Antonini makes a break with the past and wins

I must congratulate Andrea Antonini, the chef at Imago, the restaurant with an extraordinary view of Rome at the Hassler Hotel. On Friday the 14th of June, I had the opportunity to taste his 11th menu, which shows a change of direction compared to previous ones, so much so that it is symbolised by two vertical cuts that recall those of Lucio Fontana. This is not a random choice because the leitmotif is the implied cut with the past, the clear desire to separate the previous ten menus from the eleventh so that it can be judged as the beginning of a new creative era, not as a continuation of the previous one which, having reached its tenth act, was showing signs of innovative fatigue.

Granted that Antonini is one of the finest talents we have in Italy, with the tenth menu he was not scoring. It can happen to anyone. You just need to acknowledge it and take the necessary steps. A lover of inlays, balances and delicate solutions, it was as if he proceeded at a safe height without ever taking himself to the highest and most significant heights. To be clear, everything was miniaturised, only it is one thing if we are at the beginning, with the amuse-bouche. It’s another if from the appetisers it seems we never move on to the main courses. Instead, everything remained teeny-tiny, boring the palate because you didn't get to the main course. As is the case now.

The 2024 spring-summer menu opens with two vertical black cuts and, on the back cover, an interpretation of the back of a painting with, at the top, a famous sentence by the late Roberto E. Wirth: 'We should never look at the past because it distracts us from the present, and our goal is the future'. Beautiful words, perfect thought. And below, Executive chef Andrea Antonini signs two menus, the Project 11 Creative Laboratory and the Classic, a selection from previous seasons that takes us back in time to the spring of 2019. Same price: 210 euros, plus 45 if one wishes to add a selection of strictly Italian cheeses.

And again, the names of the closest collaborators, Riccardo Romolo chef de cuisine, Luca Villa pastry chef and Andrea Carbonaro junior sous chef, and of Alessio Bricoli, who takes care of the wine proposal. The dining room instead is completely missing. Even Marco Amato, a superb maître who leads a team equal to the kitchen. Not to find their names is a serious mistake. Even more so since it’s been discussed how to get young people to move between the tables and not only between the cookers.

First the cuddles, no longer as endless as they used to be, then the dishes, eleven and the predessert.

First act: Sorrel, small strawberries, sour cherry vinegar and almonds, a green course with cold sorrel sauce at the base, fresh strawberries providing sweetness, roasted almonds and sour cherry balsamic vinegar. To finish, fresh sorrel topped with almond oil. Frozen toasted almond shots. Then peas and caviar, a cloud of roasted peas on whipped pod jelly, fresh peas dressed with spring onion oil and lemon. To close, Oscietra caviar. Chromatically bewitching, with the taste on top.

Then it was the turn of the Sea Cucumber in green sauce with a base of lightly smoked holothuria, seasoned with citrus, chilli and various herbs. All covered with a pil pil sauce of holothuria and mint. Mouth-watering delicacy. Then we moved on to Lamb, sheep's milk and hay, a lamb from Basilicata aged three weeks, seasoned with its aromatised fat, hay vinegar and crispy skin. To top it all off, a sheep's milk reduction with infused toasted hay.

Time for Bread with fermented apple water, salted butter and bread 'jam', a reduction of rehydrated stale bread treated with an amylase enzymatic process that breaks down starches and makes bread like a liquid substance. Without added sugar.

More bread followed, with Bread, potatoes and onions in ravioli, an egg pasta ravioli, filled with creamy roasted ratte potatoes. On the outside, a reduced base of still earthy potatoes, white pickled onions, red vinegar molasses. Frothy sourdough sauce and fresh spring onion.

Then Pasta with smoked butter, Parmesan cheese, citron and pollen bursts in a short format, thickened with chicken broth, Parmesan crusts and smoked butter. Flower pollen, marinated citron albedo and grated citron zest. Fresh sage julienne, Parmigiano Reggiano matured 120 months.

Now to the main courses. First the sea: Sea bass in porchetta, with the filets breaded one by one with a mixture of dried herbs typical of porchetta so as to avoid the release of water during cooking. The filets are glued together by means of protein activation, creating a sausage. Aromatised pork fat, and breaded with puffed pork rind powder to resemble porchetta. Dots of lemon and rosemary mayonnaise. A concentrated fond of sea bass and roast pork ribs. Pickled marinated fennel flowers.

Then came the turf with Beef, apricots and mustard, a sirloin steal from the local Benevento breed, matured 30/35 days, barbecued and lacquered. It was served with an apricot and spicy mustard sauce, an unripe apricot gel and some marinated mustard seeds. On the side there was a pickle-marinated fresh apricot. To finish, a beef brown fond with infused mustard seeds.

The curtain falls on the savoury and the curtain rises on the sweet, a Tartlet of verbena meringue, mint and lemon gel with cucumber pearls and white melon.

fChartreuse candies and fresh herbs, mint and dill. Flowers and flowers, a soft rice dacquoise, drizzled with elderflower syrup and orange blossom. Granita of jasmine rice water with a floral flavour, and rice distillate. Puffed sugar flower with jasmine tea froth and cocoa pulp. Cocoa pulp and jasmine tea sorbet. Elderflower vinegar jelly and fresh white flowers, a gluten- and lactose-free dessert. Finally, Almond, watermelon and taggiasche olives, a soft almond biscuit, taggiasche olive pâté, caper leaves and toasted almond cream. Brioche waffles with olive caramel, fresh watermelon pearls. Watermelon and waffle aspic and bitter almond ice cream.

And the three-headed, six-handed dinner on Saturday 15^th was just as important. With Antonini, there were Paolo Griffa of Caffè Nazionale in Aosta and Andrea Selvaggini of Savage in Oslo who thought up and cooked the dishes lined up logically and washed down with exemplary Bellavista bottles.

 

Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso