27/08/2023 — French Michelin stars to Italian roadside pizzerias
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After a week off, the newsletter is back with a vengeance. It’s quite the grab bag this week with more formal podcasts and the like set to come next week but for now there’s just a selection of eats (some fine and some very much not) from across France, Switzerland, and Italy.
Vive la France
First up then is France and the very brief spell I had there. After a quick lunch in a favourite stop off at a favourite brasserie in Saint Quentin it was an overnight stop in Reims that had the the first day’s best food. Here, I visited the seafood specialists at Brasserie Excelsior. This is one of those old time French restaurants with a typically striking interior — although given the weather absolutely everyone was outside in the garden. The atmosphere was laid back and the service good if not a little slow with my pick of dishes definetly the mix stew of three different fishes. A rich and indulgent buttery sauce felt like the perfect welcome to France and oysters to begin were juicy and flavourful too (nothing on Sharkabait and Swim mind).
Also in France was a quite sensational tasting menu at the Michelin starred Chateau Restaurant de Courban. I’ve written a full review of that that you can read below so I won’t go into it here but rest assured that this was everything a tasting menu should be. A full focus on flavour and none of the stuffiness that you might expect from a French Michelin star restaurant.
A Italia
Right, skipping over Switzerland and some questionable local wine near Lake Geneva, time to move onto Italy. I’m going to start things off in an unexpected place: McDonalds. Stay with me here, there is a certain fascination to be found in the way in which fast food chains adapt to different consumer bases and markets and the same is true in Italy. Chicken wings, for example, are for some reason deemed unsuitable for the British market but available in much of the rest of the world. McCafés are another feature across almost the entirety of Europe that offer freshly baked cakes and genuinely high quality barista coffee unlike that in the UK. The same is true here and a pistachio McFlurry together with a shakerato make for a much more refined feeling experience than you might expect (even if you are eating in a McDonalds).
After that though, it was on to a rather more formal set of meals and I’m going to go through them by simply detailing a selection of dishes.
First up is this panzanella, served in a giant bread bowl. Admitteddly, buffets are not something I’d normally go for (unless it’s breakfast of course) but this was alongside a barbecue so more than passable. Even better than that is the spectacle of a panzanella in a bread bowl the size of a small table. I’ve only ever really seen these with clam chowder in the US and even though the dish itself wasn’t great it did bring a smile to my face!
Pasta-wise, a standout from the Hotel La Palma at Lake Stresa was this pici gamebretti. A generous heap of pici spaghetti is topped in a simple olive oil sauce, mozzarella, and a giant fried prawn. Plenty of garlic, basil, and parmesan shavings made for a primi patti more than sufficient as a main course.
A couple more seafood items now and firstly this frutti di mare pizza. Nothing beats fresh seafood on a pizza and this one was quite spectacular. The dough base and the passata were actually a let down but the sheer quantity and flavour of the various shellfish and squid made up for it.
And then quite simply a selection of mixed fried fish. In my opinion, when this is done properly, you can’t beat it. The first time I discovered it was in a delightful small restaurant in a Sorrento port and I’ve been chasing that same thing ever since. Genoa has its own variety with a much thicker batter and I do love that but this one ticked all of my personal boxes. High quality and chunky seafood in the absolute lightest of breadcrumb coatings on top of some potatoes and finished off by some shaved courgette and carrot, all fried of course. With a little bit of lemon, you can’t beat it.
It wouldn’t be Italy or one of my newsletters with a cannolo. Regular readers will know that this is a little obsession of mine and even though this one was freshly piped, it actually doesn’t hold up to Andi’s at Bbuona in Oxford. I think sometimes too many toppings can just be a distraction.
Siennese Exploration
The hilltop city of Sienna is famous for its cathedral, the Pizza del Campo, and it’s meat dominated cuisine. My first stop though was at La Nuova Pasticceria. It’s always a pleasure when business owners invite me to their places and I appreciate it even more when there’s a chance to discover a new culture. Here, I learnt all about the Sienesse Riciarelli: these appear much like biscotti from afar but are in fact completely soft on the inside. Essentially just made from almond paste and a tiny bit of flour, they melt in the mouth and are extremely light and airy on the inside. Other specialites at the patissceria that has established itself as one of the city’s favourites in its 63 year history are the pistachio torta della nonna, classic biscotti, cannoli, and tiramisu. This cannolo wasn’t piped fresh to order and you could tell but the tiramisu was far better than it looked. I got the last one in the store and the sheer amount of coffee on top was superb.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CwWxWpDoyFd/?img_index=1
The next business I paid a trip to was Nice Gelataria, also just off the Piazza del Campo. I didn’t get much of a chance to chat to the owners here as they were pre-occupied making the gelato in the back (everything is definetly made in house!). In the few minutes I got with them though they recommended the ‘Dolce Vita’ secret flavour (definetly Biscoff involved) and, my favourite, the lemon biscuit. The fresh lemons make it standout and I’m a killer for any kind of biscuit crunch in an ice cream.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CwXvRuHIxBS/?img_index=1
Another little discovery from Sienna were ‘donzelle’. This is basically fried pizza dough, served either on its own as a nibble or stuffed. I tried it both ways and stuffed as a mini calzone at the bussling little Te Ke Voi was my preference for sure. The pure oozing of the ham and mozzarella was irresistible. Te Ke Voi was also the first time I have ever had to order food to my table on Whatsapp — it worked perfectly fine and obviously saves time for servers but takes away any kind of ability to ask questions or for recommendations. There might be a whole piece on the variety of internet based menus and ordering solutions that originated during COVID to come soon…
The podcast
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/oliver-hall/episodes/Episode-1---BBuona-e1ds4f5
It’s a throwback this week for the featured podcast and, to find out all about that previously discussed cannolo from Bbuona. Regular readers know that this is one of my favourite restaurants in Oxford and Andi’s freshly piped cannolo here rival anything I’ve eaten in Sicily. It is mainly a pizzeria though and in this podcast you can here Andi talk about all things ‘pinsa’, Italian food, and bringing authenticity to Oxford.
One more thing…
World, take notice: this is how you do a ‘panini’. Courtesy of butcher in Sienna it is essentially an entire focaccia filled with local salami and cheese and it’s a meal for two people (or a snack for me). Could’ve done with some butter or something to soften it up though…
That’s it then from this week. Next week I’ve got a podcast left over from Amsterdam to bring you as well as a chat with the face of pasta herself, Rachel Roddy! Many many more Italian eats will of course be coming too so stay tuned here and to the Instagram for that!
