Fifteen Years of Bottega, in My Own Words

People come into Bottega today and see a cafe, a pizza oven, a grocery full of Italian products. What they do not see is where it started: an office with a cold room attached, and no kitchen at all.

There was a gap, and I filled it

Back in 2011 there were products that simply were not available in Malaysia, and there were chefs looking for them: for quality, for service, for something that had never been on this market before.

So Bottega started as a supplier, an importer of niche products flown in by air freight. My vision was to bring a piece of Italy, and in smaller part of Spain and France, into Malaysia, and to deliver it fresh, every week, to every chef’s table.

That idea has never changed. Only the direction did: we used to distribute to third parties, and today we import those same products for our own outlets.

Cari Amici, I am Riccardo Ferrarotti. I opened Bottega in 2011, and this is how it happened.

Why Bukit Bintang? Honestly, because I lived there

I will give you the honest answer, not the marketing one. Proximity.

I was working twenty metres from where Bottega first opened, and living across the road. When I left my employer to start on my own, my ex-business partner and I went looking for an office, and that place came up vacant. It had been a law firm. The lawyers moved out, we moved in.

It was three offices: one for me, my training work and Bottega, the other two for my partners, who ran a management company. Bottega was mine, and I brought it to life. Slowly, slowly it evolved, and what began as an office with storage is now a cafe, a deli, a pizzeria, an experience, all at one address. Like my hood.

How I became a chef

Italy is the country I come from. I became a chef because my father put a choice in front of me: engineering school, or hospitality, the way he had done it. I tried engineering. I failed. So, hospitality.

From there I followed my father’s path, which was always about travelling and gathering knowledge of cultures, of people, of traditions, while carrying the food tradition I learned in Italy alongside great chefs. I worked Italy north to south, then Switzerland, the US, the UAE and China, with training in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Brisbane, Shanghai and Melbourne. Every place added something to me.

Everything I gathered is what I bring to life at Bottega: an infinite world of knowledge and flavour that can still amaze you every single day.

Where the name came from

Bottega means a shop, a boutique. The name came out of a brainstorming session with my former business partner, deciding what to call the part of the business that was mine. We chose Bottega Mediterranea, because I was already importing foie gras from France, chorizo, jamón and cheeses from Spain, and everything from Italy.

But the word means a great deal to me because of my parents. They had a café in Italy called Bottega del Caffè, the coffee shop, because coffee is what it sold. So when we were writing down names, that one came naturally.

My parents built a very successful coffee shop and a pizza delivery shop, back when pizza was just pizza and not a marketing tool. My father was a chef and a businessman who changed how people ate in an Italian café: in those years a classic northern bar served only cold starters, sandwiches, pizza by the slice and tramezzini, but being a chef, he got the licence to cook there the same dishes as a restaurant. A game changer.

He started with Bar Italia in Biella. I started with Bottega in Kuala Lumpur.

Three camping stoves and a microwave

This is still the story I love most.

At the beginning, the ground floor where you now find the cafe and the grocery was storage, a cold room, the administration office and a small pantry. That was all.

I had no kitchen and no money to build one. So I cooked on three camping stoves, a microwave and a small electric oven, out of my little apartment. From that, to operations across the north, south, east and west of Malaysia today.

I brought the first burrata into Malaysia

Very few people know this, so let me say it plainly. Bottega was the first importer of burrata in Malaysia. I brought it in for the first time in 2009, and again in 2011, and gave it to everybody. There were articles written at the time because of what we were importing. Today burrata is on menus all over this city. It came here through my shop.

The Mingles, and opening bottles with whatever I had in my hand

Things really started to move when I created the Mingle, which is nothing more than what people now call day clubbing: a party from two in the afternoon until nine at night, with live music, the food the most important thing on the table. Ten years ago nobody in Malaysia thought about partying at two on a Saturday.

Then there was the sabrage, opening bottles of Prosecco with whatever object I had in my hand. People started ordering a Prosecco just to bring the bottle over.

Most of it came from struggle, though: too much work and not enough staff, no idea where to seat people because there was a queue outside, Mingles in the rain, floods on the terrace. Now we have electric tents that open and close on their own, but two years ago a rainstorm was mayhem.

The customers are the best part. They leave me memories I still carry: cooking in their homes, being invited to weddings and funerals, being part of so many things because of Bottega.

What Bottega is now

From an importer of Italian, French and Spanish products, we have grown into a place that cooks generous dinners, hosts Michelin-star chefs, runs events with hundreds of people eating and dancing, and has served MotoGP and Formula One.

We are not really a restaurant. We are a melting pot of pizzeria, cafe, grocery and events venue, which is why you can eat here and then take home from our grocery store the ingredients behind your meal.

Underneath it all is the thing I have always cared about: educating. Explaining why a ham is called a ham, and why every Italian region has its own food, because of the influences that came in before and after the Second World War. That is why I opened a little shop.

What comes next

I hope we continue exactly as we are: growing organically, bringing more products that represent my country, and continuing this infinite work of educating, of showing what can be done in an essential way, without complicating our lives.

Everyone thinks of Italy and pictures pizza and pasta. We have far more: every region, every product, every story.

The road ahead is long. Come and see us in Bukit Bintang, look at the menu, read more about us, or let us deliver a piece of Italy to your door.

Always loud and proud. Grande Bottega

What comes next

I hope we continue exactly as we are: growing organically, bringing more products that represent my country, and continuing this infinite work of educating, of showing what can be done in an essential way, without complicating our lives.

Everyone thinks of Italy and pictures pizza and pasta. We have far more: every region, every product, every story.

The road ahead is long. Come and see us in Bukit Bintang, look at the menu, read more about us, or let us deliver a piece of Italy to your door.

Always loud and proud. Grande Bottega.

Frequently asked questions

Q1. Who started Bottega?
Ans. I did, in 2011, after working in kitchens across Italy, Switzerland, the US, the UAE and China.

Q2. What does “Bottega” mean?
Ans. A shop or a boutique. It was also the name of my parents’ café in Italy, Bottega del Caffè, which is why the word means so much to me.

Q3. Was Bottega always a cafe and deli?
Ans. No. It began as an import business, then grew into a coffee shop and a pizzeria, while keeping the grocery.

Q4. Were you really the first to bring burrata to Malaysia?
Ans. Yes. I imported it in 2009 and again in 2011, and it was written about at the time. Now it is on menus everywhere here.

Q5. So is Bottega a restaurant or a shop?
Ans. Honestly, neither on its own. We are a melting pot of pizzeria, cafe, grocery and events venue.

Q6. What was the Mingle?
Ans. My monthly party, two in the afternoon until nine at night, with live music and the food I was importing. Day clubbing, before anyone here used the word.

Q7. Do you still import the products yourselves?
Ans. Yes, and that is the foundation of everything. The same imports supply my kitchen and fill the shelves.

Q8. Why do you talk so much about educating people?
Ans. Because that is why I opened the shop. Explaining where food comes from, and why each Italian region differs, was the whole point.

Q9. Can I book Bottega for an event?
Ans. We run events and masterclasses, and have catered MotoGP and Formula One. Get in touch and tell me what you have in mind.

Q10. Where can I find you?
Ans. In Bukit Bintang, at the same address where it began in 2011. We also have outlets in Penang and Johor Bahru.