dilluns, 25 de gener del 2016
Osteria Francescana, Modena, Italy.
Despite the fact that Massimo Bottura frequently travels the globe, has built an international reputation and has seen his recent book, Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef, published in several languages, his food remains deeply Italian. In fact, his dishes are a joyful celebration of Emilia-Romagna – the chef’s food-producing home province of northern Italy in which his elegant restaurant resides.
Bottura is renowned for his twists on Italian culinary mores – Five Ages of Parmigiano Reggiano sees the region’s famed cheese served in forms and textures most diners will never have experienced, for example – but his menu also includes deliciously executed classics such as tagliatelle with hand-chopped ragu and risotto cooked with veal jus.
In parallel, the Sensations tasting menu experiments with local, seasonal ingredients to extraordinary effect. From snacks such as exquisite rabbit macaroons through eel ravioli to suckling pig with balsamic vinegar, dining at Osteria Francescana is an exploration of the region’s produce and traditions delivered in a supremely contemporary fashion. It’s also a reflection of Bottura’s inquisitive nature; he is always looking at how to evolve his country’s food, inspired by art, music, his family and his travels.
Now 20 years old, the restaurant is located in Modena’s quiet back streets and houses a series of striking modern artworks across several dining spaces. The faultless service and imaginative wine programme is directed with quiet charisma by Beppe Palmieri. But it’s in the kitchen, as well as in Bottura’s inventive imagination, that the real magic is produced.
Bottura is renowned for his twists on Italian culinary mores – Five Ages of Parmigiano Reggiano sees the region’s famed cheese served in forms and textures most diners will never have experienced, for example – but his menu also includes deliciously executed classics such as tagliatelle with hand-chopped ragu and risotto cooked with veal jus.
In parallel, the Sensations tasting menu experiments with local, seasonal ingredients to extraordinary effect. From snacks such as exquisite rabbit macaroons through eel ravioli to suckling pig with balsamic vinegar, dining at Osteria Francescana is an exploration of the region’s produce and traditions delivered in a supremely contemporary fashion. It’s also a reflection of Bottura’s inquisitive nature; he is always looking at how to evolve his country’s food, inspired by art, music, his family and his travels.
Now 20 years old, the restaurant is located in Modena’s quiet back streets and houses a series of striking modern artworks across several dining spaces. The faultless service and imaginative wine programme is directed with quiet charisma by Beppe Palmieri. But it’s in the kitchen, as well as in Bottura’s inventive imagination, that the real magic is produced.
No.1 El Celler de Can Roca (GIRONA, SPAIN)
The collective genius of the Roca brothers is well documented. The holy trinity of head chef Joan’s thoughtful but original cooking, pastry chef Jordi’s imagination-defying desserts and sommelier Josep’s beautifully considered wine pairings already adds up to significantly more than the sum of its parts, before you add in a vibrant family dynamic and a deep sense of hospitality.
But the reason this 55-seat contemporary Catalan restaurant is back on top of the world is the trio’s equal brilliance in ensuring that they never stop feeding their own (and their team’s) knowledge and imaginations through unusual initiatives.
In 2013, they premiered El Somni, a theatrical multi-sensory production that explored the interaction between food, music and art. In 2014, the entire team embarked on an ambitious and unprecedented restaurant tour across the southern US and part of Latin America, temporarily closing the restaurant back home in the meantime. Less publicly, El Celler is at the forefront of a ‘gastro-botanical’ research project called Terra Animada that is cataloguing rare wild species with the aim of reintroducing them into our food systems.
None of the above examples would matter, of course, if they didn’t feed back into the evolution and progression of the dining experience at El Celler de Can Roca. A meal in the tranquil glass-walled dining space is at once comforting and yet gastronomically challenging, the food simultaneously artisanal and technical, with references to both the traditional and the avant-garde. Crucially, this is a restaurant that has never forgotten its humble roots, its sense of familial warmth, or the need to serve remarkably delicious dishes and outstanding wines.
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