Le Calandre

Massimiliano Alajmo has radically changed over the past few years. A great part of his work has been consecrated and is still proposed on his menu, like the cuttlefish cappuccino with its ink, which offers deep Italian flavours made up with exquisite harmony and admirable technique. Like the insolent saffron and liquorice risotto, which transforms daring into art, absolute contrasts into utter balance. Like the Piedmont meat batutta with black truffle; the best “tartare” ever made that gives you the extra charm of eating with your fingers. Like the crunchy cannelloni of buffalo ricotta and mozzarella with tomato juice; the extreme refinement of mamma mia’s cuisine. Like the crunchy and tender suckling pig with mustard sauce and coffee powder, noblesse oblige. Like the pigeon emphasized with a pâté made of its offal, that reminds game and that is a real hit whatever the preparation, with herbs, or with mustard seeds, pine kernel cream and apricot purée... The chef’s complements, always intelligent, reflect his privileged mind.


Massimiliano is reinventing the Italian gastronomy. From traditional recipes, using typical ingredients and readapting techniques, he embodies refined, light, complex, chromatic and redesigned traditional flavours, making a genuine haute cuisine characterized by an unshakable historical memory. This constant philosophy is applied like an immutable dogma, as testify the multiple tomato sauces, the ricotta cheese, the raw meats, the typical pastas and the risottos, which are the best in the world, together with Carlo Cracco’s. Both chefs obtain a uniform doneness, with the same consistency inside and outside, al dente, never raw in the centre, enhanced with strong sensations. If the abovementioned saffron and liquorice risotto is a real must, this one is proposed as the creation of the year, spectacular, high-flown, heart-breaking: fuchsia-coloured (cooked with beet) with exuberant floral aromas, unique, supplied by rose essence, little pieces of ginger and peach creamy balls. Who could make any rice dish in such a colourful and imaginative way?

Massimiliano Alajmo ‘s work is really meticulous. His “salads” are audacious and precisely defined, such as the vacuum-cooked brined vegetables; a “cooked living salad” garnished with cream of sunflower seeds, carrot purée and mustard ice cream. A marvellous creation. Another dish that is characterized by the same harmony and merits is the seaweed and arugula salad served with cold-cooked hake, fruit, green apple dices and ice cream, and mango juice. Absolute freshness and lightness. Vegetables are honoured again to star in a new Mediterranean dimension: tomato dices and sauce, aubergine dices and purée, pesto and pine kernels.
“Raviolis”(only the form) without pasta: an extremely delicate veil of mozzarella stuffed with tomato, aubergine, olive and oregano. A slice of dentex filled with pistachio curd, tomato, capers and other motifs that are linked to the land and the cook.
The spit-roasted wild eel with pineapple sauce and caviar shows it takes courage to earn three cheers.
And the lamb ribs cooked with herbs and served with a pancake of haricot bean and vegetables, onion and salad ice-cream show you must work your heart out and be as kind as you can.
Massimiliano is in a state of grace, definitely.