Roy Caceres, from Colombia to Italy, chef in search of emotions

As a child he thought of everything except becoming a chef, he dreamed of becoming an aviator, he was fascinated by the planes he saw flying high in the skies of Colombia, his imagination ranged over the discovery of new worlds. As a teenager he had thrown himself headlong into basketball: team play, the challenge, the tenacity in having to conquer the point at all costs, had become an all-encompassing passion, almost an obsession. When he grew up these qualities that had formed his character, imagination and tenacity, guided him when – the book was a convict – a cook gave him a book of cooking recipes that introduced him to the magical world of food. And from that moment he understood that the long journey that had brought him from Colombia to Italy was not just a question of geographical distances but something much more, something that introduced him to a new culture of history, traditions, flavours, taste. Especially of emotions. That cooking would be his real and only reason for living.

Roy Salomon Caceres, Michelin-starred Chef of the Metamorphosis Restaurant in Rome, 42 years old, father of three children, he revisits with emotion the journey that brought him from Bogota, where he was born on April 29, 1977, to Rome, where he landed at the age of 16. Her mother, who had separated from her husband when she was pregnant with Roy, had chosen to seek work in Italy to offer a future of greater satisfaction for her children.

“Actually, I've spent almost two thirds of my life in Italy – says Roy – but I don't forget certain good sensations experienced in my country. For example, when on Sunday morning my grandfather, who was Syrian, prepared kibbeh at home, a dish of meatballs typical of Arab cuisine based on lamb meat, which he however replaced with beef, and bulgur, cracked wheat, mixed with spring onion and fresh mint. When he passed the beef and vegetables with the grinder he let me taste it, raw, and I must say that these strange flavors of other culinary cultures, and above all the fact that it was raw, I really liked ”.

At the time, young Roy certainly thought of everything except becoming a chef. But he really liked eating! “I've always been a big glutton, a sweet tooth."  But he could afford it. At that age he was only into basketball. He trained five to six hours a day, played on his hometown team, and competed in national leagues. With an out of the ordinary tenacity: “I didn't feel particularly strong with my left arm, which is why, for months during training, I tied my right arm to my body to be able to dribble and shoot only with my left hand so as to reinforce the power of the launch". Needless to say, quite a temper.

The arrival in Italy at 16 and the first job in Sardinia

And when he arrived in Italy at the age of 16, the first thing he did was show up for a basketball team in Rome to play. But the residence permit did not arrive immediately. Roy didn't lose heart, without a card he couldn't be enrolled but he attended the club, he trained every day always waiting for that permit. “It was frustrating, we trained together but then I couldn't play the matches…”.

This story lasted two years until it became necessary to give help to the mother. Her first job was that of maintenance in a tourist village in Sardinia. Once again the memory of his grandfather returns in his speeches, in addition to cooking kibbeh, his Syrian grandfather did a lot of work at home and Roy, staying close to him, gave him a hand, thus learning to juggle with pliers, hammers, screwdrivers and saws. And in Sardinia all this came in handy. The boy was very practical and when winter arrived the company for which "Principe Viaggi" worked, he wanted to reward him by sending him to work as a dishwasher in a hotel in Misurina near Cortina d'Ampezzo. Roy doesn't hold back, “I've never done it, but I needed to work”. In the small hotel in Misurina the cook did everything himself, from pasta to condiments, he did not take semi-finished foods from outside. All in all, he was very busy. The young dishwasher admires him as he handles gnocchi and tagliatelle, this world of goodness that comes out of his hands, intrigues him, reminds him of his grandfather when he worked the kibbeh. Half-heartedly, she offers to give him a hand, to help him with the kitchen work. Obviously he will wash all the dishes at the end of the service without time limits. “Of course to learn something in the kitchen I had to leave the dishes but afterwards I had to wash them anyway working late. But at that age you don't mind, I had begun to get passionate about cooking…”. The cook sees him so assiduous, so attentive that one day she gives him a cookbook “Many years have passed, but I still keep it. It was a classic cookbook, with a French imprint, for me it was a real textbook. I devoured it, studied everything. I felt at fault with friends who graduated from hotel management schools, so when they went to the disco in the evening, I stayed in my room to study not only the book that had been given to me but also other books, magazines, newspapers”.

Needless to say, the dishwasher soon remains a distant memory. Roy has various experiences, he arrives in a restaurant on Monte Amiata, he is immediately head of the game and after only three months – when they see what he is made of – becomes assistant cook. A task of game manager and then assistant cook, conquered on the field only with his willpower. There were large numbers, 150-200 seats, but Caceres is looking for much more.

