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Ciao all who are still reading,the name you see is the man who owns and cooks at Osteria Francescana,unfortunately for Shirley and I he was in Australia, near broke Shirley's heart. We travelled to Modena by public transport,train and had a ball. Two super fast, one normal and one cattle,this one is the common workers train. Left Florence at 10.30 a.m,arrived Modena 11.40 a.m. All was good til we tried to find the ristorante, no one spoke english,Modena is a small country town, so we ask a police man but he only spoke French, he did his best but confused, another policeman spoke broken English gave us a map got us on the right path,arrived just with 15 minutes to spare.
We enter the ristorante and are the first to arrive. We thought that the restaurant had eleven tables but were astonished to find it only had eleven chairs not tables..so very small and intimate. The walls were a very muted green colour with understated prints of different colored circles...not quite sure what this is meant to represent....however no distraction is obviously the intent so we could focus on the food. However the lighting caught my attention....it seemed to just hang in the air on a single wire. I can' t say I felt happy in the room.....there were the men in black team hovering very courteous and attentitive but somehow lacking in any personality....:Denis the head waiter did however warm up towards the end. Our first drink was a delicious French champagne.....crisp but not too dry.
Ok,drink in hand we ready to let our taste buds discover the new sensations that await. The first to arrive is a bread roll, doesn't sound like much,but it is warm and mixed with Modena olive oil it melts in our mouth, freshly baked in the kitchen outstanding.before I can gulp down the last mouthful it is taken away and replaced with a whole basket of bread rolls and throughout the meal as they get cool they are replaced by warm one over and over. The first taster is a granita, a beautiful almond! capers and coffee ice treat that has immediately cleansed our pallet and prepares us for the 2nd taster,this comes to us and we are deep in wonder as to what this may be? It is a clam and dried seaweed cigar,the seaweed is a light green in color ,the thin slices of clam are soft in the mouth same as the touch of velvet is to the hand, there is a sauce similar to seafood but just lightly applied. By now the champagne has gone and it's time for more refreshments,the wine here could cost me my whole month pay, the sommelier took one look and showed us the wine which just happen to fit our price range.
Third taster is one of my favorites. It is Cod sitting on a bed of blended green olive and tomatoes, and floating on a clam reduction and topped with a toasted bread crumb and rosemary dusting. By themselves lovely, mixed together indescribable, has that wow factor.
Number 4 is an angle hair pasta cooked perfectly as only the Italian do with caviar on top and sitting in a clam emulsion, this emulsion is divine, not to salty not to thin more like a beautiful thin gravy that has put its flavour through the pasta but not enough to destroy it.
5 taster is Seabass fillet with its' skin crispy. Fish is cooked the way you see on tv, just cooked ,falls away with the slightest touch of a fork,has no real fishy smell,served with small salad and three sauce that represent the tastes of the land.
The 6th taster is what we believe to be an oyster how wrong was this little black duck. Yes it arrives in a shell but it is lamb that has been cooked using the juices of the oysters which gives it a pickled affect, soft And tender melts as you bite ,with it is an Oyster emulsion and a oyster foam,you needed to see this, fantastic.
7th taster is called a walk in spring or brown. Fortunately for me I have seen the mushrooms that are available in Italy and this taster is a work of art in that it depicts the mushrooms and wide herb that grow all over the mountain areas here.they use some real mushrooms than concoct others using difference mushroom infused sources. There is a picture in the Modena album as are many others.
The 8th taster is guinne fowl cooked three ways with a potatoe purée spinach, mint sauce and a surprise spray roasting spray, yep that right roasting spray,before the spray ,the fowl had been poached on the breast, fried on the thigh and twice cooked using the previous techniques on the leg, then suddenly it smelt and tasted roasted, how! your guess is as good as mine, but it was the best of the day spectacular.
There were four more tasters and when we come home I 'm sure Shirley will continue our tale of the food we had at Osteria Francecana and with her way with word to describe food your mouths will be watering as ours' were today. Check the album to a view a few of the dishes and see if I have given you a true picture.
We are off to Cinque Terre tomorrow( how do you say that in Italian), we hope that everyone is safe and well and we love you all.
Arrivederchi
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