Ikos Magazine 2026
A Greek-Italian Alliance
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Ettore Botrini, the Greek-Italian chef behind the Fresco restaurants at Ikos Resorts, reflects on the philosophy, discipline and values that shape his cuisine.
A STORY BY ELEFTHERIA VASSILIADI
With four decades of experience and a long list of distinctions to his name, Ettore Botrini has carved out a singular place on the Greek culinary scene. Early in his career, he was led and worked alongside leading figures of the international gastronomic world in France and Spain, including Martin Berasategui. Since then, he has built a unique culinary identity as the chef-owner of the Michelin-starred Botrini’s in Athens and the acclaimed Etrusco in Corfu, and as culinary director of a series of restaurants.
Across all of these, Botrini brings the same defining sensibility: a cuisine grounded in memory, shaped by precision and guided by restraint. Greek and Italian influences meet within a contemporary Mediterranean framework. At the same time, each dish often begins with something deeply personal: a memory, a place, a flavour. All cooking is refined but never theatrical, exacting yet deeply expressive in flavour. Respect for the ingredient, purity, technical discipline and consistency remain at the core of his philosophy. The result is a quiet, confident expression of luxury, one that reveals itself through detail, balance and an unmistakable sense of care.
Mr Botrini, as a skilled storyteller of gastronomy and culinary culture, what elements from your many years of experience do you incorporate into the development of Fresco’s restaurant concept?
Fresco’s cuisine is pure Italian. It does not try to be anything else, nor does it aim to impress through unnecessary ideas. It is rooted in the essence of Italian gastronomy: the ingredients, balance and purity of flavour. Over the years, I have created a very clear approach: to abstract rather than add, and to keep only what truly deserves to be on the plate. That philosophy defines Fresco, too. Its identity lies in this clarity, expressing authentic Italian cuisine with respect for the ingredients and without excess. It is a cuisine that relies on confidence rather than embellishment.
What does the creative process of designing a menu entail, given the culinary standards of these specific restaurants?
The process always begins with the ingredients. Without the right ingredients, you cannot create the right dish. After that, everything depends on how you handle them. Each element has to stand out without overwhelming the others. I am not interested in complexity for its own sake, but in precision. With that mindset, the menu is shaped as a complete experience, one with balance and logic from beginning to end. There is no theatre and no unnecessary intervention, only a cuisine that is simple, but never simplistic, where every detail has been considered.
“Without the right ingredients,
you cannot create the right dish.”
Tell us about the cooking and the experience at Fresco: the ingredients, the culinary philosophy, the inspiration and the values behind every dish.
Fresco expresses authentic Italian cuisine rooted in the ingredients and the respect they deserve. The culinary approach is essential. Nothing on the plate is superfluous. Technique is always present, but only in the service of flavour. Simplicity is a central element, though never easy. It demands knowledge, discipline and precision. The experience is direct and honest, free of exaggeration, with pure flavours and proper execution taking centre stage. What we aim to create is a sense of familiarity that still feels refined.
An exceptional dish begins with a great vision. Which dishes embody and introduce this philosophy to guests at Ikos Fresco?
This philosophy is often best expressed through the simple dishes. A properly executed pasta, risotto or fish dish, without unnecessary embellishment, is where precision and craftsmanship become clear. With these dishes, we want guests to feel as though they are stepping into a true Italian kitchen, one defined by intimacy, warmth and the authenticity of flavour. At the same time, that experience is inseparable from the hospitality of Ikos Fresco. Cuisine and hospitality work together so that guests feel not only that they are eating well, but that they are being genuinely cared for.
