26-07-2013

Welcome back Fulvio Siccardi

The happy return of the starred chef from Piedmont. He’s now in charge of Da noi in, in Milan

Egg in a cage with milk and parmesan sauce with wh

Egg in a cage with milk and parmesan sauce with white and black truffle, Fulvio Siccardi’s signature dish. The chef previously received one star at Le Clivie in Piobesi and another at Conti Roero, both in Piedmont. Since February he’s the chef at Da Noi In, a Magna Pars Suites restaurant, in Via Forcella 6 in Milan, +39.02.8338371

Funny: for the second time in a few days I happen to find the number 28 (a perfect number) in Milan. At first I visited 28 Posti, in the Navigli area. The other day, instead, I was in the extra-fashionable Via Tortona, at the Magna Pars, a new five star hotel with 28 rooms, that is to say luminous designer suites, each with a different fragrance since the owner is Roberto Martone, a perfume entrepreneur.

I hope Fulvio Siccardi won’t be offended by my choice of introducing his cuisine via the reception. By the fact, in other words, that before mentioning Da Noi In, the restaurant in which he cooks with increasing success since February 14th, we shortly lingered on the candid building in which it is held. Thing is, it initially appeared as a contrast, an inconsistency between the latter stylish-Milanese establishment and a style of food that recalls the Piedmontese roots of the chef, given his prestigious biography built on two successes, both of them starred, first at Le Clivie in Piobesi d’Alba, after Carlo Cracco, and then at Conti Roero, until 2009, before he dedicated himself to the less visible consulting activity.

The garden where you eat

The garden where you eat

Still it would be enough to read a “certain” Paolo Marchi from 2006 to overcome any perplexity, since he closed his review dedicated to the establishment in Monticello d’Alba describing the chef’s dishes as some that “mean tradition and creativity at the same time”. We agree. Siccardi was and luckily still is like this, with a foot in his profound Piedmont, being born in Torino in 1969, but never looking backwards. In fact, he’s ready to bestow some delicious food characterised by a moderate creativity and an assertive modernity, going along, now, with a certain Ambrosian tendency that perhaps is not necessarily commendable. In other words: you can taste a great stew – perhaps not in these hot weeks – but if you prefer, here are the fresh signature salads or some splendid raw fish selections.

In the comfortable and beautiful garden, with a menu that was even a bit too wide, we started with a good Home-smoked salmon, followed by a pleasant Tomato and aubergine millefoglie, before exploding in a Satyricon-style chorus in front of Siccardi’s fantastic signature dish,namely his Egg in a cage (made with carta fata, it is baked for one hour at 52°C) with a sauce made with milk and parmesan to which the white and black truffle (in the de-hydrated TartufLanghe version, available all year long) adds some peaks of pure pleasure. This is not suitable to those with a weak heart: perhaps it is a little pleasing, but delicious nonetheless (we’re curious to taste its so called variation, the Vertical egg).

Fulvio Siccardi, from Piedmont region, born in 1969

Fulvio Siccardi, from Piedmont region, born in 1969

This could be enough but at the end of a lunch that was always at a high level we’re happy to mention two more things. The first, after the excellent Carnaroli rice with courgette flowers, fresh toma cheese and olive oil with oregano (the strength of the aromatic plant was remarkable in creating a contrast with the aggressive cheese), arrived with the Knife-cut tagliolini with vegetables and cherry tomatoes: simple, tasty and perfect, highlighted by a basil cream of which you could never have enough. The second peak came with the Black cod on courgette cream which shows the technic excellence of Siccardi’s cooking skills, and the intelligence he uses in making the cod meat stand out in a superb way, matching it with a basic vegetal contraposition.


Carlo Mangio

An outdoor trip or a journey to the other side of the planet?
One thing is for sure: the destination is delicious, by Carlo Passera

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Carlo Passera

journalist born in 1974, for many years he has covered politics, mostly, and food in his free time. Today he does exactly the opposite and this makes him very happy. As soon as he can, he dives into travels and good food. Identità Golose's editor in chief

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