For more than three decades, Ciro Orsini has burned with a passion to combine good Italian food and music to bring people together. He opened his first restaurant in London in 1978 and named it after a tomato – Ciro’s Pomodoro. Since then, the restaurant has grown into one of the most successful chains across the world, with locations in Beijing, Lahore, Dubai, Bahrain, London, Riga and Kyiv.
However, Ciro Orsini, 51, is not your conventionally slick and materialistic businessman. In fact, if you saw him, you might think he’s a rock star on his way to a show. He has long black hair, stylishly unkempt; a tapestry of colorful tattoos covers his body, including a portrait of an American Indian named White Cloud, busty angels, Chinese characters and a massive dragon stretched across his back; crosses, medallions, and turquoise stones dangle on his neck.
Ciro is also a social butterfly. When he steps down the plane in Kyiv – once in a couple of months – the first thing he does is texting his friends, among which is Eugenia Carr, the daughter of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and co-founder of the Kyiv restaurant.
“We became friends with Zhenya while she was studying in London. She liked rock’n’roll and we immediately connected. Originally we discussed the idea of a small studio where we could bring musicians.
But later, with her and Sean’s [Eugenia’s husband] support we just decided to open up a Pomodoro in Kyiv,” recalls Ciro.
The path to Ciro’s current success was a winding one. Growing up under the warm sun of Naples, Ciro spent most of his childhood and adolescence boxing in the gym. However, one day, his coach suggested he get a job at a pastry shop on the side, which is where Ciro felt for the first time the joy of being in the kitchen.
In 1973, the birth of his baby girl Jennifer inspired the maturing Orsini to leave behind a boyish passion for boxing and create something real and meaningful.
Ciro moved to Rome and opened a little restaurant in the area called Piazza Rossa, or Red Square, just outside Rome. Fittingly, Piazza Rossa was a popular area for Russian immigrants, who would often spend several months in Italy on their way to America or Canada.
Eventually Orsini started entertaining his guests with Russian singers and was amazed at how the combination of food and music could revive even the most downcast of people. This observation led Orsini to create his international restaurant chain that seeks to be a musical and culinary respite from the challenges of life. Today, Pomodoro’strademark bright tomato sign hangs conspicuously in locations around the world, including on Kyiv’s Shota Rustavelli street.
The first thing you notice when you enter Pomodoroare the hundreds of photos of Orsini posing with celebrities, cheerfully gazing down upon the diners. It just so happens that Orsini loves celebrities and they love him.
“When I came to L.A. in 1986, within two weeks I became best friends with Sylvester Stallone’s mother, who was a journalist and showed me the ropes. She introduced me to many actors, some of which soon became my friends.”
Ciro says that the actors accepted him, because they knew he wasn’t after acting career or fame. “I wanted to make genuine friendships.” Among Ciro’s closest friends are American actors Amand Assante, Al Pacino, Pamela Anderson, Sylvester Stallone, Leonardo DiCaprio, and model Pamela Anderson.
Ciro always carries with him a picture of a Sufi Saint (Aleksey Furman)
“I think Pomodoro is the most atmospheric restaurant in Kyiv with life bands, great selection of food and drinks for every taste. I always visit it when I am in Dubai or London,” says Ray McRobbie, Ciro’s close friend who manages a concert and event agency and has been living in Ukraine for 12 years.
Despite being an international restaurant, Ciro makes an effort to adapt its menu to the tastes of the culture with the restaurant.
It doesn’t mean that you’ll find varenyky on Pomodoro’s menu, but you are most likely to eat salads grown in Ukraine, for example. Orsini firmly insists on using local products to support the local economy and only imports products when necessary.
In Kyiv, Pomodoro works only with “materiel prima,” Orisini explains, all the high quality products, such as mozzarella and prosciutto (Italian ham), they buy from an Italian distributor locally, guided by the principle “work globally, but think locally.”
Kyiv’s restaurant critic Alla Zakonova, however, thinks Ciro’s trump card is not the food: “Even though I wouldn’t pick Pomodoro as the best Italian cuisine in town, it is a fabulous place for the vibrant socialites, who value company and ambiance above all.”
Ciro’s gypsy lifestyle adds to this perception. He is “one of the busiest players in London,” as he describes himself, but inside is a gentle warm-hearted Italian.
“When I wake up in the morning I think what I can do to help someone today,” says Ciro. In his inside leather vest pocket he carries a wrinkled laminated picture of an Islamic Sufi saint but the restaurateur says that he finds inspiration from all religions, from American Indian traditions to Judaism.
His peaceable world view transcends into his political outlook and charity initiatives. Appearing in Kyiv at the peak of Tymoshenko’s trial he remarked: “To all the enemies, including the souls persecuting Yulia, I send love. No one deserves to be hated.”
A global citizen, Ciro finds Ukrainians endearing: “They are so deep at times; they don’t want to talk about it and are afraid to feel. But they should and they tend to open up to me.”
Yulia Tymoshenko, Armand Assante and Ciro Orsini.
Kyiv Post staff writer Mariya Manzhos can be reached at [email protected]
