The magic of Watamu is capable of creating special spells, such as making a globetrotting chef like Gianfranco Pulina return to Kenya and give him the idea of putting down roots there, like a new 'Sardinia of Africa'.

Born in the heart of Gallura, forty-four years old, a life spent between the cookers of the best restaurants in Sardinia, the Caribbean and many other captivating locations around the globe, as well as running his family's renowned restaurant, chef Pulina lives 'fusion' in a natural way, not as a culinary genre, but as a philosophy that has led him to work and get to know dream places from Mexico and Cuba to Santo Domingo, without forgetting to have the great showcase of the Costa Smeralda at his fingertips and the ancestral link of his land with Catalonia, which also took him to the school of the great 'molecular' chef Ferran Adrià.

The first words of Pulina, a celebrity in his region, thanks also to frequent appearances on local TV, explain the concept perfectly.
"In this paradise I feel at home, and I have said it all," he explains to Malindikenya.net. "It is not only the beauty of the place and its nature that enchants me and gives me relaxation and joie de vivre, but also the smiling helpfulness of the local people, their lightness despite all the problems of African life.
Gianfranco is staying at the Rafiki Tamu, one of the most welcoming and well-kept facilities in Watamu, one of those places that are good for tourism in Kenya, because they help to create in the guest the desire to return, thus creating the re-peater effect that characterises and differentiates the Kenyan coast from a thousand other destinations.

'I arrived here for the first time last year,' says the Sardinian chef, 'as one of the many holidays I have always taken with my wife, between business trips. But I immediately realised that this would become a special place for us. For years I have liked to promote, even in television programmes, places that are far away and a bit off the commercial and mass routes, places that are real and immersed in the least contaminated nature possible. Watamu is the right middle ground, because although it is now a tourist resort for thousands of people, it still retains that authenticity and original beauty that makes you fall in love'.

For Gianfranco Pulina, the art between the cookers is not only a job, but also a way to tell the story of the charms, the encounters of cultures and the natural resources of the countries he visits and in which he passionately immerses himself.
"This year I am enjoying my holiday more consciously and Watamu has already become one of the places of the soul, and at the same time I feel at home there as an Italian abroad," admits the chef. "I have been able to see how the gastronomic offerings of our compatriots are really high. A few nights ago, I ate a Neapolitan pizza baked to perfection, which I would hardly find so good in Sardinia. But also at Rafiki Tamu, I enjoy cooking with the staff cooks of the residence, who are eager to learn new methods and recipes, but at the same time amaze me with their ideas'.

Between strolling around the enchanting bays 'where every morning the landscape always changes completely, making Watamu unique in this respect', and the sunset sipping a drink in one of the town's many beautiful settings, Pulina has time to adapt dishes that are part of his professional background, to the Kenyan raw material, often putting fish and shellfish at the centre of everything, which create that undoubted link between the Mediterranean island and the pearl of the Indian Ocean.

"The fish of the Indian ocean is certainly not as tasty as that of our sea, which from that point of view is unsurpassed worldwide," explains the expert chef, "but it has characteristics of freshness and delicate quality that enhance certain preparations. A barracuda alla livornese here is marvellous, as is lobster alla catalana, adapted with the famous national salad, kachumbari. Another passion of mine is octopus, boiled and then put on the grill, then laid on a cassava puree, a tuber that I have always enjoyed very much, in tropical and Caribbean places, as a combination'.
We are sure, these will not be the last specialities thought up and prepared by the Italian professional in Watamu.
Our dream is that in the future, if and when he is tired of success, career and discovering new corners of the world, we too can enjoy them.