05-06-2017
Chinappi’s team in Rome. The balance between patron Stefano Chinappi and chef Federico Delmonte creates a spectacular mix
Perhaps it was the Champagne. Perhaps it was the atmosphere, so pleasantly different from the – often too icy, strict atmosphere – of many fine dining restaurants. What’s sure is that at one point a thought came to my mind after wondering for some time about the future of the Italian restaurant scene: what if this was the first sketch of a possible format for the future?
Let’s put aside this really trying lucubration: for sure at Chinappi’s we had the best of times, it’s as simple as that. We’d speak of a “particularly happy period” if we had an archive of the guests who arrived here over the years, after they moved to Rome, in 2006.
Federico Delmonte at work
Stefano Chinappi with wife Elena. She helps him in the dining room
Stefano Chinappi and Federico Delmonte
What should the task of the good 2.0 host be, after surviving the negative trends of the past few years? Is it someone ready to incarnate a future perspective? He should guarantee the evening is pleasant, a wide concept that goes from empathy to high quality service – friendly if not punctual – and the kitchen, which must first of all present raw materials of the highest quality and perhaps a few timeless dishes, famously craveable, the outcome a certainty. Which doesn’t mean relying on easy to please banality or giving up on elegant flavours. Instead it means presenting signature dishes that can be a sure destination even when, as in this case, someone later arrived in the kitchen with a nice contemporary talent, and his complex and more elegant flavours.
Polpo verace secondo tradizione Chinappi – octopus following the traditional style of Chinappi
Delmonte prepares Gobbetti di Ponza, oil, lemon, mint, gin gelatine. A great classic among Chinappi’s raw dishes
Scallop, coconut, onion from Suasa and lime
Carpaccio di volpina, fennel and star anise
Stefano Chinappi
Spaghettoro with telline
Seared squid, baby spinach and bergamot
Colours: dessert with almond, celery, carrot and cardamom
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
by
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