Ugo Federico

Coming Up

At Cibrèo, the discipline of Florence’s kitchen culture shaped the early part of Ugo Federico’s practice. Training there meant more than learning recipes; it meant working inside a system where service, rhythm, and attention are part of the method. That kind of formation leaves a mark on technique and on taste, and it is clear in the way Federico’s later work keeps returning to structure and restraint. Racines is the place where that background becomes legible in public. As chef and owner, Ugo Federico carries the restaurant from a training lineage rooted in Florence into a current address in Brussels. The path from Cibrèo to ownership does not read as a break with the past so much as a continuation of it, with each stage reinforcing the one before.

Where They Are Now

As chef and owner of Racines in Brussels, Federico holds both the creative and operational center of the room. That position requires more than authorship; it demands control over pace, standard, and the day-to-day decisions that define a restaurant’s identity over time. The role places Ugo Federico close to the work at every level. Racines functions as the present form of that practice. The restaurant carries the weight of Florence in the background without trying to reproduce it, and Federico’s work there reflects a kitchen culture shaped by memory, precision, and continuity. In Brussels, the address is current; the method is what gives it depth.

Signature

Puttanesca Virtuosa and bomba fritta “montanara” define Ugo Federico’s listed signature dishes. The names point to a cook working with recognizable forms while giving them a personal edge. The result is a style that keeps its footing in tradition even as it marks the plate with a distinct hand.

In Their Words “During my years at Cibrèo, I had the chance to meet Carlo Petrini. That encounter brought me closer to the Slow Food movement.” The statement places Federico’s formation inside both kitchen work and ideas about food. At Cibrèo, the education was not limited to technique; it also brought contact with Carlo Petrini and, through that meeting, a closer alignment with the Slow Food movement. For Ugo Federico, that context helps explain the values running through Racines: attention to method, clarity of intent, and a respect for the systems that shape how a restaurant cooks.