Modena, Italy is an ancient city and with so much beautiful architecture preserved, it's a delight to spend a day just walking around feasting with your eyes. Beyond simply being old and beautiful, Modena is also famous for a number of rather diverse things: the university dates back to 1175, making it the fourth oldest university in the world (with only Bologna (1088), Oxford (1096) and Salamanca (1134) older), Pavarotti was born there and supercar marques Ferrari, Lamborghini and Pagani are all made nearby. On the food front, Modena is noted for hams, Parmigiano Reggiano and Aceto Balsamico di Modena (Balsamic vinegar).
But then, in 2009 local restaurant Osteria Francescana entered the San Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants list at no 13 making it the highest new entry for the year and placing it just a single position behind the million times more famous The French Laundry. In 2010, it climbed a further 7 places to rank as the 6th best restaurant in the world. It has also held 2 Michelin stars since 2006. Chef Massimo Bottura who trained under Alain Ducasse is putting Modena on the map as a go to destination for food lovers.
The restaurant itself sits on a typical Modena street behind a typical Modena front door and if it weren't for the plaque to the side of that front door you wouldn't know it was a restaurant at all, let alone the world's 6th best.
Inside, the diner is greeted by shelves of food books and a wide variety of contemporary art embracing both sculpture and painting. There's no bar though (ironically since Osteria translated can mean drinking house) and on being taken through to the dining room you're struck by how small it is. The room has six tables set for food and a single wine station. Tables are of a good size though and on this day, five are set for two covers together with a single, but that of course means that the entire dining room is laid for just 11 people. What would prove more surprising is that only the single and one of the two tops was occupied. A late walk in provided an additional single cover but two tables remained empty. On a Friday lunch service at the 6th best restaurant in the world, there are only six diners, it's quite surprising.
Service was excellent throughout and all the waiters spoke fluent English which helped us a great deal, but with just six diners and as many waiters in a small room with white table cloths, it did feel a little hushed and formal and lacked the 'sit back and smile' atmosphere of somewhere like El Celler de Can Roca. Music plays quietly in the background ranging from Mozart's Symphony No 40 to Norah Jones.
But then, in 2009 local restaurant Osteria Francescana entered the San Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants list at no 13 making it the highest new entry for the year and placing it just a single position behind the million times more famous The French Laundry. In 2010, it climbed a further 7 places to rank as the 6th best restaurant in the world. It has also held 2 Michelin stars since 2006. Chef Massimo Bottura who trained under Alain Ducasse is putting Modena on the map as a go to destination for food lovers.
The restaurant itself sits on a typical Modena street behind a typical Modena front door and if it weren't for the plaque to the side of that front door you wouldn't know it was a restaurant at all, let alone the world's 6th best.
Inside, the diner is greeted by shelves of food books and a wide variety of contemporary art embracing both sculpture and painting. There's no bar though (ironically since Osteria translated can mean drinking house) and on being taken through to the dining room you're struck by how small it is. The room has six tables set for food and a single wine station. Tables are of a good size though and on this day, five are set for two covers together with a single, but that of course means that the entire dining room is laid for just 11 people. What would prove more surprising is that only the single and one of the two tops was occupied. A late walk in provided an additional single cover but two tables remained empty. On a Friday lunch service at the 6th best restaurant in the world, there are only six diners, it's quite surprising.
Service was excellent throughout and all the waiters spoke fluent English which helped us a great deal, but with just six diners and as many waiters in a small room with white table cloths, it did feel a little hushed and formal and lacked the 'sit back and smile' atmosphere of somewhere like El Celler de Can Roca. Music plays quietly in the background ranging from Mozart's Symphony No 40 to Norah Jones.
