META restaurant: a gourmet lounge, lake view

Curated by Eduardo Grottanelli De'Santi

A prestigious restaurant - the Meta - and a hall for events - Metamorphosis - both inside the Palazzo Mantegazza in Lugano-Paradiso. When the rooms reopen after the coronavirus emergency, the structure will be radically renovated, with the opening "on the lake floor" of the restaurant. Evelyn Mantegazza, Director of META, explains the advantages and purposes of this reorganization: «On the first underground floor there will be the areas dedicated to events that can be organized for a minimum number of 10 people, up to a maximum of 460. On the floor Terrain opens instead the META restaurant projected with a large window on the spectacular beauty of the lake. META will therefore have a life of its own separate from that of events, offering high quality cuisine with strong innovative contents. With this new opening, two autonomous spaces will now be available, with distinct characteristics and purposes, but strongly integrated with each other. New and very interesting solutions are also being studied for the bar area to make the hospitality and catering offer even more complete and dynamic ».

The concept of the new META restaurant comes from the will - explains Arch. Massimo Marzorati, founder of Grandi Architettura & Partnets SA (Milan – Lugano – Dubai – Bucharest) to create a space capable of perfectly recreating the whole atmosphere of the "living room", with comfortable, warm and welcoming furnishings, but at the same time absolutely rational with respect to the catering function to which the rooms are dedicated ».

Particular attention has been paid to the choice of furnishings, accessories and lighting. Everything contributes to creating a welcoming and relaxing environment, which invites conversation, enjoying simple yet refined dishes. Canaletto walnut wood was thus used for the furniture on the walls, organza curtains on the windows, soft fabrics. So a "living room" in a truly extraordinary environment with one of the most beautiful and wide views of Lugano.

The gastronomic proposal of the new META restaurant is the result of a path that offers both a seasonal gourmet menu and a selection of quick dishes suitable for every need. Chef Luca Bellanca and his kitchen brigade create a happy encounter between Mediterranean cuisine and tastefully unusual exotic notes, but also dishes far from local traditions adapted to the taste of the territory. Attention to detail is always rigorous. Each dish comes from products designed and purchased with criteria and particular attention to quality, freshness and seasonality. Luca Bellanca says: "We will have a periodically updated menu as a basis but we will focus even more than in the past on a wide range of" off the menu "dishes, decided day by day in relation to the first fruits offered by the market, with attention to the absolute quality of the dishes. ingredients to be used in the preparations. In any case, there will also be some dishes that we could define as “evergreen” and to which our guests are particularly fond of ». Creative dishes but without excess. Technique. Fresh, genuine and simple ingredients. Carefully selected raw material, seasonal products, excellence. A Mediterranean cuisine with exotic notes and flavors that pleasantly explode on the palate. A cuisine that reaches straight to the heart, made up of genuine emotions, which always leave pleasant memories.