Karime López & Takahiko Kondo

Gucci Osteria

Two Chefs in blossom

From Mexico City to traveling the world and now Florence, Karime Lopez cooks Italy through her experience: full of travel, discovery and dazzling insights.

Originally from Mexico, she began her career in 2007 at Enrique Olvera’s famed Pujol in Mexico City, and her tenure included a stage at the famed Noma restaurant in Denmark. Post Pujol and after training at the prestigious Ryugin in Tokyo with chef Seiji Yamamoto, she joined chef Virgilio Martinez Véliz in Peru. A Chef without borders, in terms of curriculum, personal life, and her following training at Osteria Francescana in Modena. She perfectly represents Italy with its strong roots but open to the outside world

Taka is no stranger to the underlying philosophy of Gucci Osteria Florence, having worked alongside chef Massimo Bottura at Osteria Francescana since 2005.

Born in Tokyo, Takahiko ‘Taka’ Kondo started his career in 1997, as a chef at an Italian restaurant. It was in his home city that his connection with Italian food and cooking was nurtured, as he learned his craft in various Italian restaurants throughout the metropolis. This road led him to Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana in Modena, where he stayed for 17 years. He took on the role of sous-chef there in 2014, and to becoming co-executive chef of the awarded Gucci Osteria Florence, with Karime Lopez.

A brand new culinary Renaissance

Sharing the position as Co-Executive Chefs, they will further develop on the fresh new legacy Karime started at Gucci Osteria Florence, having been at the helm since its very beginnings in January 2018. Over the years, she steered the team to establish Gucci Osteria Florence as one of the most innovative restaurants of modern Italian cuisine.

“At Gucci Osteria, we don’t have ambitions to be gardeners; neither to have a rooftop or a countryside vegetable garden. The finest Tuscan and Italian products are naturally the basis of my cuisine. But what deeply inspires me are the light and the colours; the ochre tones and the shades of brown of the walls; the historic Florentine palaces, which are the emblems of this city of art and culture unique in the world and which I visually engage with every day”

Gucci Osteria

Instagram: @karylmt @championtaka._ @gucciosteria
Restaurant website: https://www.gucciosteria.com/en/florence
Restaurant address: P. za della Signoria, 10, 50122 Firenze FI, Italy