Armani Ristorante's manager and lead chef prefer sourcing their fish from ASC certified farms
The Michelin-starred restaurant is serving fresh seabass and sea bream produced from Cromaris’s seven farms off the Adriatic coast in Croatia. A news release from ASC says that the Armani Ristorante prides itself of sourcing premium quality and responsibly produced ingredients. Fruits and vegetables are sourced from a local permaculture garden, ensuring seasonal produce that is fresh, flavourful and supportive of local biodiversity. Meat and seafood are also sourced responsibly; and as for farmed seafood, manager Matthieu Mori and executive chef Massimo Tringali prefer fish from ASC certified farms.
“ASC’s work allows us to select top-level suppliers. The Cromaris product has low percentages of fat and a very delicate taste,” says Tringali. “It’s an excellent fish and it is ASC certified, so we know it is responsibly farmed.”
Mori adds: “We decided to source ASC certified fish first because we believe it is important to integrate aquaculture into our sourcing, as wild fishing is suffering from overexploitation. At the same time, it is important for us to choose sustainable aquaculture. That is why we need the support of ASC to help us identify responsible farms.”
Quality and assurance for customers
Emporio Armani Caffé & Ristorante has also achieved the Marine Stewardship Council Chain of Custody certification, which proves its commitment to sustainable sourcing. This certification assures consumers and seafood-buyers that ASC labelled products come from a certified responsible farm.
“Our Chain of Custody Certification is an added value for our restaurant and an assurance for our customers that the fish we serve comes from a responsible, ASC certified farm. To obtain it we had to follow different rules to prove the fish we claim to be certified actually is certified,” says Mori. “For instance, we had to install separate refrigerators and train the teams to set the certified products apart from the other products. Then we had to do an audit by an independent third-party to confirm that we were complying with these rules.”
Cromaris has developed a unique delivery system that gives customers fresh fish one day after harvest
Commitment to quality and environmental responsibility
Being one of the fish suppliers for Emporio Armani Caffé & Ristorante, Cromaris ensures freshness in their products through their delivery system. A buyer can place an order one day and the fish is harvested the next day. The same day as harvest, or possibly the day after, the fish is delivered – fresh, unfrozen – to the buyer’s door. In Europe, the Cromaris fish on your plate at dinner may have been harvested earlier that day!
With ASC certification across all seven of their farms, Cromaris commits not just to delivering quality fish but also to their social and environmental goals. Excellent seawater quality is a baseline upon which Cromaris has carefully crafted numerous responsible farming practices for their fish, which are all native species in the region.
“The ASC certification plays into everything that we do on the farm,” says Ivana Šimunović, marine biologist at Cromaris. “We’re already working to extremely strict standards, but it adds an extra check and balance, and if we fail to comply with any of the ASC requirements, we risk losing our certification.”
“We pay great attention to fish feed,” says Šimunović. “Years of hard work and perfecting of the feed formulation has resulted in fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids and a positive ratio of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. It’s like a curated diet for athletes. These fish are getting the best nutrition possible!”
From the farm straight to the fork of consumers, ensuring the fish on a customer’s table is responsibly produced is a high priority for restaurants such as Emporio Armani.