“I was looking for emotions not gratifications, he says today”. And she finds the first real emotions when they take him to the Pellicano, the gourmet restaurant in Porto Ercole, where some of the greatest Italian chefs have passed. It is the head of the game for first courses. A great commitment, there were eleven cooks, he sees how kitchens work organized in a certain way, he knows rigor, he refines the search for taste, the sense of perfection, the puzzle of flavors and components that must always be played to the last and always be questioned until submission. If before that moment he could imagine some hesitation or second thoughts, the fascinating world of the Pellicano escapes all doubts. Caceres understands what he wants in the kitchen and how to get it.

The first star arrives at the Locanda Solarola in Castel Guelfo

So after a year of that extraordinary experience he enters the Locanda Solarola in Castel Guelfo near Bologna. An atmosphere of an aristocratic country house from the early twentieth century, with large living rooms furnished in style, surrounded by a fabulous park with swimming pool and a kitchen that Bruno Barbieri before abandoning it to move to the restaurant "Il Trigabolo" in Argenta di Ferrara, and then at the "Grotta di Brisighella" and then again at the Arquade of Villa del Quar in Verona he had decorated with the two Michelin stars that he carried with him wherever he went. The owner, Antonella Scardovi, also quite a temper, did not want to give up the Michelin stars if not two at least one had to stay in her inn, for this she put herself on the line herself, she had won a star and was looking for guys who perhaps from technical point of view could help maintain it over time. Caceres convinced her immediately. And while he busied himself in the kitchen he brought his wife with him who was in charge of the reception. These were years of great satisfaction, by now the guidelines of his cuisine are solid. He can also think about expanding the family, Nicolas is born, the firstborn and soon after the second arrives. Some time later, however, Mrs. Scardovi has health problems, she has to make an important decision, to leave the kitchen in trusted hands. “We talked for a long time, I told her: I can take over the kitchen but she has to give me carte blanche. You know me by now, we've been working together for many years. She certainly won't upset her cooking but I also want to leave my mark ”. The lady accepts, and Roy Caceres at the age of 29 becomes the chef of the Locanda Solarola in Castel Guelfo. The inspectors of the Michelin Guide arrive, taste its cuisine, and confirm the Red Guide Star. Now he's a big one.

The time is right for him to now have his own restaurant. Caceres goes down to Rome and locates in a room in Via Antonelli, in Parioli, the starting point for a new adventure. That at the end of a year and a half, for a change, immediately receives a Michelin star. As exciting as his journey has been. That emotion – a recurring word when speaking of him – that can be seen in his eyes when, with his still Hispanic cadence that inspires great sympathy, he describes his restaurant: “Metamorphosis” as transformation. as a change, as a renewal as a synthesis of his life, as the philosophy that has always inspired him and which is contained in the claim of the place “Changing is an art, evolving is a mission.” 

Each dish is an exciting story, a tale

Because – as he likes to underline – each dish is an exciting story, each recipe a story that talks about innovation and the art of change, each menu a path that intertwines modernity and tradition. “All of our dishes are made with the idea that we have to excite people. Ever since I started this profession I have always thought that a dish comes from the head, passes through the heart and then reaches the belly. Of course, there must be a solid technique behind it which, however, must hardly be perceived. Technique is a tool to enhance the raw material and here in Italy we have exceptional raw materials - to underline the "we" of a Colombian proud of his adopted country - we have more than anyone in the world, we have a wealth that everyone they envy us and rightly so. But I also want all this heritage to reach those who come here to eat. For this reason, the story is essential, because it helps to enhance the perception of taste. I'll tell you the story of this dish, how I conceived it, how we achieved this result, how much we worked on it”.

And a long story is behind his operculate risotto with mushrooms and hazelnuts, a dish studied for six months. An all-encompassing risotto according to the chef who must involve all the diner's senses. Not only taste and smell (it would have been too easy!), but also sight, hearing, touch. To the point that she had special crockery made to enjoy it. But there was no way to be satisfied. So, in the end, he turned to a craftsman to obtain handcrafted wooden bowls and olive wood staves, from which to make spoons which the chef himself then finished by hand until the desired shape was obtained. Because that risotto must reach the mouth without audible crockery noise, a metallic sensation of a cutlery, everything must be natural in a process that refers to ancient rites. Emotional.

Metamorphosis Restaurant – Rome