One of the best ways of getting to know a country is through its gastronomy, and Italy has one of the most recognized culinary traditions worldwide. This country is a referent of great taste, hosting some of the restaurants in the list of the 50 Best Restaurants of the World, or with one, or two and up to three Michelin Stars, which makes it the ideal destination for those who look for highly sophisticated culinary experiences. ÖVRFLÖD brings you five restaurants with one Michelin Star, each in five different Italian cities, where quality, technique and respect to the product are their main objectives.
ZAPPATORI
After a professional cyclist career, Christian Milone brought his passion to the kitchen in 2006, specifically to the kitchen of Trattoria Zappatori. He already had some influence in hostelry, as his parents had owned a trattoria in the city of Pinerolo that helped develop Pinerolo’s senses, making them ideal for handling a kitchen. Amongst victories, disappointments and in a constant search for perfection, he plunged into the life of a cook and earned the Birra Moretti prize, two Capelli dell’Espresso, two Gambero Rosso pins, and a Michelin Star in 2016.
A recent restyling has brought fresh life to this historical address, leaving as a result a relaxing space in which a play of light and shadow creates an environment of harmony. The menu centres around classical piedmontese specialties, many of which are made from ingredients produced in the restaurant’s own farm, as well as some more contemporary options.
CONDIVIDERE
This project has as its objective to combine gastronomical excellence with the characteristic joy of being seated to a totally Italian table. In a cosy, welcoming environment, signature cuisine is made fun for everyone. It is through food that people can exchange stories, experiences, and knowledge. Many aesthetic proposals interact in this place, from industrial style, indicated by pipes and gears, to cartoonish graffiti and metallic lace that transforms the traditionally industrial materials in a new style of baroque. The star piece in its decoration is the clock wall, master Ferretti’s homage to the greatest value of the XXI century.
The menu at Condividere is the result of a journey that, from the dawn of Italian and Mediterranean cuisine, places coexistence and sharing at the centre of the experience. The desire to bring authenticity to a relaxed space, where tradition and gastronomical history are interpreted in a modern way has led chef Federico Zanasi own new roads that have earned him a Michelin Star in 2019. “Our offer consists of three tasting menus. Curious, Festival and Grand Festival, to offer the utmost expression of our kitchen. A palatable journey, for a fun experience to share”.
DEL CAMBIO
The Ristorante Del Cambio is an atemporal place, as since the 5th of October of 1757 it has been cyclically renewing, while staying faithful to its essence. Del Cambio is a place of cult, historically frequented by lovers of beauty and good food. Renowned as an emblem of Turin’s culture, between 1821 and 1861 the men and women that marked Italy’s history paraded through its rooms. For at least three centuries, great characters from everywhere have been taking places at its tables, personalities that have shone their light in politics, literature, theatre, music, science, philosophy, and art, such as Camilo Benso Count of Cavour, who was a regular, Casanova, Puccini, Balzac, Nietzche, Verdi, Marinetti, D’Annunzio, the famiglia Agnelli and the writer Mario Soldati are some of the illustrious guests of the Del Cambio, without forgetting the fascinating and divine Eleonora Duse, Maria Callas and Audrey Hepburn, who were great fans of its halls.
Mateo Baronett describes his way of working as “reasoned improvisation”: a constant exercise between intuition and reflection, inspiration, and talent for execution, where he balances his cooking with respect for the place, history and the tastes of the customers from yesterday and today. The materials are the absolute protagonists of each plate, and the preparation provides roundness to each ingredient. His piedmontese roots have led him to rediscovering tradition, while a very solid technique combined with surprising creative intuitions help him create hard to label dishes.
BORGO SANT’ANNA
A very young restaurant, The Borgo Sant’Anna was born in 2019, in Monforte d’Alba, right in the heart of Langhe, as a collaboration between chef Pasquale Làera and maître Fabio Mirci Cappa. It is the encounter between north and south; the scent of the sea and the taste of the Langhe, in a place that has always been a crossroads of exchange that is the pride of belonging to a land such as the Langhe. The idea behind the project is creating a place capable of offering a welcoming space, good food and where one can rediscover dishes and traditional gestures. The Borgo Sant’Anna revises the knowledge that has been passed down through the generations along with the flavours of the countryside, mixing styles and ingredients to create new, but familiar plates. It is the rediscovering of the dishes of the past, pasta with semolina, macaron dël fret, the smell of sauteed onion, garden vegetables, anchovies, eel and piedmontese cod. All their recipes are created from the influence of the chef’s experiences in his travels throughout the world, in search of the experience, human and professional growth that leads him to create dishes that contain a sensational mixture of tradition and vanguard. The choice of Langue as a location, and Monforte d’Alba in particular, derives from the desire of competing with the challenge of exploring the potential of the territory that Chef Làera adopted, while respecting its peculiarities and beauty, combining all the best of the great Italian gastronomy.
LA CIAU DEL TORNAVENTO
Maurilio Garola’s kitchen, with the collaboration of Marco Lombardo, is surrounded by young promises, between the classical mixed piedmontese, some incursions beyond the Alps and a good dose of maritime components, all well mingled and calibrated with the constant of the highest product quality and, over all, a special attention to homemade give origin to this exceptional restaurant.
Maurilio Garola loves the taste of tradition, and makes his Michelin Star shine in the products of the Langhe, but in his heart it is the passion for fish that inspires his heart to creativity, and allows him to uplift the taste that carries the palate through the coasts of Italy. A great attention in the selection of the high-quality prime materials is his mission for all his products: to beign with, the meat must be selected under a strict policy of cero kilometres. “Here the client must be made to feel at home”, says Maurilio, as La Ciau del Tornavento is not only a renowned restaurant, celebrated by the guides, but a place that wishes to be as unique as its genre as exclusive in its location. Alongside the star chef’s menu and with a wine storage room that houses almost 65.000 bottles, there are a series of aspects that make this place a gourmet pearl for everyone. Starting with the dog menu, the children’s menu with cutlery sets, tablecloths, plates and glasses all dedicated to places such as the inn and the winery that allow you to make a tour with taste.
Photos: courtesy.
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