Zilli Restaurants

About Aldo

Aldo Zilli is an award-winning celebrity chef and restaurateur who specialises in Italian and seafood cuisine. One of nine children, he was born in the small seaside town of Alba Adriatica in the central Italian region of Abruzzo and first learnt Italian home cooking from his mother in Italy and catering college.

His Italian seafood restaurant, Zilli Fish on Brewer Street, is a Soho institution and has been open for over 15 years. It is full of media people, celebs and families on a Sunday.

Zilli Café, which is located next door to the Zilli Fish restaurant, serves delicious lunchtime dishes including handmade pastas, antipasti and salads. Aldo has recently launched L’Aperitivo at Zilli Café, to provide sociable early evening dining and drinking.

The Zilli Café concept with his signature healthy Italian food has proven very successful and is now available in Centre Parcs’ award-winning Aqua Sana spas in Longleat, Sherwood and Elveden Forest. Aldo has also extended his expertise in the kitchen to travel company, Thomson who he has worked with for three years, designing in-flight and cruise on-board menu offerings.

Aldo has written 10 books including two autobiographies, Being Zilli and My Italian Country Childhood, as well as various cook books, with his signature Italian recipes. His book Fish Cook Book showcases some of the fresh seafood recipes that he is so famous for, Zilli Fish and Zilli Light shares his healthy Italian recipes with tips on how to eat well and still eat delicious food. His new book called Fresh & Green with over 100 new exciting vegetarian recipes is available now.

Great food and Aldo’s exuberant personality means Aldo appears regularly on radio and television both as presenter and chef. Aldo took part on ‘Celebrity Fit Club’, where he lost 3 stone in weight and more recently ITV’s documentary ‘Home Is Where The Heart Is’ when he mentored a homeless boy, he took him into his home and is still working at his restaurant with him now. As well as regular appearances on ‘Daybreak’ and ‘BBC Breakfast’, he also has participated in chef challenge show ‘Ten Mile Menu’ and cooking show, ‘Perfect…’ on the Good Food Channel – Also his Sicilian adventure is a 13 part series for UK Food and is to be aired in January.

Aldo was a big part of the Kellogs campaign advertising Optivita cereal. His consultancy work includes Prezzo chain VIPizza which has proved extremely successful and has now collaborated with M Kitchen at Morrisons Supermarket nationwide to create a pizza for their ‘Inspired By’ celebrity chef range. His Pizza Calabrese with Nduja – Calabria’s signature soft salami – has quickly become a best seller throughout the stores.

The proud father of three children, Laura, Twiggy and Rocco, Aldo has always taken a keen interest in kids’ healthy eating - and in 2011 he launched an organic baby food range called Baby Zilli, which is now stocked throughout UK supermarkets. Aldo also shares his healthy family eating tips through a monthly recipe section in leading parenting magazine, Mother & Baby.