124 replies to this topic

[fortedei]

You said: "The classic and beautiful spaghetti box (or some called it castle). This is probably one of the most stunning dish presentations in the world; the pasta is meticulously arranged with high precision. More importantly it’s divine – delectable white ham and mushroom with powerful yet balanced truffle and parmesan cream sauce. I think it’s worth the price tag … I couldn’t remember any Italian restaurants preparing better pasta/spaghetti than this one. Bravo! "

The reason you couldn't remember any Italian restaurants preparing better pasta, is that this is not an Italian dish and any Italian restaurant worth its salt would never do something like this. Italians eat pasta, they don't play with it.
As I've said many times here before, the French, in my mind, are the best chefs in the world, but they (in general) don't know how to cook, nor sauce, pasta and the same is true for risotto. Never eat pasta or risotto in France.

[Bu Pun Su]

Hmm actually the best risotto (focusing only on the rice) I've ever tried is at
Calandre (here) and L'Arpege (here), followed by Cracco's milanese style

For pasta, I like Passard's celeriac tagliatelle (not sure if it counts) or herbs' pasta in Le Louis XV. The best one in Italy that I've tasted ... perhaps La Pergola's fagottelli - (very) good but not wow

Actually, I've been searching for great pasta in Italy, so far nothing really impressed me sadly: from Florence (la giostra, il latini) to Venice (Osteria alle Testiere, Trattoria da Fiore); from Rome (il convivio) to Milan (Da Giacomo). I forgot other restaurants ...

Any enlightenment where I should go? A few Italian restaurants in Singapore or in US' Little Italy are actually not that bad, but not on the level the ones mentioned above

[fortedei]

The best pasta, not necessarily the best restaurant, is Bruna Santini's at Dal Pescatore. No one, for us, makes stuffed pasta the way she does. No one. There is no number two.
Third place would be Walter Ferretto's plin at Cascinalenuovo in Isola D'Asti, but it is a distant third. Great pasta and filling that is out of this world (think of the dish finanziera, and then grind the meats for the stuffing; incredibly rich flavor, with featherlike pasta)
Up until a few years ago, Romano Tomani at Ambasciata in Quistello made, in our mind, the best pasta, both stuffed and non stuffed. The master was at work. Unfortunately, the restaurant is now outrageously, and I really mean outrageously, expensive.
Il Latini and the others are sad.
I've had Carlo Cracco's risotto many times, outside of Alba, not at Peck. Eh! Try Luciano Zazzeri's risotto di mare at La Pineta in Marina di Bibbona, made from scratch as it should be, not pre cooked for 12 minutes and laid on a sheet as almost all restaurant risottis are made today, in other than small places.
No restaurant in Italy, worth its salt, would ever serve celeriac or herb pasta. Only the French would do it.

Edited by fortedei, 26 May 2010 - 02:41 PM.

[felixhirsch]

going there soon again. Has anyone an idea how the wine list's prices are?

[aromes]

Event: Lunch at Restaurant Ledoyen, Paris
Full text and photo review: http://michelinstarf.../ledoyen-paris/
When: March 24th 2011, 12:30
Overall Food rating: 8/10
Service: 10/10

The meal:

Tartare de dorade à la tahitienne: great ingredient as expected (the fish was of superb freshness, same could be said of the thin slices of scallops disposed atop the tartare ), perfect balance in taste and seasonings. A good tartare, but at this level, I need this tartare to shine a bit more in creativity or at least with surprising flavors. The apple-lemon gelée underneath was nice, but kept the tartare in a ‘pedestrian’ registry. 7.5 /10

-Jardins de légumes vert à l’émulsion de radis – peas (superb quality), green beans (good quality), onions, dried tomatoes in a radish emulsion. Cute like a bug, that dish…enjoyable too…but not a dish that I am expecting at this level of cuisine neither. Do not get me wrong: I am not expecting fireworks here. Just a touch of next-level daring-ness may it be in the taste or overall gustatory enjoyment of the course. Good 7/10

-Sole de petite cotière étuvée de petit pois – The sole was superbly presented in the shape of a tube. Enjoyable taste, perfect moist consistency of the flesh. Indeed, some great cooking technical mastery in there. The green rolls were filled with a cream of peas and the truffle sauce retained a remarquable ‘smokey’ flavor that I enjoyed a lot. Well done. 8/10

-Grosses langoustines Bretonnes, émulsion d’agrumes: The citrus fruit emulsion, emulsified with the usual olive oil, which basically turned out to be a citrus/olive oil based mayonnaise was certainly well executed (it was somehow light enough to not overwhelm the lobster meat and added a pleasant dimension to its enjoyment) …but as far as in-mouth enjoyment goes, it was suprisingly discrete (where is the punch?). still fine enough (the lobster’s meat was nicely cooked + the effort and idea they did put in the kadaif deserve a bonus point) for me to rate it with a 7.5 over 10

-Toasts Brules d’Anguille: A 10 over 10 for the creativity, the idea, the fun execution. An 8 over 10 for its gustatory amazement (It was more cuter than tastier, but tasty enough to be considered as a good / to very good creation). fyi: What you see on the side is a cube of potato filled with “creme de raifort” (just ok)

The dessert was the strongest item of this meal (Fraise “guariguette” parfumées coriandre/hibiscus)

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