Oryginalna pizza włoska poznań

Things never happen by accident.
They happen because you have a vision,
you have a commitment, you have a dream.

Do you believe in destiny?

We DO! If I hadn’t come to Italy, we probably would have pursued Plan B and met somewhere else. When I was still living in the USA and considering a possible move to Canada, Mirko got a job offer in Canada and then another one in the USA. I’m sure our paths would have crossed on American soil anyway!
But it didn’t happen!

Mirko did not accept these offers, but instead started working at the prestigious, elegant Mamma Venerina restaurant near Vatican City where he fulfilled himself as a chef and pizzaiolo.
And me, after 11 years spent studying music and working as a pianist and vocal coach in the USA, I returned to Poland. However, I already had a plan to go to a music festival in a small town called Novafeltria in Italy.

This is where I started learning Italian and fell in love with Italian culture (and as it turned out later, not only).

How Imaginarium was born –
the first step

And so, some 2 years later…one hot day, during the feast of Ferragosto (the feast associated with the Assumption of the Virgin Mary) I found myself, seemingly by chance, in front of the restaurant where Mirko worked. He, at that moment, was sitting in the restaurant garden engrossed in a text message argument with his ex girlfriend. I just asked him where I could pay for parking and he replied rather dryly that: “I have to go there and there”.
Recalling this moment later, Mirko told me that he was very rude to me at the time, while I perceived it differently. I thought of him at the time: “Wow, finally a normal Italian, he doesn’t try to be too nice and doesn’t hit on me straight away!”.

This is how Imaginarium was born. It was the first step to its creation!

When you know, you know.
Magic week.

Eventually, I ended up in a hotel that was located right next to the restaurant where Mirko worked. The hotel was called “Orange Garden Appartments”. This name doesn’t seem to be a coincidence either! A few months earlier, I had been in Rome with friends who had these little orange plants – Arancio – at their place. The friend asked if I had ever tried Arancio? I answered her that I hadn’t. She suggested that I pick an orange and necessarily think of a wish and it would surely come true for me.

My wish was to meet the love of my life… and a few months later, at that “orange’” hotel and thanks to Arancio’s innocent orange – the wish came true!

After that, everything went very quickly! It was practically only a week from the first date to the question, “Will you marry me?”.

When you know, you know. We had no doubts!

Justyna – the road to Imaginarium

Returning to the origin of ‘Imaginarium’ – you could say that it was already born when we first met. But the very idea of ‘Imaginarium’ had been dwelling in our heads much earlier, even before we met. I had already been looking for a restaurant location for a year. I even attended a cookery course to learn more about gastronomy because until then I had only dealt with this world from a guest’s perspective. I had no idea how to go about opening a restaurant, but I wanted to create a place in Poznań that would give you the feeling of being in Italy. One that would evoke the atmosphere of Italy, keep Italian traditions alive. In a way, it would depict what I was able to experience while in Italy.

After a month in a small Italian town, I already had friends with whom I went to aperitivo, dinners, various types of events. Practically, I felt at home there and this was the atmosphere I wanted to transfer to my future establishment.

Mirko – the road to Imaginarium

Mirko, after many years of working as a chef and pizzaiolo in the Roman restaurant Mamma Venerina and in his own restaurant in Tuscany was ready to really spread his wings in his profession and become independent.

His passion and talent were recognized. Chef Maurizio Fasciolo, a selector for the Italian edition of Master Chef, spotted his talent. A chef who cooked for the Italian government, among others. It was him who dubbed Mirko the culinary Picasso and it was him who sent Mirko to the Etoille School Academy. There Mirko, learnt about different types of cuisine and trained in new culinary techniques.

Meanwhile, the idea of opening his own restaurant was germinating in Mirko’s mind. While still living in Tuscany, he frequented the restaurant, which was located in Liguria. The name of this establishment in the dialect from Spezia means ‘Orange Garden’ – and there is the orange again! This place, during a difficult period in Mirko’s life, became for him, a kind of retreat where he felt safe. In the description of the restaurant, one could find such words:

“Here, in the evening, you can hear the conversations of people, love stories and the smells of ancient cuisine and full-bodied wines that warm up hearts”.

These words and that place became a source of inspiration first for Mirko and then for me!

