose Milan as a house for his restaurant, he is very proud of his origins. When entering the restaurant, customers are welcomed by some pop-art pieces and a bright red horn, the iconic Neapolitan amulet. The interiors themselves are painted in a warm color palette, with red details, such as the sofas. The warm tones are enhanced by the soft lights. On a wall, a pink neon inscription in Neapolitan dialect says: «Suona, ca sò suonne d’oro» (‘dream, as they are sweet dreams’). These were the words the chef’s father used to say to him when he was a child.
The mise en place is minimal, but also enriched by traditional Neapolitan details. On every table is a tiny statue of Saint Januarius, the patron saint of Naples. At Sine, Di Pinto’s hometown is subject to cultural humor, but never disrespected.
The menu not only derives inspiration from Neapolitan traditional cuisine, but also features plates, desserts in particular, which homage the local culture and folklore. The Golden Slipper is decorated with a Maradona portrait. Tié is a semifreddo shaped as a Neapolitan lucky corn. Lemon Eruption recreates the Vesuvio with a cedar dug and burned, then filled with ice-cream.
Sine by Di Pinto, a restaurant where art and food meet
At Sine art and food meet and dialogue between each other. On the restaurant walls customers will find paintings realized by Di Pinto himself with a spoon or his hands. Basically, the same instruments he uses in the kitchen for his plates. Some paintings portray his culinary creations, other homage his role models, both inside and outside the kitchen. For instance, there is a painting dedicated to Socrates and another one to Chef Gualtiero Marchesi.
Chef Roberto Di Pinto also applies art to cuisine, by deriving inspiration for his platings from artistic masterpieces. An example is his Expressionist Parmigiana, which quotes Lucio Fontana’s iconic canvases with cuts. Here, Mediterranean cuisine is combined with Asian culinary practices. The result is a parmigiana covered by a charcoal sheet with a longitudinal cut that reveals the inside.
Sine by Di Pinto
Sine is a restaurant located in Milan, opened by Neapolitan chef Roberto Di Pinto in 2018. Here, the chef combines his Mediterranean heritage with other culinary practices acquired during his work experience abroad. Every plate aims at creating new balances of flavors with organic raw materials and preferring locally sourced ingredients.
Everything at Sine reminds of Naples, and its culture and folklore. Di Pinto plays with them, but never with disrespect. His aim is to offer to every customer a personalized tasting experience, avoiding all rules and cliches he finds unnecessary.
