sergio V.
Google
This 1 star Michelin restaurant has 2 addresses, one in via Bonea at number 4, which is where we ate, and the other in the address that is shown here on Google maps, in via Laudano. For some reasons the via Bonea 4 is not appearing at all. Anyway, the restaurant in via Bonea is where we had a memorable meal, with outstanding food, great service, and a friendly, easy going atmosphere, a place where we felt at home, as if we were at our grandma’s family lunch, where her mission is to feed you because you are too skinny, and the generosity of the portions, the intensity of the flavours, the incredibly good quality of each ingredient used, is just unforgettable. We had the tasting menu called La Tradizione; this consisted of some amuse-bouche of wafer thin “chips” made with squid ink, green herbs, and anchovy shaped morsels, followed by by a mini pizza circular art work that hid basil drops, together with a morsel of tomato on buffalo mozzarella sphere, plus more “chips” that were exploding in your mouth, tasting of aglio, olio, and peperoncino pasta. Lastly, and we are stil at the starters, a savoury pizza di scarola, a typical delicacy of southern Italy. All of this was accompanied by bread, tarallucci, grissini, and their olive oil, all made fresh in the house, fragrant, warm, delicious. It is easy to over indulge on this, as all of it was delicious and warm. It was followed by the Provolone del Monaco dish, the main ingredient being treated in all its potential, with different techniques, all of them elevating this delicious cheese to a stratospheric level of deliciousness. There was also another side dish of the same Provolone with bread crumbles and walnut butter too. After this the spaghettini with tomato sauce, the chef signature dish ( La Devozione) came and it is difficult to imagine how such a simple dish can be elevated to THAT level. It was elegant, earthy, punchy, classy, tasting of summer, sun, encapsulating the flavours of southern Italy, of time spent with your family during a Sunday lunch that ends at night time. This was followed by meatballs with Ragu sauce ( Ragu is a meat based tomato sauce slow cooked for many hours, at least 4-5, probably more in this case) Ziti alla Genovese( another type of slow cooked sauce, but without tomatoes, where the main ingredients are meat and onions, a typical Neapolitan dish that has nothing to do with Genova). Both were so full of flavour, they were unforgettable. So was the last main course, the fusilli with braciole in a tomato sauce which had the same depths of the ragu. The braciole were also to die for the meat was melting in our mouths. We all had to dig in with the delicious warm bread to mop up any trace of the sauces. We had a mini break, and it consisted of a mela annurca ice cream, the perfect prelude to the desserts that followed. They were : 1) warm zeppola with cinnamon and sugar; 2) lemon mini morcel; 3) fresh oranges; 4) cherries soaked in maraschino liqueur; 5) rococo biscuits; 6) mini baba aux rum; 7) deconstructed sfogliatella; 8) chocolate petit four with chestnut. I cannot describe how delicious all of those mini desserts were. Special mention to the zeppola, the deconstructed sfogliatella, but absolutely everything was fantastic. The generosity of the portions is typical of the southern Italian hospitality, the service is warm and efficient, courteous and smiling. Lastly, the coffee was very good, the wine pairing was excellent, and the limoncello I had to finish my meal was excellent as well. My dining partners had a great red wine as well throughout the meal, and that was also really good. We were there for hours and really did not want to leave. Book ahead and go! It is worth it ! It is great! It is unforgettable.