We're also surprised at how extensive the menu is given how few covers are catered. Across the menu there's around 40 items on the a la carte not including desserts as well as a choice of three tasting menus. The tasting menus are Tradizione (€90) giving you traditional food like 'Tagliatella al ragu', a Classici menu (€130) with dishes like 'Cinque stagionature di Parmigiano Reggiano' and a Sensazioni menu (€160) which simply states on the menu 'L'espressione della nostra ricerca' - the expression of our research. We're told the food is 'avant garde'; how could we travel all this way and not choose this option?
Bread arrives at the table and shortly after the first dish appears. It's very black. We're told it is a 'rock from the seaside'; many of the dishes here have nature inspired themes. The base is a sauce of mussels and clams, while the 'rock' itself is made with powder of seaweed and squid ink. While Bottura's San Pellegrino write up describes him as a 'master of colour, texture and geometry' (geometry!), what is immediately apparent to us is his mastery of flavour. We'll come back to this more later, but his ability to instil into the dish components the essence of the idea is as brilliant as any chef whose food we've eaten. And despite this dish being inspired by a rock, it's not hard, rather, the powder element is clear and it's hardly a dish you have to eat as it just melts away in the mouth. A fabulous start.
Bread arrives at the table and shortly after the first dish appears. It's very black. We're told it is a 'rock from the seaside'; many of the dishes here have nature inspired themes. The base is a sauce of mussels and clams, while the 'rock' itself is made with powder of seaweed and squid ink. While Bottura's San Pellegrino write up describes him as a 'master of colour, texture and geometry' (geometry!), what is immediately apparent to us is his mastery of flavour. We'll come back to this more later, but his ability to instil into the dish components the essence of the idea is as brilliant as any chef whose food we've eaten. And despite this dish being inspired by a rock, it's not hard, rather, the powder element is clear and it's hardly a dish you have to eat as it just melts away in the mouth. A fabulous start.
rock from the seaside
The first round of bread was removed and a second basket of bread and a tray of bread sticks arrived, as much for table decoration it seemed as for eating.
bread
One of the most elegant dishes of the day then arrives, 'our version of a razor clam' they say 'but better than nature because you can eat the shell', the shell being made of seaweed. Inside there are clams, scallops and oysters we're told (though neither of us could pick up any oyster), the juice is made with mussels and clams together with a sauce made from parsley and oil of chilli flakes. This is so beautifully plated you fall in love with it even before you taste it and the love affair continues after you do.
'our version' of razor clams
A riot of angry red and orange colours arrives in a bowl and we're told it's 'rice surf and turf' but clearly unlike any surf and turf we've had before and the sort of reinvention you really expect in an avant garde menu. At the bottom is sea urchin, on top is veal juice, black truffle and pomegranate. My first sea urchin though not MrsCC's. The colours are intense, the dish works fantastically well: an incredible veal jus, brine flavour from the sea urchin, freshness from the pomegranate, and texture from both that and the rice, it's an impressive construction.
rice surf and turf
We're then served a pristine fillet of eel, oven cooked in Balsamic, cream of polenta, juice of green apple and ash of burned polenta on top of the eel. The green apple adds a sharp freshness that balances the sweet aged Balsamic and there's crunch from the ash too. Chef Massimo Bottura comes out the kitchen to talk to us at this point and he's wonderful, but more of that later.
eel, oven cooked in Balsamic, cream of polenta, juice of green apple and ash of burned polenta
The next dish appears like a black hole in the bottom of our bowl, sucking the light away, we've never seen a greater density of black in a bowl of food before. The fish is Alaska black cod (what else?) and itself has a competing black top of vegetable ash but the flesh remains luminously white such that the bowl provides the starkest contrast of offerings. Spaghetti vegetables are submersed in a katsuobushi broth over oyster leaves and ginger confit. We're told to use only the fork and spoon, not the knife, as we should ensure we get the cod and the broth together (making us wonder why they brought us the knife then). It's again first class.
