- After a negative review on December 8, Bros' restaurant in Lecce, Italy, went viral.
- The reviewer shared one course in particular that generated attention: a foaming mouth.
After visiting Bros' in Lecce, Italy, a blogger called it "the worst" Michelin-starred restaurant. Now, the restaurant's team is turning one of the dishes that she likened to "an eastern European horror film" into a non-fungible token (
Geraldine DeRuiter of The Everywhereist shared photos of her multi-course experience — explicitly stating in the December 8 post that she wasn't going to call it "dinner" because of the small portions. Her photo of the citrus palate cleanser — called "Let's Make Out," according to The New York Times — went viral.
"Another course — a citrus foam — was served in a plaster cast of the chef's mouth," she wrote. "Absent utensils, we were told to lick it out of the chef's mouth in a scene that I'm pretty sure was stolen from an eastern European horror film."
—Helen Rosner (@hels) December 8, 2021
People on Twitter were appalled by the dish and the fact that diners weren't given utensils, but were asked to eat it directly from the vessel.
"The idea is love at first bite instead of love at first sight," the chef, Floriano Pellegrino, told The Times in an interview published on Thursday.
Representatives for the restaurant didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
The Bros' team started selling the mold on their website for €58.00, or around $65.74, and The Times reported that they had continued to sell out, backing up the manufacturer. The publication also reported that Pellegrino and his girlfriend and head chef Isabella Potì will turn it into an NFT called "Let's Make Out." The idea for which came from two Americans who intern with the restaurant on the marketing team, according to The Times.
Pellegrino told the publication that it's "a big opportunity," and that DeRuiter's review "only gave us publicity."
When contacted by Insider, DeRuiter said she thinks "it would be very gracious of Floriano to donate all of the proceeds he receives (if any) from his NFT foaming mouth to charitable organizations that help feed the hungry."
Her initial reaction, though, was a bit more cheeky. She referenced Pellegrino's rebuttal to her post and the following negative comments that came from people in
In the three-page document, which was titled "Declaration by Chef Floriano Pellegrino" and published in full by Today.com, the chef compares cooking to art and chose to illustrate his comparison using the concept that there are varying interpretations of what "a man on a horse" looks like.
So, in response to the news that Pellegrino is making his forray into the world of digital art with the NFT, DeRuiter drew us a picture of a man on a horse: