La Reserva 12 (Malaga, Spain)

(Visited: August 2012)

While savouring some Iberico at Iberica in London in December (more on this story later) we nostalgically reminisced about our Summer trip to Andalucia. If you are In Malaga

and stick to simple tapas, you are unlikely to eat poorly. It’s a city that will embrace you in this respect. Especially along the harbour promenade Malaga shows you its modern, touristy face, so many shiny if slightly soulless options clamour for your attention, and unless you are in a really foul mood you’ll hardly be disappointed wherever you go.  But instead we developed a special liking for a different type of modernity with Reserva 12, tucked away in the city centre, in Calle Bolsa.

A venue  not devoid of elegance, they may not have the greatest chefs but what they do have is sympathetic handlers of fine raw materials. They may not have the most consistent or informative service in the world, but as a matter of fact, they were kind and relaxed, unless you mind the fact that when they don’t know something they simply make something up. And certainly they do have somebody who can buy, and somebody who can cut, Jamon de Bellota

Oh, what a moist, luxuriant concentration of delight! And their aged Manchego is no joke either: its flavour is one of those that call to attention even the most distracted of diners. Everything we tried, really, ranged from good to excellent, the pulpo a la gallega always mightily fresh, dressed with first rate olive oil and nicely spiced

And their gazpacho and salmorejo fresh, dense, intense and with a pleasant garnish

We indulged in some excellent wines, too, at prices that we can only dream of in the UK

Food prices and portions are also a bit of a dream. It certainly all fees like a dream now, in a pallid December London sun.

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Osteria Francescana (Modena)

(Visited October 2012)

A pity that we could only find a spot at this uber-celebrated temple of Italian cuisine at a time that was only a few hours before the return flight to Scotland. A trip just for them, a maximum of three hours at Osteria Francescana: will they vanquish the natural fear of disappointment that always looms when stratospheric expectations are set? Bottura is not allowed to go wrong…

Let’s see. Luggage in hand, the first customers of the day, we ring at the bell of the shut door with some trepidation, a few minutes before the opening time. A rule abiding non-Italian couple (a metaphor there?) standing in the vicinities resolves to follows us.

When, three hours later, we come out of the same door, we definitely have learned a lot about modern Italian cuisine.

We ordered the regulation classics menu at 140 euro that Chef Bottura himself offers to twist and ‘integrate’, quite substantially as it happens, according to your taste. It may seem common hospitality, but as you may have experienced yourselves there’s more than one multistarred venue where instead rigidity reigns supreme. And here in the Osteria they do not care a jot about us taking photos of the food, their food is not too precious (hear, Alajmo?). Or about how you are dressed. It’s good to see that the name Osteria is not  a mere gimmick, and that some of that spirit survives even in the unavoidable three star formalism.

Here are the dishes that you must have seen photographed and described one thousand times on the internet. Please bear it the 1001th time.


 

 

 

 

 

 

We learned, for example, how full avant-garde with eyes on the future can be rooted in terroir and tradition as firmly as an oak. We learned how Japanese ideas can brush shoulders with our Italian tradition in a subtle, classy way, with, light, clear, harmonious flavours, as in the first three dishes, Aulla tempura with frozen carpione, the Eel glazed with saba (‘cooked must’) and onion ashes; and the Homage to Thelonius Monk, justly revered as one of the greatest cod lovers in history. He would have loved this sublimely cooked one.

We didn’t quite learn, but we had a glamorous revision lesson on how modern technique can put to the service of tradition, as in the bollito non-bollito (head, cheek, tail, belly, trotter and cotechino), evoking, if you are Italian, many memories and beating them all. And even better, perhaps, in the compressione di pasta, the literally multilayered flavours taking you in new sensorial territory, Royale de de foie gras combined with humble beans.

The ‘little finger’ tortellini (requested by Man) are more solidly traditional, but even here there’s that special touch, the lightest of creams (panna d’affioramento) that suddenly makes many controversies on whether cream should be used in tortellini look silly: this is the solution, stupid! (best tortellini, ever, for the record – and Man has been raised on them in Bologna).

And the foie gras lollipop, one of the earliest Bottura creations, must be in the Hall of Fame of modern cuisine: it’s hard to top the aged balsamic and foie combination, and the texture contrast.

Think pink is a pre-dessrt that was meant to please women and indeed it seemed to strike Woman more than Man, so Bottura got it right… 

The dessert, called `Oops I dropped the crostata’ is simply beautiful, it really is one of the dishes that most compellingly provoke comparisons with visual arts, and has Man looking transfixed at it. It is very well made, with an airy crust, it is good and pleasant, yet Woman doesn’t eat with her eyes alone…
…in terms of flavour, we’d humbly say that it doesn’t feel at the pinnacle of the art of patisserie in the same way as the rest of the meal felt at the pinnacle of the art of cooking.

So, while we leave the Osteria in a rush (a mere three hours didn’t allow us to eat in a really relaxed way, plan near four hours from entering to exiting if you want to be in total relax), let us mention the service. We’ve seen complaints that it’s stiff and sullen, but for us it was perfect. They graciously accommodated what they probably thought were some idiotic remarks by us on the wine, taking actions they thought unnecessary, and they were efficient, unpompous, relaxed. Some of them even almost smiled sometimes! The great man himself is part of the service as he goes around the tables to discuss and advise on the menu, and he does it smoothly. If he became tired of being a great chef, he might consider a career in the front room 🙂 And we were impressed that he was on duty on a Monday lunch the day after his (50th) birthday.

