Chefs and Restaurants

Hotel Villa Principe Leopoldo, pleasant surprises at the table

April 18 2024

Curated by James Newlin

The restaurant of the Hotel Villa Principe Leopoldo is the ideal place for the "gastrosophist", that is, for someone who is much more than a "gourmet" and above all a "gourmand", since his choices are always directed towards the best he can offer the good, both in substance and in form

In fact, the catering at the Hotel Villa Principe Leopoldo possesses the necessary prerogatives to satisfy expectations: excellent raw materials, from the simplest ones such as carrots, to the most valuable ones such as caviar; the professional skill of the kitchen team in the preparation of the dishes, valorised in every single element so as to form a harmonious whole; the aesthetic presentation of the dishes; the perfect food-wine combinations; the elegant and refined dining room; the impeccable and affable service of the dining room staff etc, etc.

Chef Cristian Moreschi, with the sous-chef Giorgio Chiodin and all the kitchen staff, has perfectly assimilated the prerogatives necessary to be able to satisfy his guests with a cuisine line, both aimed at that continuity that has given good results in the past and by proposing a personal key to understanding, while the rest, i.e. the service, including the wines, is carried out with great competence by the new and young man maître, sommelier and restaurant manager Antonino Forte (pictured on the right).

Antonino's training was excellent in Italy, in particular with the chefs Nicola Vizzarri and Rocco De Santis and in Lugano with the maître-sommelier Claudio Recchia, his mentor, who for decades represented one of the cornerstones of the catering at the Hotel Villa Principe Leopoldo. Antonino Forte, thanks to his passion and dedication for hospitality and service, has won numerous awards including the Moet & Chandon Sommelier of the Year competition; Maître d' of the year in Italy; Restaurant Manager of the Year in the UK; The Cateys Award, while he recently won the prestigious Master of Culinary Arts (MCA) in Restaurant Management, a highly coveted recognition awarded to him by the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, the English gastronomic institution presided over by King Charles of England.

Antonino can count on a tested dining room "team", from the vice-maître Daniele Lamberti and from the promptness and discretion of Vilma Broggi and Giovanni Fasano who have been present for over three decades, as well as from friendly and motivated young people. The pleasantness of the atmosphere at the table, the friendliness of the staff and the smiling greeting of the director Barbara Gibellini, underlie a decisive and indispensable complicity between the kitchen and the dining room.

In the collective imagination, the romantic and somewhat Gascon gourmet loves food and good company, the perfect prelude to a gastronomic experience to remember. A quick and yet analytical look at the food list conveyed a certain euphoria to the gastric juices, which signifies a calibrated and philologically correct choice of dishes. So at an ideal pace, so as not to jeopardize digestion, "that evening" various dishes followed one another which I would like to mention: Marinated amberjack with apple, turnip and its spicy broth; Raw beef, carrot and Asetra caviar (one of the finest, with a characteristic and original hazelnut aftertaste); Ticino blue risotto (extraordinary version from Rita Laudato's small dairy in Chiasso) with black lemon and watercress sauce; Raw and cooked scallop, parsnip, oyster and sorrel sorbet; Poached veal fillet, duck liver and spiced sweet potato.

The restaurant manager Antonino took care of the finale of fire and passion, who with a happy and confident hand presented himself with the flambé lamp in the preparation of the legendary Crêpes Suzette, which turned out to be balanced in all their ingredients. Again Antonino who, as mentioned, is also a sommelier, proceeded with the pairing of the wines with the various dishes.

The result was an interesting love match, as it offered wines not yet known to me, wines selected from the cellar which has around 420 labels, of which around fifty are from Ticino and the rest are French and Italian. Satisfied by the dinner, it took just a few meters to reach the bar area, where the barman Daniele Corrini and his deputy Livio Agus with great professionalism and sensitivity recommended an appropriate "after dinner" to seal the end of a beautiful food and wine experience.