Aldo Zilli is chef owner of Zilli restaurants in Soho, he is the chef and menu planner for his kitchens.
After catering college in Italy he came to England and at the age of 19 decided to concentrate on his passion for Italian food. He started working in Italian restaurants introducing new cooking methods and eclectic menus, transforming them from little-know 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 along and acquired his first restaurant 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.
In 1988, he bought the premises at 41 Dean Street and opened
Signor Zilli, following this in 1993 next door with London's first authentic Italian bar -
Signor Zilli Bar. Aldo opened
Zilli Fish in Brewer Street in June 1997 and it has been bursting at the seams since its opening, now complemented by an authentic Italian café right next door -
Zilli Café. Great Italian food and Aldo's legendary sense of humour make these establishments a magnet for people from the media and entertainment world. In 1996 he was awarded
Best Italian Restaurant Award in the London Restaurant Awards, in 1998 he collected the award for
Best Media Restaurant for Zilli Fish, in 2006 he has awarded
Best Café in the Theme Awards. He has also won
Favourite Showbiz Restaurant for Signor Zilli in the Capital Radio Awards and the
London Times recently commented "Aldo Zilli's kitchen remains on top form, with a menu that favours upmarket ingredients put to simple use.
He was the presenter for
Dinner Dates for LWT in 2003 and recent guest appearances have been on
The Morning Show (BBC),
Rise TV (channel 4),
GMTV (ITV1),
This Morning (ITV). He recorded several series for Carlton Food including
One Man and his Hob in 2001 as well as
Perfect Pasta with Aldo Zilli;
Aldo's Italian Job and
Aldo and Friends which featured guests such as All Saints, Chris Tarrant and Anthea Turner. In 2000 he co-presented the CFN series
Two Chefs in The Cape with Brian Turner and he has guested on a number of programmes including BBC2's
Food & Drink,
The Weakest Link,
The Vanessa Show, Channel 4's
Light Lunch, Dinner Dates and Saturday Kitchen LWT,
GMTV,
The London Pogramme and the
Food Factory for ITV .
He made his acting debut on an episode of
London Bridge in October 1998. He also joined Henry Kelly on
Classic FM to create
A Taste of Italy, which was broadcast every weekday morning and he also appeared on Virgin Radios Friday morning breakfast show with Chris Evans. He is frequent contributor to National and Local radio on food and culinary issues and launched restaurant week for London's
Totally London campaign with Mayor, Ken Livingstone last year. He has featured in TV commercials for First Direct Bank and Orbit Sugar Free Gum.
Aldo has been resident chef for
The Sun newspaper and has written four books:
Aldo's Italian food for Friends (1998),
Zilli Fish (1999),
Foolproof Italian (2001),
The Zilli Cookbook (Simon & Schuster 2003). His latest book is
Fish Cook published by Jacqui Small in April 2006.
Aldo's latest venture,
The Zilli Cookery School in his home town, Pescara, 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 was one of the highly popular singing chefs in the recent series of
Celebrity X Factor in which they raised over £23,000.00 for Action Against Hunger. He has also starred in
Emmerdale and independent film "
Are you Ready for Love".
For further information, please contact:
Luisa Alves
36-40 Brewer Street,
London
W1F 9TA
0207 437 4867
zilli@btconnect.com
