What a beautiful morning, that we have just left behind us, the fourth “away game” that Identità has played in london, this time with a debut at Harrods and a lunch that our British partners have called The Lunch of a Lifetime. This was the name given on the eve of the event. Then of course everything had to be confirmed, for it’s easy to talk, but acting and acting well is something that many, but not everyone, can do.
Carlo Cracco, Massimo Bottura and the proud of being Italian, in spite of everything
And after a four hour long marathon, six dishes and a triumph of desserts, excellent wines and excellent beers, one thing is parting with an
arrivederci, and another is closing with something like a “keep in touch” which is, in fact, a farewell, because how can you keep in touch with someone who doesn’t seem interested in you? I, for all, when I exit a restaurant ask myself is it a goodbye or a farewell? And so, I imagine, does everyone else.
Identità London was filled with smiles, 250 guests, 25 tables for 10 people, including that with Villas Boas who, for those who support Inter, is synonymous of a goal too many during the European match against his Tottenham: “Love it here, I adore Italian cuisine. I tried to make a reservation at Cracco’s, in Milan, but it was all booked. I’ll taste his dish here”. The first dish to be served was in fact Carlo’s starter, his Egg yolk in a saffron infusion with courgettes and mussels. The chefs from Vicenza explains the dish, prodded by Nigel Barden, English journalist with a beautiful voice and a pressing rhythm.
It’s then the turn of brothers Enrico and Roberto Cerea, whom Nigel calls with their respective nicknames too, or at least he tries to, with gags that cause lots of applause and smiles. Chicco and Bobo have prepared a Salted codfish salad prepared with its tripe and a mousse of smoked potato. A rich dish, after all the Cerea brothers’ cuisine has always been characterised by lots of flavour and little philosophy.
And then there’s the pasta, with two first courses: the first, a true classic, and the second a total novelty.
Luciano Monosilio moves from the kitchen of
Pipero al Rex in Rome and from the cover of Corriere della Sera’s latest issue of
Style to the Georgian room of
Harrods, always with his Carbonara and
Alessandro Pipero. His demonstration is real, the smoke of the sizzling
guanciale put the security in agitation because of the fire alarm, so it’s best to remove the pan from the stove.
Davide Scabin brings an idea from his Combal.zero, from Rivoli to London with his Pasta Shake, in this case Conchiglie with squid ink in the Piedmont style thanks to the addition of roasted peppers, anchovy sauce and black truffle in the shape of caviar (“it is not a spherification, though”, Davide is keen on stressing). The sauce has to be poured in the large glass which is then shaken to re-generate the pasta. The audience has fun and meanwhile time pleasantly goes by. They say that Italians are never tired to sit at the table but even the British don’t seem to mind.
And so it’s the time for the main courses, first the sea with Gennaro Esposito from Torre del Saracino in Vico Equense (Naples) then the earth with Massimo Bottura from Osteria Francescana in Modena. From the Seared sea-bass, served with a green sauce, to the Beautiful Psychedelic veal that seems to be chargrilled but in fact isn’t, though if you weren’t to explain this, nobody could tell. The aroma is that of smoke, but without any embers.
Alex Atala e and the fantastic cannoncino by Chicco Cerea
And finally after the applause for
Massimo the
Cerea brothers are standing behind the two dessert buffets, one on each longer side of the room. It’s natural to taste everything.
Chicco recommends not to taste more than three desserts at a time “because there are cakes for everyone and when you’ll be back you’ll find more” but almost nobody follows his suggestion, of each plate there’s a sweet Babel tower even though the queue is impeccable. There’s no rush, after all we’re not in Italy.
After Ca’Puccino’s coffee and the chef’s catwalk, so to speak, including Duccio Orlandini, from Florence, the executive chef of all the restaurants in Harrods, and Giuseppe Silvestri, his second, head chef and friend of Esposito. And there are also other chef-friends, such as Daniel Patterson from Coi in San Francisco, Alex Atala from D.O.M. in Sao Paolo who today, on Monday 29th, will discover if he’s the new number on the food planet or second, behind the Roca brothers. Davide Oldani drops by at sunset, some people are looking for Enrico Crippa, the Italian novelty in the World’s 50 Best, and there are those who ask themselves why Paolo Lopriore didn’t manage his change of career in a better way, since it deprives Italy of a super poker in the 2013 list, already enriched by the prize given to Nadia Santini as the best woman chef on the whole planet. Only Carlo Cracco could return to occupy his place together with Bottura, Crippa, Alajmo and Scabin. There’s lots of Northern Italy and zero Central-Southern Italy, and this also isn’t fair.