Justyna and Mirko – common road to Imaginarium

We wanted Imaginarium to be a place where a visitor, no matter where they came from, could feel at home. We are both artists (me at the piano, and Mirko with pans in his hands) and we wanted Imagianrium to become a meeting place for artists.

And above all my dad wanted it very much, it was his big dream. He himself came up with the initiative to become our sponsor and help us create this space.

We felt the support from our parents every step along the way, making it easier for us to create something real and filled with love. This priceless energy coming from them and their belief in us always gave us wings.

Where artists meet, anything can happen (as in Łozinski’s documentary on this very title) Subconsciously we wanted to give hope to others, perhaps show the way, or perhaps become an inspiration…

Hence the name of the restaurant – IMAGINARIUM – a place from imagination, where anything can happen!

Imaginarium –
more than a restaurant

Imaginarium, cannot be described in one word, it is not just a restaurant, but a whole concept. It’s a library, a venue for classical and jazz music concerts, a place where you can organise your own karaoke night, a movie night of Italian films or, last but not least, a place that acts as our personal fan club for the “AS Roma” team, where you can watch matches streamed alive. Practically, anything is possible here!

Return home
and tradition in evolution

Coming back to Imaginarium restaurant itself, it must be emphasised that, also from the culinary perspective, Imaginarium is a ‘return home’, to the roots of authentic Italian home cooking. Mirko has cooked in various restaurants (including Michelin-starred ones), but this gastronomic journey of his has brought him back to the beginning, that is… straight home!

Home, where his grandmother cooked for him, as it turns out – giving him inspiration for cooking in the future! Hence Mirko’s passion for seeking tradition, but as his culinary guru Massimo Bottura puts it, “Tradition in evolution”.

Tradition in evolution has become Mirko’s motto!

Our strength – authenticity and tradition

Hence our commitment to tradition and authenticity. It’s the same when it comes to music. What grabs the heart of the audience, i.e. the consumers of art, is the sincerity of the artist! Going back to your roots, understanding where you come from and what you stand for allows you to be authentic. You have to know who you are and what you have to offer to others. I think that this sincerity and authenticity of both of us, in what we do are doing, is our strength and also the strength of our restaurant.

Here, everything is authentic, from the Italian products used, the pasta made by us, the place itself, the Italian traditions cultivated, the cuisine, to ourselves. Nobody here pretends to be someone else. I am not pretending to be Italian, I am simply a Polish woman who has found her other half in Italy and has fallen in love with Italian culture because she feels that through it she can better express herself.

Mirko doesn’t represent Italian stereotypes, he doesn’t even like to say that he is Italian, if anything he is Roman. He is simply himself. At the same time, he is a great chef who speaks about cooking with such passion that you get hungry just when listening to it. Then think what happens once he’s actually cooked something!

Modesty and the joy of eating

Mirko doesn’t like to go out to customers and wait for compliments. He doesn’t like to brag about his prizes; frankly, he has lost his silver fork and spoon somewhere along the way and doesn’t even know where they are. For him, the best compliment is the satisfaction and smile on the face of our guests. What I personally really like about Mirko is that he can really appreciate good food, no matter who is cooking – be it a professional or his mother-in-law. He just likes to eat and if something is good he will always appreciate it. That’s why he has accepted me, a complete layperson, as his assistant in the kitchen!
Mirko always says that he doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone – he knows what he can do. In the kitchen it is more obvious, there is no room for pretending – as the chef Anthony Bourdain says – “In the kitchen there is no room for lying, you either know how to do something or you don’t”. Working with Mirko has given me a lot of experience, also for my job at the Academy of Music.

Either Italian or none!

In our restaurant, we also focus on gentle, non-invasive education of our guests – those not used to genuine Italian food. We made it clear from the start – it’s either going to be Italian, or none! There is no compromise! As our friend, the great conductor Jose Florencio says, “music (actually, any kind of art) abhors compromise” – this also applies to cooking!

Library – power in books

The second source of education in our restaurant, apart from the culinary one, is the library at our place. Books have always accompanied us. We have always had a lot of them in our premises and many people have borrowed them from us. The idea came from my youth. Already as a little girl I wanted to be a librarian, and all the books in my room were numbered and even had their own cards! Later, I actually worked in the school library and the city library.

So also now when I’m all grown up , I can continue to pursue my vocation as a librarian, and visitors can use our rather large book collection (currently: 570 books).