Good appetite!
Located in what used to be a centenary osteria –traditional Italian food house– from the historic center of Modena, this "laboratory of gastronomic culture, art and design", as the same Massimo Bottura called, has become a place of pilgrimage for culinary enthusiasts and professionals from all over the world.
And, although it may not seem like it now, since its opening in 1995, it has also overcome lean times. Until 2002 he did not receive his first Michelin star. The second came in 2006 and three years later it entered the always questioned and controversial ranking of ** The World's 50 Best Restaurants, which it leads this year, for the second non-consecutive** (2016 and 2018). Their third star, the maximum recognition of the French guide, received it in 2012.
Do you plan to go? Don't be scared: in order not to ruin the wow factor, I will leave out details related to the atmosphere or the dishes. In case one day you decide that ** Osteria Francescana **, as the Michelin Guide would say, justifies the trip or, in case you think, like me, that there are things you have to do at least once in your life in Italy.
Many arrive here after waiting months. Right now, for example, it is not possible to reserve one of their 12 tables.
There is only one option, which was ours: sign up for the waiting list and be optimistic. We, despite doing it only two weeks before our trip to Modena, were lucky. A week before they called us to offer us a table.
To confirm the reservation, it is necessary to provide a credit card: this way they make sure that you are going to go. If you cancel during the three days prior to the reservation or if you do not show up, you will be charged €250 per person. Better not risk it. And the day came.
An unforgettable gastronomic experience
From the moment the gray door opens, punctually, at 12:30 in the morning, we realized that there nothing is a coincidence. Not even the name of the street: Rua Stella (star, in Italian), where Osteria Francescana is located.
Several groups entered, expectantly, to an aseptic hallway with carpet and gray walls, where an army of neatly uniformed people received us kindly but quietly and led us to our table, in one of the secluded rooms, with only three tables.
My first feeling was that the best restaurant in the world is more like an art gallery than a dining room. And it is that Osteria Francescana hosts, for years, contemporary art collections by international artists. His latest additions are a sculpture of a security guard, Frankie, the work of Duane Hanson and an abstract painting of the Mexican Bosch Sodi.
Osteria Francescana: where art and gastronomy go hand in hand at the table
Once at the table, and after seeing the menu, we decided that we would give in to gluttony and dared the most complete tasting menu: Tutto (everything in English, 'everything' in Spanish) . With that suggestive name, and for €270 per person (plus €180 pairing, optional) , we hoped not to miss anything from Massimo Bottura's cuisine. That's what we had gone to.
After the aperitif, the parade of dishes began: a tasty feast of four small snacks, nine dishes, a pre-dessert and two desserts, plus the petit fours, that protocolarily always accompany coffee.
But step by step: his first introduction, to whet the appetite, was a reinterpretation of European classics: from his particular Fish & Chips, that it has little of the British icon, since the fish and chips are in the form of a crunchy ice cream; until the macaroon, so French, but this time, nothing sweet: of hare stew to the huntress.
Or the It's not a sardine, two crispy and light wafers of bread with eel cream, where we begin to perceive Bottura's obvious connection with art: they resemble a sardine (without being one of the trite trompe l'oeil) but they are a clear reference to Magritte and his art of deceive the eyes and the mind.
The same goes for Wagyu non-Wagyu, one of the main dishes, which are really slices of pork belly. The red guide already says: "Here the kitchen is at the level of art."
Nothing here is a coincidence
But, above all, Bottura cooks to move, surprise and transmit his own memories to us. What Autonomous to New York, that he teleports to another place and time: the one in which the chef himself met Lara Gilmore in the US capital, now his wife and mother of his two children.
The best thing is that this dish, like many others, evolves: it is never the same. Inspired by a Billie Holiday song and New York's Union Square, it is a dashi broth with beet, apple, potato or sour cream, garnished with flowers.
Bottura's proposal is also a sensory journey to his beloved Italy. In The 5 stage of Parmigiano we savor a journey through the maturation of the famous Italian cheese, typical of its region (Emilia-Romagna) in different consistencies and temperatures: a 24-month curing cream, a 30-month soufflé, a 36-month foam, 50-month air and a crispy 40. With only 2 ingredients, the Parmesan and the passage of time, get a masterpiece.
The best restaurant in the world is in Modena
Another of the dishes on the menu, Insalata di mare, it is an ode to texture and flavor. On a crisp lettuce, it presents a marine symphony in the form of crisp and multicolored sheets, crackers, reminiscent of Asian shrimp bread, but with clams, squid or mussels.
The last stroke is a spray cloud of essence of sea water.
And what about burnt ? A completely black plate, which is a tribute to concept artist Glenn Ligon: a brodo (broth) of squid, fish and burnt orange accompanied by a cuttlefish ink flour biscuit.
Burnt, a tribute to the artist Glenn Ligon
EITHER mediterranean sogliola, a sole that combines several techniques, such as the papillote (in Italian, al cartoccio) with fake parmesan water and sea salt paper, to represent an explosion. Your inspiration? The artist Alberto Burry, that worked with the combustion of plastic.
Mediterranean Sogliola
The ending doesn't disappoint either. oops! Mi è caduta la crostata al limone, one of his most shared dishes on Instagram, was born, they say, by accident, when Takahiko Kondo, Bottura's Right Hand, years ago, he dropped one of the plates, which ended up broken into a thousand pieces.
They rebuilt it as best they could and, in the end, the move did not turn out badly because, since then, and in honor of this stumble, this dessert is served smashed against the plate and full of splashes.
At Osteria Francescana, time flies. For 4 hours, we embarked on a colorful journey through his dishes, in which Bottura spoke to us about his contemporary vision of Italian cuisine through memories of him or his art, but also of imperfection and failure: that chaos so necessary that, sometimes, he tastes like lemon cake.
'Oops! Mi è caduta la crostata al limone', a delicious coincidence