Our final dinner in Campania for this journey was at Taverna Estia, the place we wished to return after our nice expertise there 4 years in the past. Within the meantime they added out of doors seating. It’s a household enterprise with Mario Sposito on the entrance as maître and sommelier, and chef Francesco Sposito. Their mom additionally helps out within the restaurant.
There are three tasting menus: land (4 programs for 130 euros, wine pairing 60 euros), sea (4 programs for 140 euros, wine pairing 60 euros), or give the chef free reign (mano libera, 8 programs for 170 euros, wine pairing 90 euros). Just like the final time, we opted for the latter.
The appetizers have been accompanied with a really good blanc de noirs grand cru champagne.
The presentation of appetizers was exceptionally good. It embody a fluffy pea cake with thinly sliced guanciale, ‘fried milk’ (a cheese croquette), watermelon with mackerel, a temaki roll with tuna tartare (with the nori cooked with mirin and soy sauce to make it crispy after which dipped in broccoli powder), smoked anchovies with butter on toast, puffed pork pores and skin with grated black truffle, and seaweed krupuk. The temaki and smoked anchovies have been our favorites.
The primary wine was from Hungary, a really crisp Furmint.
It was an excellent pairing with a modernist model of a Caprese salad: the fior di latte mozzarella was was spheres that burst open whenever you chew into them, the basil was extracted into olive oil, and their have been a number of kinds of tomatoes and tomato water, in addition to recent oregano.
The following wine was a 2018 white Bordeaux, a mix of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon with good complexity and stability between creaminess and freshness.
This was an ideal pairing for one of many signature dishes of the chef: tagliatelle of squid with powdered squid ink, seaweed, and lemon. The squid appeared virtually uncooked however was tender and had been cooked sous vide at a low temperature. An incredible play of textures and flavors that labored very effectively with the wine.
The following wine was a complez and creamy rosé from Liguria from native autochthonous grape varieties.
The rosé was a fantastic pairing for one in every of our favourite dishes of our earlier go to: tender tuna and creamy mozzarella in a crunchy crust of almonds and pistachios, with a tart ponzu sauce.
The wine supposed for the subsequent dish was an orange wine from Galicia in Spain.
The dish was barbecued eel with fermented crimson cabbage juice and leeks. The wine was fairly astringent by itself, however the distinction with the unctuous eel made it too astringent.
Once I pointed this out to Mario, he got here up with this nice Greco di Tufo as a substitute. This wine was scrumptious and an excellent pairing, as a result of it labored with each the unctuous eel and the tart cabbage juice.
The following wine was a Fiano from Campania.
It was an excellent pairing for the risotto with lemon jam, uncooked purple shrimp, clams and olive oil with Bronte pistachios. This dish was very elegant.
The following wine was a Fiano from Paestum, aged in barriques with stirring of the lees.
It was a fantastic pairing for a really flavorful dish: spaghetti with roasted bell pepper juice, caviar and marinated anchovies. The bell pepper sauce had nice depth of taste and the spaghetti was very al dente.
We returned to France with a Jurançon Sec, constructed from Gros Manseng and aged in oak. A wine with loads of construction.
It was an excellent pairing for ricciola (also called hamachi, yellowtail, amberjack or kingfish), seared on the pores and skin facet solely and left virtually uncooked on the opposite facet, octopus, seafood, and child eggplant. I didn’t like this ricciola dish as a lot because the one with smoked provolone at our valuable go to.
The palate cleanser seemed like an egg but it surely was truly an apricot.
The pairing for dessert was a really good vermouth.
It labored very effectively with the good dessert, and which contained chocolate, vermouth, babà, and sorbet.
The gathering of small pastries to complete the meal was additionally very good. It included a pretend peanut that was manufactured from peanuts.
We’ve had an exquisite night at Taverna Estia. The meals was pretty much as good as our earlier go to, however the service, wines, and wine pairings have been higher. It was additionally superb worth for cash. I’m already trying ahead to the subsequent time.