Prices must the be some of the kindest in the world for a three star restaurant, and with this generosity.

There is something humble and low key in this glorious Osteria that we find deeply charming. It’s hard to imagine Italian cuisine coming better than this. There is a unique combination of creativity and clarity of conception, perfection in execution, intelligent use of technique, and rootedness in the terroir, that make Francescana unbeatable in this domain.Returning to try other dishes is not merely a desire, it is essential.

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Consorzio (Torino): pure simple pleasure

Suffice it to say that, finding ourselves in Turin for two days, what we really were looking forward to – in a city graced by several Michelin blessed restaurants – was a dinner at Consorzio, a recently established trattoria in the ‘Quadrilatero’ area of Turin, where competition among this sort of simple, low-cost, modern or traditional trattorias, is intense. 


Woman was particularly happy that dinner time had arrived, so that Man could finally stop going on and on and on in praise and in anticipation of their anchovies starter

Plump, succulent, fresh, the fried ones with a lovely and light crispiness and the cured one on luscious butter, in a dish that in presentation and execution typifies the ‘tradition & modernity’ style that is the hallmark of this place.


This is Piemonte, the land of raw beef. Here you get a raw beef trio of delicacies from Scottona (heifer under 16 months of age) beef of Fassona breed.





We have a ‘battuta al coltello’ (tartare) that melts, melts on and caresses your palate with its just-right texture (cut neither too thin, nor too coarse), a more assertive salsiccia and an ever so delicate piece of thigh. A simply perfect dish.


We could not resist a third starter of ‘Cardi gobbi‘, a thistle-like vegetable typical of here, served with potato puree, a goat cheese fondue, and a quite inspired touch of home-made bottarga (fish roe):





This was as delicious as ever judging with the emotion, with intriguing flavour combinations, even if, from a mean-spirited critical viewpoint, the dish perhaps still needs some adjustments in proportions and preparation to become perfect.

Ah, well but there were more specials on the night, so how could we say no to a fourth starter of a cold meat terrine with a devilish mandarin mustard? 

So decadently satisfying, with the sprightly tangyness of the (very!) hot mandarin cutting through the fat of the terrine… very good.

For primi, since as luck would have it that night they had the Piemonte King, i.e. the Tartufo (truffle) d’Alba (they don’t get it supplied regularly), by which we mean this baby:

 
So one choice was easy: tagliolini al tartufo





What to say? To say that the pasta was elastic and well-made without being overly eggy, that it was a touch too buttery, to utter these mundane praises or faint criticisms seems ridiculous compared to the Heaven where those magic 7 grams of really fresh, high quality truffle (putting to shame the moulding rubbish you are sometimes served elsewhere) flies you.


We were very tempted by their adventurous Ravioli di cervella (brains), but opted instead for the more conservative pasta alla chitarra with cime di rapa (broccoli sprouts)

Unexpectedly for us the home-made pasta had no eggs, and thus a typically resilient bite. A very rich sauce exalted the excellent broccoli, and a touch of long ripened cherry tomatoes from Campania added a special twist (though there need to be more in the dish to make a real impression, e.g these many would be ok with us 🙂

A main of crispy chicken

accompanied by sauteed ‘cicoria’ on our request, was definitely not your KFC variety: cooked with great skill, the meat buttery and with a superb flavour, protected by its crispy layer, we could have eaten tons of it.


Desserts, desserts…


This chocolate and hazelnut torte





was a good start, but…we are freaks with pannacotta, and incredibly it is so rare to find a properly made one even in Michelin starred venues. But this one

is another perfect dish. Just the amount of thickener that prevents it from collapsing, so that its full creaminess is preserved, a high quality milk, and a gentle accompaniment of three different jams (one of which from the typical Chinotto oranges). Delicious.

And since Woman had been spotted eyeing the dessert on another table, here magically comes an homage of “bombette”: 

 



The scream of “don’t bite” arrived too late for Man, while judicious Woman gulped hers in one bite, and can still remember the extasy of the runny custard and the flaky pastry – gorgeous!


The prices are extremely kind; without the truffle (which at 4 Euro per gram was anyway faaaar less expensive than elsewhere, at equal quality) a three course meal for two comes to less than 100 euros with water, coffee and an excellent 27 Euro Barbera d’Asti (that would have set you back 70 pounds in London). Ah, and since we were arriving from Scotland, we were treated to a tasting of this amazing Japanese fellow:

Well, we’re not whisky experts but the depth of smoky, orangey notes and infinite persistency we experienced was sublime.


Fired up by the fearsome (for us fading middle-agers…) energy of the two young founders Pietro (Vergano) and Andrea (Verra), 

this is for us the hottest ticket in town as far as ‘trattorie’ go. Propelled by stratospheric raw materials, the simply prepared dishes here are pure delight and a discovery journey trough Italian ingredients. In fact, not only Italian: on the night we visited there were on offer oysters from Brittany and cheeses from… England. Talk of open-mindedness. 


Is it all a dreamworld of perfection? Of course it isn’t, the more elaborate the dishes the higher the chance of finding (if you are really mean) some minor cooking imperfection or imbalance in flavours. But this is if you are really mean, as we said. Because eating at Consorzio is pure joy, to which one should abandon oneself, and it is hard to think of other places where one finds such an assortment of high quality produce. 

A special mention also for the wine list (done by Pietro), absolutely original, full of surprises, and clearly a labour of love. 


Ah: they also have the best espressos we’ve had in Turin (and we’ve had many, and many good ones). Well done guys – you’ll go far. 

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