The nature of Antonia, Antonia surrounded by nature: Klugmann’s perfect harmony in Vencò

I wouldn’t know where else to find in Italy a cuisine as harmonious and neat as the one of Antonia Klugmann. It is such because in Vencò the inside matches the outside, the quiet sunniness of an early afternoon in September, flooded with light, introduces inside the restaurant the natural element that is all around, uninterrupted. It embraces it and makes it its own through the glassed walls; exterior and interior become one in a way – the wood, the light pastel colours, the plants... – and the same goes for the culinary offer, which is also a (faithful, successful) interpretation of what’s outside. This almost magical ensemble perfectly adheres to an idea of style, food, life; it’s a hymn to harmony that goes up from the banks of Judrio over there, refracts between earth and sky, overflows a bit everywhere, jumps between the plants to reach the vegetable garden that chases the restaurant even metaphorically, like when they tell us that «the figs were so beautiful! Antonia could not resist using them in a dish». You taste this improvised dish, imposed by the orchard and find it almost thorny in its endearing simplicity. A different word would be necessary to describe the mix, its delicateness that fills the palate, teases it and above all tells a story, an idea, a technique without technique – but who cares – and a concept: Antonia is immersed in nature (Fresh fig, tomato sauce, oregano, marjoram, bay leaves).

The fig is an example, of course. But everything is so... how to put it... unsettling! It’s a paradox, alright; but L'Argine is unsettling for us who chase, tell, and often rightly enhance the artifice, the new technological frontier applied to cooking, the never-tasted-before ingredient, the exotic surprise. Instead, the lesson here is that you just need to look around, to grasp the small inputs and then have an extraordinary sensitivity so you can always match them while respecting their essence. Touches, strums, that’s it. In other words, it’s enough to be Antonia.

The fig, we were saying. But in this case too, it’s the part that reflects the whole. There’s the purity of Mullet confit; the extraordinary character of the Mussels (the flavour of the sea in the winter, but velvety: mussels from Trieste, very sweet, farmed at the mouth of river Timavo, paired with two sauces, with chards and with lupini clams. Then powdered wild fennel and helichrysum and leaves of chards and saltbush); the incredible surprise of Sea urchins and peach, where you find out that Klugmann has managed to tame the flavourful exuberance of the black and thorny delicacy, we’re among those who adore its intense flavour, and has balanced it perfectly – once again: without betraying its essence – with Sicilian mullet bottarga, bitter peach toffee, rue, fermented black garlic and candied orange. Take it as you wish, but it’s a small miracle.

And then we could list the rest of the menu, and we’re still only at the starters. Let’s go on: Tomato Ravioli? They dance in your mouth. Even two recipes that you think might be a little sad, "well, here comes the comfort food break", that is to say Cannelloni and Boiled pork belly, are totally unexpected. The former tends to the bitterness of the nettles, because nature can be bitter too; the latter is a fondant symphony of the protein, which seems to have absorbed in its identity a balanced aroma of rosemary, and then there’s the sweet and sour radicchio, the roasted radicchio and the liquorice that will make you say Boiled pork belly is a misleading name, almost a minimalist provocation.

So, did you get that we quite liked our lunch at L'Argine ?

And here is the menu dish by dish, with photos from Tanio Liotta.

Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso