Northern Italy recommendations
Discussion
Buongiorno,
During our brief but glorious trip to Milan, we discovered the following two eateries, both of which we will be returning to in the not too distant future :
https://amarcordcucinaebottega.it/menu-e-carta-dei...
For starters we shared the stewed baby octopus, smoked potatoes, and black olives, plus the cold tomato soup with Cantabrian anchovies and buffalo mozzarella. Main course for Mrs B was risotto with green tomatoes, lemon, smoked burrata, and black garlic, and I took the basil tagliatelle with cherry tomatoes, red shrimp, and olives.
Everything was excellent, from the perfectly cooked home-made pasta, tangy olives, fresh vegetables and well seasoned dressings. The standout dish for me was the baby octopus of which I could have quite happily eaten two as a main course.
Vercelli is a charming Italian town between Milan and Turin, with numerous Renaissance churches and towers, plus an excellent art museum based around the collection of a 19th local lawyer. The restaurant is on the arcaded main square. Google rates it at 4.9/5 for 117 reviews, which it thoroughly deserves. We paid €90 in total, including a glass of nebbiolo each with the main course.
https://locandalaclusaz.com/ristorante
Recommended by my neighbour, who was born in Martigny just to the north of the Grand St Bernard pass, this restaurant/hotel just in Italy to the south of the summit, offers basic but decent rooms, and a fantastic restaurant. Five course (plus lots of amuses-bouche, breads, etc.) tasting menu was €80 each, one bottle of decent red was €45.
The highlights were the smoked trout salad starter, the risotto (in tomato water and beurre blanc), and a slice of duck breast (served with asparagus) which was the most tender, juicy and well-seasoned I've eaten in years. But everything else was also of exceptional quality, from the home-made bread to the little vol-au-vent cases of pickled courgette mixed with caviare, green pea mousse, etc. Discreet and friendly service, all served over three hours in a stone-vaulted dining room with plenty of space between the tables.
I hear that their autumn 'hunting' menu is quite renowned, so we are booking a weekend there in October, to see what they can do with venison and seasonal vegetables/sauces. If you are in the area, go there before the Michelin guide discovers it and prices double/triple!
During our brief but glorious trip to Milan, we discovered the following two eateries, both of which we will be returning to in the not too distant future :
https://amarcordcucinaebottega.it/menu-e-carta-dei...
For starters we shared the stewed baby octopus, smoked potatoes, and black olives, plus the cold tomato soup with Cantabrian anchovies and buffalo mozzarella. Main course for Mrs B was risotto with green tomatoes, lemon, smoked burrata, and black garlic, and I took the basil tagliatelle with cherry tomatoes, red shrimp, and olives.
Everything was excellent, from the perfectly cooked home-made pasta, tangy olives, fresh vegetables and well seasoned dressings. The standout dish for me was the baby octopus of which I could have quite happily eaten two as a main course.
Vercelli is a charming Italian town between Milan and Turin, with numerous Renaissance churches and towers, plus an excellent art museum based around the collection of a 19th local lawyer. The restaurant is on the arcaded main square. Google rates it at 4.9/5 for 117 reviews, which it thoroughly deserves. We paid €90 in total, including a glass of nebbiolo each with the main course.
https://locandalaclusaz.com/ristorante
Recommended by my neighbour, who was born in Martigny just to the north of the Grand St Bernard pass, this restaurant/hotel just in Italy to the south of the summit, offers basic but decent rooms, and a fantastic restaurant. Five course (plus lots of amuses-bouche, breads, etc.) tasting menu was €80 each, one bottle of decent red was €45.
The highlights were the smoked trout salad starter, the risotto (in tomato water and beurre blanc), and a slice of duck breast (served with asparagus) which was the most tender, juicy and well-seasoned I've eaten in years. But everything else was also of exceptional quality, from the home-made bread to the little vol-au-vent cases of pickled courgette mixed with caviare, green pea mousse, etc. Discreet and friendly service, all served over three hours in a stone-vaulted dining room with plenty of space between the tables.
I hear that their autumn 'hunting' menu is quite renowned, so we are booking a weekend there in October, to see what they can do with venison and seasonal vegetables/sauces. If you are in the area, go there before the Michelin guide discovers it and prices double/triple!
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