The most luxurious and best-located hotel complex in Langue, with magnificent views over the vineyards and the monumental castle of the town. In keeping with the surroundings, the restaurant boasts a stellar team of professionals that have shared high responsibilities at establishments like Antica Hosteria Reale de Renzo, Dal Pescatore and Cracco. Behind the rings stands Chinese chef Chen Shiquin, who was second in command for 10 years at Antica–a fact that does not go unnoticed: love of the product, progressive conventionalism, pure and refined flavors, as well as an enormous effort and a rigorous approach. Solidity is the word. This is a cuisine full of classic inspiration contemporized to meet the palates of the third millennia. Noble, essential, effective and remarkably pleasant dishes created to satisfy all. Culinary artisanship in a solemn frame with a great deal of design.
A testimony to all that has been said is found in this honorable, concrete and pure composition: warm Norway lobster covered with caviar over Noto almond cream with a touch of truly old traditional vinegar. Equally impeccable, technical and delicious: tender beef snout, so tender that it falls apart in the mouth, with San Remo red prawn, swimming in a bisque made from the juices of both elements and Chinese chard leaves. Gargantua and Pantagruel, face to face, gorging themselves on lactic creaminess: succulent fondue made from the famous Bettelmatt cheese from the Formazza Valley, with contrasting crispy pieces of cardoon stalks and a sediment of white truffle shavings. In the same philosophy, an unforgettable ravioli dish, al dente, with all the flavor that excellent pasta should display, bursting, exploding with an egg yolk that is hidden in its interior, further enriched by another fondue, this time with Castelmagno cheese. In a show of strength they move from prevailing creaminess to sublime pasta and a dish that reminded us of arroz con leche: risotto carnaroli with pumpkin cream, ewe milk junket, powdered amaretti and balsamic brushstrokes… I’ll have a bowl, please. More intense still, palatal sodomy, to scream and squeal until you’ve had enough: classic Swiss civet de lièvre, which needs to work on the juiciness of the hunt (the only faux-pas of the evening) with superb chestnut gnocchi, pomegranate and thyme. This was a carnal night, definitely. We finished the orgy with a dish from another time: a majestic capon of red meat, dark and full–satiating–spit-roasted and served with conventional ornaments that one cannot deny: potato tatin, chestnut puree and white truffle sauce. Long live Alba! Long live the newlyweds!
Although you may eat with a more artful approach, it isn’t easy to leave a restaurant more satisfied than here. And the maître d’, Davide Ostorero, throwing rice over us as such a celebration would dictate.
