February :: 2025 :: All Things Andy Gavin

Archive for February 2025

Eating Torre Canne – Autentico

Feb18

Location: Via Appia Antica, 32, 72015 Torre Canne BR, Italy. +39 338 265 0233

Date: August 5, 2024

Cuisine: Southern Italian

Rating: Decent for a this kind of hotel resteraunt

My wife likes to eat at the hotel at least once at beach hotels. I’m not always such a fan as this kind of hotel, while great as a hotel, doesn’t usually have the best resteraunts.

We had drinks and snacks first.

Spritz bianci.

Pimms cup.

Aperol Spritz.

These were SO ADDICTIVE with their hint of fennel.

The menu.

The hotel restaurant itself is named Autentico.

Live music.

Tonno rosso marinato alla camomilla con cialledda al barattiere. Red tuna marinated with camomile, served with barattiere cialledda salad.

Plateau di frutti di mare con ostriche, noci, scampi, gamberi rossi. Seafood plateau with oysters, cockles, scampi and red shrimps.

Orecchiette pomodoro.

Pacchero ai tre crostacei con datterino giallo e rosso in infusione al basilico. Three shellfish paccheri pasta
with yellow and red datterini tomatoes infused in basil

Catch of the day: branzino — grilled.

With grilled vegetables.

Chocolate gelato.

Puzzle semifreddo al cioccolato bianco, mango e lampone. Puzzle of white chocolate, mango and raspberry semifreddo.

Namelaka al cioccolato vegan, frolla di pistacchio e sorbetto all’albicocca cafona di Rotondella. Vegan chocolate namelaka, pistachio shortcrust and Rotondella apricot sorbet.

Lingotto di crema al mascarpone con terra di mandorle al cioccolato e gelato al caffè. Mascarpone cheese ingot,
almond and dark chocolate crumble and flavoured gelato.

While not as good as our outside restaurants, this was definitely solid for a regular hotel restaurant.

For more Italian dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (0)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Autentico, Eating Torre Canne, eating-italy, pasta, Torre Canne, Wine

Eating Torre Canne – Beach

Feb14

Restaurant: Beach Club

Location: Torre Canne BR, Italy

Date: August 5, 2024

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Not bad for the beach

We caught this meal at our “local” beach club.

Packaged, but these are still delicious.

Octopus.

Salmon Carpaccio.

Orecchiette Pomodoro.

Seafood pasta.

Weird cute packaged desserts.

Had the freezer taste.

Not bad for the beach.

For more Italian dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (0)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beach, Eating Torre Canne, eating-italy, Torre Canne

Eating Monopoli – Orto

Feb10

Restaurant: Orto Ristorante Naturale

Location: Contrada Tortorella, 520, 70043 Monopoli BA, Italy. +39 080 222 6831

Date: August 4, 2024

Cuisine: Southern Italian

Rating: Lovely

Orto is a “Naturale” restaurant attached to a Trulli hotel. For those not in the know, Trulli are ancient stone beehive buildings constructed without mortar.

“An important element in enriching one’s gastronomic experiences is certainly the knowledge of places: of the water, of the earth, of the air that retain the memory of the character of the territory, giving substance and taste to fruits and animals.
The ability of a cook rests on two pillars: the knowledge of the matter and of the ways of treating it in respect of its nature.
One of the tasks that do honor to the good cook is to spread and increase the gastronomic culture, on the one hand by teaching how to eat well and correctly with the food offered on the table, on the other hand by educating young people and passing the baton to those who deserve it, introducing him to gastronomic Culture, that, when it is real, is a conscious experience, applied research in continuous improvement and adaptation to life.
And finally, memento! Creating is not copying. Without pursuing the new, the “never seen” as a qualifying attribute in itself: we can recognize the novelty both in the known and in the unknown, it is important that it draws on the truth.
Art is the putting into action of truth. “
— Gualtiero Marchesi

Orto is located at a Trulli hotel up in the hills. It’s also Michelin recomended.

Lovely place.

We ate in the garden.

The regular menu.

I had a very slightly “expanded” menu.

Amuses.

Bread.

ORTO CIRCOLARE 2021. couscous of courgettes, almonds, pistachios, herbs and seasonal vegetables. This was actually fabulous. Very herby and refreshing.

AUBERGINES TARTELLET. carob flour tartlet, aubergine mustard, sour aubergines. This “bonus” course was tiny, albiet delicious.

Orecchiette pomodoro.

SPAGHETTO, OLIVE, ALMOND AND LEMON. spaghetti, Cellina olives, almonds and salted lemon. Perhaps the best lemon pasta I have every tried. Really good!

TUBETTI RIGATI. tubetti rigati, red turnip, lemon balm strawberries, karkadè and smoked stracciatella cheese. Bright, slightly sour, and a perfect pairing with the cheese.

