For those on the hunt for exceptional food in central London, Charlotte Street is likely to be high on the list of destinations. Home to fine dining institutions, popular chains and swanky bistros alike, there’s no shortage of menus to sink your teeth into on the Fitzrovia thoroughfare. But when it comes to food that can’t help but put a smile on your face, it’s hard to look past Sicilian restaurant Norma.
Originally launched in 2019 by former culinary director of The Stafford Collection Ben Tish, Norma’s menu has always been a crowd-pleasing affair, but since being promoted to executive chef in 2022, Giovann Attard has begun to bring more of his own influences to the menu, ‘although I was head chef before, becoming executive chef at Norma gave me an extra level of freedom,’ explains Giovann, who grew up on the Maltese island if Gozo. ‘I started to express myself fully and take inspiration from childhood memories in my cooking. For example, there’s this fish which we call lampuki in Malta (also known as mahi-mahi) and my mum used to just simply pan fry it in flour and serve it with this sauce made out of tomatoes, olives, garlic, capers; it was just one of my favourite things, so I put it on the menu straight away.’
Giovann’s heightened awareness of Mediterranean flavours and produce harks back to his childhood growing up on a farm in a rural village, where from an early age he was surrounded by the likes of homemade sheep’s cheese, wonderfully fresh tomatoes, and beautiful seafood. ‘I think that’s probably what first attracted me to the idea of being a chef,’ he explains, ‘I didn’t realise it at the time but having that connection with produce and being able to see the cycle of crops being planted, harvested and then cooked with, was pretty inspiring.’
His heart set on becoming a chef, Giovann attended culinary school in Malta from the age of seventeen and began learning the ins and outs of classical cookery. ‘It’s funny because for some reason I had always wanted to be a pastry chef,’ he explains, ‘but when I first started working at a hotel, there was only room for me in the hot section, so that’s what I did. College opened up a whole new world for me though, as until then I was used to a very specific style of food.’ After working in the kitchen at one of Gozo’s few luxury hotels, Giovann’s third year of college took him all the way to Brussels, where he worked in an array of different of restaurants and hotels, before returning home. Within just a year however, London came calling.