Signum is the restaurant of chef Martina Caruso within the Signum Lodge on Salina, one of many Aeolian islands between Sicily and Naples, which has held a Michelin star from 2016.
The restaurant and lodge are solely open in the summertime season, and the outside seating affords a fantastic view on the ocean and the Stromboli volcano.
The restaurant affords a 9-course “Sigillo” tasting menu (190 euros) or 7-course “Oltremare” tasting menu (170 euros), in addition to a 6-course vegetarian menu. There’s a wine degustation of 6 Sicilian wines for 88 euros, or a global wine degustation of seven wines for 140 euros. Upon request, the sommelier paired a distinct Sicilian wine for us with every dish.
We began with a 2021 Murgo Nerello Mascalese Metodo Classico Brut, aged 30 months on the lees. Very elegant with a pleasant aroma of cherries. I forgot to take a photograph of the Benvenuto delle Cucina (welcome from the kitchen), which included lots of traditional flavors from the island.
Subsequent was the perfect dish of the meal: ‘Bagnacauda’ of potatoes with contemporary uni (sea urchin). Wow. Unbelievable and so scrumptious.
There was additionally varied varieties of scrumptious bread, and butter with powdered capers from the island.
The ultimate amuse bouche was a lemon granita with parsley and chilli pepper.
The wine for the primary antipasto was a 2021 Beleda by Rallo, 100% Cataratto made in chrome steel. A really dry wine.
The primary antipasto was carpaccio of ricciola (yellowtail, kingfish, amberjack, hamachi) with garum (fish sauce constituted of fermented anchovies) and herb oil. The dish was scrumptious with fantastic creamy and tender fish and nice depth of taste. The wine pairing labored at first, however left a little bit of a bitter aftertaste.
Subsequent was a Nero d’Avola rosé from Salina that had been bottled so not too long ago that there was not but a lable on the bottle.
It was an excellent pairing for the uncooked pink shrimp with ‘Bloody Mary’ and salted lemon. The dish introduced out the fruit of the wine. The shrimp had glorious taste and texture, and the salted lemon supplied a fantastic distinction.
The next wine was additionally from Salina, the 2022 Caravaglio Occhio di Terra, 100% Malvasia di Lapiri, with 10 days of pores and skin maceration and 6 months of ageing on the lees. Fairly fragrant but in addition fairly tannic due to the ageing on the pores and skin.
It was an appropriate pairing with the mackerel with pomegranate, leaves of capres and mint leaves. It labored very nicely with the mint, however grew to become a bit tannic with the leaves of capres. The mackerel was introduced as smoked, however the smoke taste was very faint.
The wine for the primary primo was a 2021 Eolia Bianco V, 100% Malvasia di Lipari from Salina, aged 12 months on the lees. It’s not a shock we’re getting lots of wines from Eolia, as a result of that vineyard has the identical house owners as lodge and restaurant Signum.
It was an sufficient pairing for the breaded Spatola (fish) with almonds and “leche de tigre”.
The subsequent wine was a 2019 Ante Etna Bianco by I Custodi, Carricante 70%, Grecanico 15%, Minnella 15% from the Etna.
It was paired with the primary primo: linguine pasta with almond cream and vongole. The creamy almonds had been the dominant taste of the dish, and the wine was chosen as a dry distinction to that.
The next wine was a 2012 Bianca di Valguarnera by Duca di Salaparuta from Sicily, 100% Inzolia, fermented and aged in French oak barriques on the lees for 8 months. Due to the older classic, this wine additionally had lots of bottle ageing, but it surely was nonetheless very vibrant with good creamy oak.
This was a superb pairing for the fagottini (ravioli) of octopus with ‘nduja (tender spicy sausage from Calabria), lemon, and black olives. My favourite a part of this dish was the piece of grilled octopus tentacle on high. The pasta was VERY al dente.
The wine for the subsequent dish was a 2022 Susucaru Rosato by Frank Cornelissen from Sicily, a mix of Malvasia, Moscadella, Insolia, and Nerello Mascalese. Made with fairly some pores and skin contact, the wine was a bit like an orange wine.
This labored fairly nicely as a pairing with the seared tuna and charred eggplant, however not so nicely with the tuna stomach with inexperienced sauce. The eggplant was very tasty.
The sommelier first got here up with a 2003 Nero d’Avola that was a really good wine and that she needed us to style precisely as a result of it was such a pleasant wine, but it surely didn’t work in any respect as a pairing for the pink mullet (as a result of that made the wine too astringent). And so she changed it with the 2022 Eolia Bianco M, 80-90% Malvasia and the rest Inzolia and Cataratto, aged for 7 months on the lees.
A really good wine a superb pairing for the pink mullet by itself. The pink mullet got here with a really candy tomato sauce and a few very acidic pickles, which might be troublesome to pair with any wine. The dish was known as Triglia 5.0 (Pink Mullet 5.0) and I don’t suppose I understood the purpose of it.
The pre-dessert was gelato of capers from the island, very good.
The dessert wine was a 2013 Moscato dello Zucco by Cusumano, a Moscato from dried grapes from Sicily.
It was an sufficient pairing with the artistic rendition of a lemon meringue tart. A wine with extra freshness would have labored even higher.
The meal ended with some good piccola pasticceria, together with some very good lemon-pistachio canoli.
It’s clear why chef Martina Caruso holds a Michelin star and has been awarded a number of instances (for instance as finest feminine chef or youngest chef to get a star). Among the dishes had been amazingly scrumptious. I didn’t love all the dishes, however none had been dangerous.
It was very good that the sommelier improvised a wine pairing of solely Sicilian wines for us, with even lots of the wines from the island of Salina. The wines had been all very good and this was a fantastic alternative to get to know Sicilian wines. Though the pairings with the meals had been sufficient, only some had been glorious. The wines tended to be on the very dry aspect (some edging in direction of orange wines), whereas many of the meals would work finest with extra fruity or creamy wines.
The service was glorious and the placement and look at fantastic.
Signum is just not simple to get to (first fly to Sicily, then drive to Milazzo for 1.5 hours, then take a ferry for nearly 2 hours, adopted by a 20 minute taxi trip to the opposite aspect of the island), however I’d definitely wish to eat right here once more.
