|
As I already wrote for TripAdvisor, "choosing the ‘Osteria Francescana’
was my fault, I admit it..." However, Massimo Bottura's approach to the
culinary tradition of my own land and country, Emilia, has been much
lauded, and its three Michelin stars are a rare award; only eight
restaurants in Italy claim this supreme level of appreciation by the
inspectors of the famous tyre brand. It was therefore with some
curiosity that my wife and I decided to have our own private inspection
of the place.
The reservation process is quite unnerving, and if they
hadn't caught me in a rare moment of quietness and patience I would have
cancelled my request immediately after they asked for a Credit Card
number and expiry date. The (very kind) lady at the telephone also asked
that I called again for confirmation 2 days before the dinner…...This
happened one week before our scheduled dinner. I refused to call again 2
days before the appointment and found this request quite petulant.
However, they called me instead and I found it again quite paranoid.
The Osteria is in a quiet street near the centre of Modena and you must
leave your car on the street, as no parking is available nor in the
restaurant’s premises, nor nearby. We were seated at a round table in a
room that we found surprisingly simple (may I say ‘plain’? Pls see pic
below),
with no sense of special furniture or decoration. No works of art were
visible, apart from some B&W pictures at the walls. (As a decades-old
fan of Ansel Adams' work, I have nothing against B&W, but these were
very ordinary pictures).
We chose the ‘Tradition in Evolution’
tasting menu, to enjoy what some reviews describe as a ‘creative
rethinking of Emilia’s gastronomic staples’. Unfortunately, I had to
drive back home and I wouldn’t drive after drinking, so I couldn’t enjoy
the wine list, but it looked spectacularly thick. Service is good, attentive, and when my wife
asked to substitute one item on the menu with something different, this
was done without any problem. The frame is therefore fairly good. But
the food?
The food, I must say, fell way short of our expectancy.
Among the 8 courses of this menu, only the ‘Croccantino de foie gras’ (on
a stick) was truly memorable whilst the ‘Beautiful, psychedelic
spin-painted veal, not flame grilled’ was excellent (but obviously very
small) and the ‘Oops! I dropped the lemon tart’ lemon meringue had at
least the merit of a splendidly original dish, whilst the cake was, per
se, ordinary. ‘Memory of a mortadella sandwich’, actually a mortadella
mousse, is quite common for us, so no big deal and this was also a bit
too salty; the ‘Sweet potato ravioli from Parma to Mantova’ was not of
my liking as I don’t like pumpkin and this was tasting like pumpkin
although described as ‘sweet potato’ (?) Caesar Salad looked like a
terribly tongue-in-cheek joke until they said that the single, sad leaf
of salad presented on the platter was THE salad….and the other joke was
the ‘Eel swimming up the Po River’ (see pic above), unmentionable and unremarkable.
I
must add that we went there for my birthday and the lady that confirmed
the reservation asked if I wanted a birthday cake, at an additional
cost, of course. I declined the offer; nobody offered any greetings
during the dinner. Probably I did have to ask for them, at an additional cost,
of course. Does
one have to pay for polite birthday greetings as well, in a three-stars
restaurant? Stymied….
Massimo Bottura was not present. He was
elsewhere to promote his restaurant, I guess. Would the experience have
been better if he had been there? Maybe. For
sure, it's unnerving to reserve a table in a place made famous by a
peculiar individual (yes, the Francescana is Massimo Bottura)
and not having him there.
Was this dinner worth the Euro 385 final bill
(without any wines)? In my opinion, no. I have been dining in 2- and
3-stars restaurants most of my life and I’m used to a different way to
serve their customers. Though we must admire Massimo Bottura’s
inspiration in trying a new type of local-inspired cuisine, both the
food and the ambiance of this room failed to deliver the sensation of a
really special experience that those three Michelin stars would have to
guarantee. (One might say that following the ‘stars’ rating is a bit
naïve now, of course, but sometimes I have the curiosity to check
myself.) Of the several three-stars restaurants that I have had the
pleasure to try in Italy, this is surely the less memorable, and thus a
place where I have no ambition to return; preferring by all means
'Enoteca Pinchiorri' in Firenze or the formidable 'Vittorio' in
Brusaporto or again the 'Pescatore', or even restaurant with
less stars but a better ambience like 'San Domenico' in Imola.
And, no, they didn't mix me a Martini; they sneered at my request!
|