Alaska black cod
We're standing outside for a little break when Chef Bottura himself comes out to let us know our next course is ready. He's bursting with enthusiasm. He says the next course is based on a memory he has as a child of cows on a hill, specifically the white cows that provide milk for Parmesan. As such the dish contains both creamy milk and early stage Parmesan. The green was provided by raw peas, and what we think was a pea puree and pea granita. Again, it was a dish that offered up the freshness of pea, the sweetness of the cream, the cold and crunch of the granita, Bottura making the dish work on many levels. Such intensity of flavour.
Cow on a hill (?)
It wouldn't be Italy without a risotto but this being the Sensazioni menu, clearly, an ordinary risotto was never on the cards. The bowl comes to the table with a disk of liquid, three quarters dark and a smaller segment of lighter orange. The dark liquid is the juice of ossobuco (veal demi-glace) and the lighter orange a saffron and marrow emulsion. On top of the ossobuco, they pour on puffed rice. This dish is sensational. The ossobuco is so intense it makes our heads spin.
If the mark of a truly great kitchen is that it produces both a superlative version of a kind and a dish that you will remember long after the event, this is probably it. Ironically, it's only innovative to the extent that the components combine to form a deconstructed risotto but the veal demi-glace was without precedent in the intensity of flavour. It was simply stunning.
If the mark of a truly great kitchen is that it produces both a superlative version of a kind and a dish that you will remember long after the event, this is probably it. Ironically, it's only innovative to the extent that the components combine to form a deconstructed risotto but the veal demi-glace was without precedent in the intensity of flavour. It was simply stunning.
deconstructed risotto
Another super intense broth followed: morel mushroom stuffed with cotechino, broth of marrow, crispy head of pork and fregula pasta. Again, this broth was mind blowing in its intensity, it makes almost every other broth eaten anywhere else seem lacklustre, this and only this is how a real broth should be. Add to that crispy pig's head and pasta and can there be doubt that this dish was seriously good?
morel mushroom stuffed with cotechino, broth of marrow, crispy head of pork and fregula pasta
The last of the savouries was the only let down for us. Guinea fowl: upper part and lower part of the legs and the breast. It's hard to call it avant garde and it also didn't, in our opinion, come so well together as a dish. After the genius of the previous courses, this seemed to end the savouries with a whimper rather than a bang. Also with this came the offal of guinea fowl in a white chocolate sauce which was thought by both of us to be the best bit.
Guinea fowl
Guinea fowl offal and white chocolate mousse
Our first dessert is called Iceland: 'a construction of winter soil with snow on top'. The green-apple ice sits on top frozen fruit, truffle, mushroom, roots and powder of tapenade. Chef Bottura then came out to explain the concept more: mushroom and biscuit, hazelnut and blackpepper, mineral but part of the woodland, covered with ice that's made of cucumber and granny smiths.
Iceland
Chef Bottura is becoming famous for this next dish, the foie gras 'ice lolly'. Foie gras marinated in Calvados injected with extra old Balsamic vinegar covered with toasted hazelnuts and almonds. They provide knife and fork but tell you to eat it like an ice lolly. It's the richest thing you could ever imagine, you think you might die while eating it while not worrying because you know you'll die happy. It's about four bites all in all but goodness, it's brilliant madness.
foie gras in Calvados lolly-pop
The serious frivolity continues with the next dessert which is called 'the potato that wants to be a truffle'. Encased in a potato skin (do we eat that?), a souffle with a foam of vanilla with slices of black truffle on top. I especially delighted in this because it tasted simply fantastic, and I might have made this up but the souffle seemed to have picked up some earthy notes from the potato, while the vanilla foam was so light it worked wonderfully well, but it was impossible not to eat it without a smile on your face.
the potato that wants to be a truffle
Finally, a dessert called 'Italia'. From North to South, hazelnuts, ricotta cheese, a foam of mozzarella, then a reconstruction of orange salad Sicilian style: orange and foam of extra virgin olive oil with black pepper on top (in the background glass). We've missed a few things out here for there was more going on below the mozzarella foam, but the dish suffered a little from being the last of the day and us being excessively full. It was good but we're sure you'll understand if we say the edge was now off our appetite. Petit fours followed.
