Restaurant: Aura
Location: Via Lungomare Matteotti, 157, 73026 San Foca LE, Italy. +39 0832 700433
Date: August 10, 2024
Cuisine: Italian
Rating: Hotel restaurant
My wife always likes to try the hotel restaurants — even when I’m a bit skeptical. We compromise with just once per hotel. Some hotels in Europe do have great restaurants, but we don’t usually pick the hotel on that basis.
The Aura Restaurant is set in an intimate location with breathtaking endless view on the Adriatic Sea. “Well begun is half done” is the philosophy applied to the breakfast, where you can delight in a welcoming, relaxing atmosphere. For lunch and dinner serves contemporary Italian inspired dishes; it offers a refined, creative and gourmet cuisine from the passion of our chefs.
In the preparation of dishes, they reproduce the colors and the emotions of both the Salento land and the surrounding seas
Bread.
Grisini.
More bread.
Whipped butter.
Amuse of fried oyster.
Mozzarella with tomatoes and anchovies.
Sgombro del Mediterraneo afumicato all’ulivo leccino, crema al latte di capra nostrano, nocciole tostate e scapece di zucchine. Mediterranean mackerel smoked with Leccino olive trees, local goat’s milk cream, toasted hazelnuts and courgette scapece. — this was pleasant enough.
Orecchiette pomodoro.
A special of lobster Spaghetti. This was excellent.
Risotto Carnaroli invecchiato 18 mesi mantecato al canestrato pugliese, asparagi scottati alla maggiorana e gocce di vincotto ai fchi. Risotto Carnaroli aged 18 months creamed with Apulian Canestrato cheese, seared asparagus with marjoram and drops of fgs vincotto. The heavy fig sauce on the edge was a touch distracting.
Polpo croccante, la sua maionese all’olio Evo, tempura di alga nori, carciof e salsa agrodolce di peperoni. Crispy octopus, its extra virgin olive oil mayonnaise, nori seaweed tempura, artichokes and sweet and sour pepper sauce. — this was a little weird and heavy.
Chocolate gelato.
Spuma al mango gelato, croccante alla mandorla e cioccolato. Frozen mango foam, almond brittle and chocolate.
La nostra versione dei Tre Cioccolati. Our version of the Three Chocolates.
Overall, that this was arguably the weakest dinner — or certainly close to it — in terms of “kitchen” spoke to how good the general quality of our dinner restaurants was this trip.