EGG COOKED UNDER THE ASH. farm egg, potato cream, olive powder.

FREE RANGE CHICKEN. free-range chicken, aromatic herbs, salad. Tasty.

THE FALDACCHEA. black cherries in pomegranate vinegar, almonds, lemon, almond mousse, meringue, cinnamon.

The cherry almond stuff was under the meringue and the overall tasty was INCREDIBLE. Really good.

Almond paste (and delicious).

Old fashioned.

Biscotti.

Orto had less courses and certainly less options but the atmosphere was amazing and the food was very very fresh and really delicious. We really enjoyed it. Plus they were fast as 1 stars go.

For more Italian dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (0)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Eating Monopoli, eating-italy, Italian Cusiine, Mich, Michelin, Orto, pasta

Eating Trani – Gallo

Feb06

Restaurant: Gallo

Location: Via Statuti Marittimi, 48/50, 76125 Trani BT, Italy. +39 0883 487255

Date: August 4, 2024

Cuisine: Southern Italian

Rating: Fancy for touring lunch

We were in Trani visiting and chose this place (after a bit of surfing).

Outside was booked.

Pomodoro.

A kind of pistachio pesto.

A different kind of blossom pesto.

An interesting “ball of pasta” seafood pasta.

For more Italian dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (0)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Eating Trani, eating-italy, Italian cuisine, pasta

Eating Savelletri – Due Camini

Feb04

Restaurant: Due Camini

Location: Strada Comunale Egnazia, 72015 Savelletri BR, Italy. +39 080 225 5351

Date: August 3, 2024

Cuisine: Southern Italian

Rating: Great, if a little performative

Another night, another Michelin star. Due Camini is located inside the very swank Hotel Borgo Egnazia in Savelletri.

We actually had a bit of a time finding it — not a lot of signage.

It’s a very elegant chic design. The white objects surrounding the “tree” in the lobby, however, are sort of an “OF chic.”

CHEF DOMingo schingaro

Puglia is his motherland. The sea, his father.
The kitchen is his home.
The brigade, his family.
Domingo Schingaro is a concrete Chef of few words and a thousand dishes that disclose ancient stories.
His recipes reflect the robustness of this region, a fertile land of ingredients and inspirations.
Small producers are his great passion.
Puglia is his heritage.

The dining room.

There were lots of amuses, including this pre-wave.

A bread with ham on top.

And a selection of smaller amuses.

A cannoli.

Sphereized something, maybe eggplant.

More amuses.

Puffed potatoes.

Great breads including this brioche and pizza bread.

Crispy breads.

Super good.

And very nice as well. Southern Italians know their breads.

This was a creamy ricotta-like dip for the breads.

And this special buttery cheese, which was also excellent.

The menu.

Orecchiette pomodoro. First of my son’s pomodoro tasting.

Ricotta cheese, roots, medlars and walnuts. I think.

Seafood caprese. This was awesome and I don’t even love tomatoes.

Grilled lettuce, almonds and agresto.

Podolica beef tartare, barbecue sauce, sea urchins and mussels. In taco form.

More excellent breads.

With a tasting of various local olive oils.

I got the super intense one.

Pomodoro 2.

Rice, bread, olive oil and tomato.

Raviolo pasta, basil and acqua sale.

Ravioli pasta, fish soup and monkfish liver. Strong flavors but delicious.

Risotto.

Whey and citrus fruit pasta. These were simple but truly excellent. Super al dente with a lemon pepper vibe.

More bread!

And pomodoro 3!

Aubergine, black garlic and bergamot.

I think a GF replacement for the aubergine.

Eel, chard and dill. Like a sword!

Beef and aubergine parmigiana. Delicious.

Then we got a kitchen tour.

A dessert intermezzo (delicious).

And a very herbal cold tea (which I also liked).

The wines were nice, and all Italian, but I would have preferred all local.

Chocolate gelato.

Another dessert (GF).

Apricot, seaweed, and buffalo cheese.

Mirabolano. This was incredible actually. Very much like a deconstructed fruit pavlova or something.

Petite Fours.

“Ice cream cone”

Mini sandwich.

Frozen pistachio thingy.

Another mini dessert.

And a gel.

I think it was also the most expensive meal of the trip.

It actually rained while we were at dinner. But overall Due Camini was also a fabulous meal. It had some length, but the pacing was very good and there wasn’t a notciable stall, which is much appreciated. The food was very tasty and quite inventive. The service was superb, but there was a slight air of “trying really really hard” in this high end way — like at one of those over-the-top super high end hotel spas. The staff all had these matched “shabby chic” tunics and quite performace.

For more Italian dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (0)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Due Camini, Eating Savelletri, eating-italy, italian, Michelin 1 Star, pasta, Wine

Programmed by Andy Gavin