Italia
petit fours
Returning to Chef Massimo Bottura, his eyes really did light up when he talked of his food; with us sharing his passion for food and loving his dishes, he embraced us and went out of his way to share even more with us. Massimo's enthusiasm is infectious and he loves the local produce and promoting both that and Italy in new and exciting ways. When we told him that we had travelled to Modena just to eat at Osteria Francescana, he beamed.
When the bill came, we saw the total and realised that it was less than the sum of the items we had ordered and that were listed on the bill; we pointed this out to our waiter. His reply? 'The chef wants it like that'. How generous from an amazing chef that just delivered a truly exceptional meal.
When the bill came, we saw the total and realised that it was less than the sum of the items we had ordered and that were listed on the bill; we pointed this out to our waiter. His reply? 'The chef wants it like that'. How generous from an amazing chef that just delivered a truly exceptional meal.
Chef Massimo Bottura
It's clear to us why Osteria Francescana is held in the esteem it is. It delivers at a level in certain ways that no other restaurant does. The depth of flavours within his jus and broths are, in our opinion, without match compared to all the other places in which we've eaten so far. Perhaps our only criticism would be that while the food is in many ways playful, the environment remains quite formal and they seem less comfortable with what they're doing, understandable perhaps without a full dining room (and a third star). All this though is forgiven.
Across many exceptional restaurants in the UK, the competition too often seems based upon who can develop 'a better mouse trap'? Hand dived Scottish scallops, cooked better. Venison, cooked better. Foie gras, made better. So few really innovate, way too samey from place to place. In the UK, it's surely why Heston's Fat Duck and even Dinner receive so much recognition, at least they do something different. The Ledbury is getting there too. But at Osteria Francescana, you'll discover new frontiers to food, as you do at Noma and at El Bulli. In that respect, Osteria Francescana is an appropriate bedfellow in the top tier of the San Pellegrino's list; put another way, it deserves its place.
We can only guess but if Chef Bottura were running the same operation in London, bookings would be gold dust, a full house every day and every night with reservations lines jammed for months ahead. When in Rome, you may care to do as the Romans do, but you might also want to take a trip up the road to Modena and Osteria Francescana. Indeed, you might want to make that trip from anywhere in Italy, or the UK, for the journey is worth it. Osteria Francescana is in our opinion one of the world's truly great restaurants. We expect to hear much more of Chef Massimo Bottura going forward.
Return to homepage
Related links: El Bulli
Related links: Noma
Related links: The Fat Duck
Related links: El Celler de Can Roca
Across many exceptional restaurants in the UK, the competition too often seems based upon who can develop 'a better mouse trap'? Hand dived Scottish scallops, cooked better. Venison, cooked better. Foie gras, made better. So few really innovate, way too samey from place to place. In the UK, it's surely why Heston's Fat Duck and even Dinner receive so much recognition, at least they do something different. The Ledbury is getting there too. But at Osteria Francescana, you'll discover new frontiers to food, as you do at Noma and at El Bulli. In that respect, Osteria Francescana is an appropriate bedfellow in the top tier of the San Pellegrino's list; put another way, it deserves its place.
We can only guess but if Chef Bottura were running the same operation in London, bookings would be gold dust, a full house every day and every night with reservations lines jammed for months ahead. When in Rome, you may care to do as the Romans do, but you might also want to take a trip up the road to Modena and Osteria Francescana. Indeed, you might want to make that trip from anywhere in Italy, or the UK, for the journey is worth it. Osteria Francescana is in our opinion one of the world's truly great restaurants. We expect to hear much more of Chef Massimo Bottura going forward.
Return to homepage
Related links: El Bulli
Related links: Noma
Related links: The Fat Duck
Related links: El Celler de Can Roca
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