Fishes & More’s Chef Bruno adds spice to the menu and to his team

Laughter, teasing and jokes fill the steamy air in the kitchen of Fishes & More Restaurant when Chef Bruno Ricardo Santos Silva (35) and his team are in full swing.  

Billowing steam from bubbling pots and pans blur the photograph a little. We’re talking with the new chef of the popular restaurant; it is 4 o’clock in the afternoon, time to prepare for the rush that is called Early Bird, a big hit at Fishes & More. Filling the shoes of former Chef Dennis comes easy to Bruno, who was his sous-chef until 4 months ago. "We have a great team working here", he says about the smiling group around him.

Let’s get to know Bruno, who is from Brazil (the Minas Gerais province), but came to Aruba when he was 12 years old. His father, who is in construction, brought his wife and two sons here from Belo Horizonte. As Portuguese-speaking Bruno did not speak a word of Dutch, English or Spanish, he had a terrible time at the elementary school, failing miserably as he could not understand a thing. Fortunately he found out early where his passion lay: in the kitchen. The road to Fishes & More went from the John F. Kennedyschool to EPB and EPI; his job at Tierra del Sol was his first culinary step.

Now, as the new chef of well-loved Fishes & More, he loves the feeling of responsibility, taking good care of the plates of his guests. Asked what dishes he would recommend from the menu, Bruno says that the Paella is very good, as are the Piña Colada Shrimps and the Famous Fish Dish, which is a seafood combination. "The Lobster Tail, the live Caribbean Rock Lobsters in the tank and the Red Snapper are also wonderful’’, he adds.

Bruno’s creativity surfaces with the Specials: he loves to play with fusion and traditional cuisine, mixing and matching. Especially the Asian touch is intriguing, so he adds a dash of ginger, a drop of soy sauce and something beautiful has been created.

Fishes & More Restaurant is part of the Aruba Wine and Dine (AWD) family in the Arawak Garden, where various great restaurants are lined up around a cozy plaza. Fishes & More enjoys star status, however, as reviews are unfailingly really enthusiastic and the price-quality ratio is excellent. With Chef Bruno at the helm, you can’t go wrong there!

Pabien to Chef Bruno – his road to the top has taken him 14 years, but he has succeeded. Well done!