“Creativity lights the fire, the method keeps it alive”

By Flavia Tomaello, https://flaviatomaello.blog/, Instagram @flavia.tomaello

In Lecce there are addresses that have become a declaration of principles. 300mila, on Via 47 Reggimento Fanteria 5, is one of them. Born as a lounge bar in 2006 and transformed in 2021 into a gastronomic hub of one thousand square meters, the space integrates a cafeteria, pastry shop, restaurant, sushi bar, social cocktail bar and gourmet emporium in the same setting. It opens every day and receives up to 150 diners in a proposal that combines design, art, hospitality and cuisine with a coherence that is rare in projects of this scale.
The imprint is that of Davide De Matteis, patron and chef, businessman trained between ovens and bars. He grew up in the historic family bakery, Cotognata Leccese, where after school he learned to work with doughs and creams. He trained as an AIBES sommelier and bartender, went to school at the Zanarini in Bologna under the guidance of Giorgio Orlandi, spent time at the Grand Hotel Gardone with Tony Micelotta and developed an international career in Munich, at Charles Schumann’s Schumann’s, where he opened the first Camparino in Germany and created the 2004 Drink for Campari. He returned to Puglia in 2006 to found the 300mila Lounge Bar, voted best bar in Italy in 2013, 2015 and 2018 according to the Gambero Rosso Guide.
Over time, the group grew. In 2011 he opened the Terrazza and the 300mila Pizzeria in Otranto, in 2016 the Nazionale Ristorante and the catering service, in 2020 he launched Orecchiette à Porter in Milan, and in 2019 he launched a gastronomic laboratory in the former youth penal institute of Lecce, in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice, where people detained in the final phase of their sentences work under the direction of chef Marco Sylvester. In November 2023 he added Casa 300mila, a residence from the early 20th century with four suites and a limited-reservation restaurant, managed together with his wife Ekaterina Robakidze.
In the current 300mila, there are display cases with thousands of wines and spirits, a unique collection of historical cocktail shakers, works of contemporary art and pieces designed by De Matteis himself, including large colored hearts that have become a symbol of the place. The gastronomic offer ranges from cornetti, pasticciotti and brioche to sushi made with local products, such as uramaki with goat cream, gambero viola from Gallipoli and semi-dried tomato from Torre Guaceto, or dishes such as chitarra spaghettone with fresh tuna and lemon, shrimp risotto with lemon and basil extract, pacchero with grouper ragout or octopus in oil with rosemary and Homemade giardiniera. Excellence in distillates earned it recognition for the best menu in Italy in that category in 2022.
In this context, we spoke with Davide De Matteis about identity, method, inclusion and future.
1. 300mila unites gastronomy, design, art and mixology in a single space. What was the biggest challenge in integrating such different identities without losing coherence and quality in the customer experience?
The difficulty was not in bringing together different souls, but in getting them to breathe at the same rate. In a space of a thousand square meters the risk is to become a sum of independent sectors, and our intention was to maintain a unique story. We decided to start from what remains unchanged, the extreme care of the raw materials, the kindness in the service and the feeling of home. If someone drinks a cocktail, eats sushi or buys a brioche, they should sense the same hand behind everything. Every detail, from the glass to the plate, from the furniture to the lighting in the room, was thought of as a theatrical direction. We never design formats, we design coherent emotions. Quality became our common language, gastronomy, art, design and mixology are dialects of the same language.
2. The project has a very personal and artistic imprint. How do you balance the creative vision of the founder with the need to standardize processes in a large gastronomic hub?
My vision is deeply personal, almost instinctive. The danger would be to make it fragile, dependent on the mood of the day. The laboratory was our answer, a place where inspiration is transformed into method. There ideas slow down, they are studied, they are measured. Recipes are adjusted, procedures are built and quality is protected. Poetry remains in the room, behind the scenes discipline rules. It’s a delicate balance, creativity lights the fire and processes prevent it from going out or getting out of control.
3. The choice to use local products even in international proposals such as sushi is very distinctive. How do you decide how far to advance innovation without moving away from the territorial identity of Salento?
We do not try to imitate the world, we seek to dialogue with it. Sushi was never an exotic disguise, it is a way of narrating Salento with another grammar. If a local ingredient really works, such as gambero viola, tomato or a goat from the territory, it can be part of an internationally inspired dish. Innovation must add identity. If a dish could exist anywhere, it does not represent us. On the other hand, if someone tries it and understands where it is without looking out the window, then we find the right size.
4. The gastronomic laboratory with a strong social impact is a less visible but fundamental dimension of the project. What human and business lessons did this experience of inclusion leave you and how did it influence the team culture?
The laboratory in the old juvenile penal institute taught us that work is also dignity. We thought we were offering an opportunity and we actually received it. When a person believes in themselves again through a dough or a cream, it changes the way we all work. The brigade becomes a community. The error stops being a problem and becomes part of the process. From a business point of view, we understood that true stability comes from a sense of belonging. The team stopped being simply personal and became family.
5. Looking to the future of the 300mila Group, which elements of the current model do you consider replicable and which can only exist in Lecce thanks to its cultural and human context?
Much of what we build can travel. Projects like 300mila or more agile formats like Focacciami could find their place in Rome, Milan or even in cities like Paris or New York, with the necessary adaptations. The ideas that originated them are dynamic and can land in different contexts without losing their soul. However, the laboratory is deeply linked to Lecce. Not only because of the proximity to the territory or the short chain, but because of something more subtle, the possibility of experimenting in real time, of having the 300mila as an emotional thermometer. Here we hear reactions, observe looks, perceive enthusiasm or doubts. Here we understand if we are going in the right direction. Everything else can be transferred, as long as fundamental principles are preserved, starting with the very high quality of the raw material, which for us is an act of love. And although 300mila may expand, the headquarters, our Food and Future laboratory, will remain in Lecce, because it is the place where everything is born and finds the courage to go far without forgetting its origin.