Osteria Francescana is the fifth and final 3-star restaurant of our trip. Not only is it highly regarded in the Michelin guide, it's also a permanent fixture in the "Best 50 Restaurants in the World" for the past few years. In the 2013 edition of "The Best 50 Restaurants in the World", it ranked third best overall.
Meet our new friend, owner-chef Massimo Bottura!
Despite being tucked away on Via Stella, a quiet street in the heart of Modena, Osteria Francescana is not difficult to locate at all, especially with patron-chef Massimo Bottura trotting around in front of the restaurant!
The restaurant consists of 3-4 smaller dining rooms, each capable of accommodating 3-4 tables. The layout of each room is very simple yet elegant.
Our meal started off with a bowl of frosty ice of almond served with coffee, capers and apricot. It felt a little like having an early dessert but no question it was the perfect palate cleanser for us.
Another nibble was a collection of macarons including one with oyster foam and seaweed and another with fresh tuna. A very unique set of macarons to say the least (7.5/10).
Our lunch officially began with a fish course - a codfish marinated with tomato, ginger and capers. The sauce was very intense giving the codfish a great deal of depth and flavors (7.5/10).
Sardines? Not exactly.
They were scampi wrapped with red mullet fillets and then dipped in a thick squid ink sauce reminiscing the appearance of sardines. This was a very impressive dish from design to execution (9/10).
The only dish I didn't mind not having was the risotto. Our server explained it as a rice made with fresh water and sea water and served with minced catfish, carp fish and vegetable in a wine and vinegar sauce.
I found the texture a little too soft and mushy (3/10).
Despite being tucked away on Via Stella, a quiet street in the heart of Modena, Osteria Francescana is not difficult to locate at all, especially with patron-chef Massimo Bottura trotting around in front of the restaurant!
The restaurant consists of 3-4 smaller dining rooms, each capable of accommodating 3-4 tables. The layout of each room is very simple yet elegant.
Our meal started off with a bowl of frosty ice of almond served with coffee, capers and apricot. It felt a little like having an early dessert but no question it was the perfect palate cleanser for us.
Another nibble was a collection of macarons including one with oyster foam and seaweed and another with fresh tuna. A very unique set of macarons to say the least (7.5/10).
Our lunch officially began with a fish course - a codfish marinated with tomato, ginger and capers. The sauce was very intense giving the codfish a great deal of depth and flavors (7.5/10).
Sardines? Not exactly.
They were scampi wrapped with red mullet fillets and then dipped in a thick squid ink sauce reminiscing the appearance of sardines. This was a very impressive dish from design to execution (9/10).
The only dish I didn't mind not having was the risotto. Our server explained it as a rice made with fresh water and sea water and served with minced catfish, carp fish and vegetable in a wine and vinegar sauce.
I found the texture a little too soft and mushy (3/10).
Continuing with the "sea" theme, here's our next course - a smoked eel served with an apple jelly. The sea eel was smoked to perfection and it melted just when we placed it into our mouth (8.5/10).
What looked like an oyster here was not really an oyster. This was lamb serving with an oyster and olive oil emulsion. Green "ice" of apple jelly provided the finishing touch and for a moment, it really felt like having a fresh oyster (8.5/10).
"Think green" was our vegetable dish of the day. A beautifully presented dish with seasonal vegetables including as asparagus, peas, broccoli, zucchini and mushroom while finished with radish, truffles and a little bit of goat cheese sauce (5/10).
The next course was described by our server as "snails cooked in a French way". Well, this was not exactly French, was it !?
Here we had snails cooked with aromatic vegetables, red wine, balsamic vinegar, black truffle and coffee. Yes coffee! And the result was a very complex.
Now, I know why they named this dish "Under the grapevines" (5/10).
Time for some pasta, here we had a ravioli with foie gras, black truffles and leek topped with veal juice and Riesling wine. The rich flavors from the ravioli were nicely complemented by the strong taste of foie gras, truffles and Riesling resulting in a very flavorful ravioli (8.5/10).
And a smiley face, how cute!
Our final dish before dessert was a meat course of pigeon breast with balsamic vinegar, chutney, truffles and horseradish snow. That was another excellent dish (7.5/10).
Onto our dessert section, first up was their signature pre-dessert - "Thousand Layers".
Sugar coated leaves that were half-frozen were blended with wine, walnut, grapefruit juice, chocolate and truffles. That was very unique (9/10).
An exclamation point to this wonderful lunch came courtesy of the "broken lemon tart" with tomato, capers and ginger.
An exclamation point to this wonderful lunch came courtesy of the "broken lemon tart" with tomato, capers and ginger.
Chef Massimo Bottura came around to explain the concept behind this dessert. He explained that life is a full circle and it is demonstrated by this last dish using almost the exact ingredients (tomato, capers and ginger) as the first one (except the cod fish).
Those were some really deep thoughts right there!
Those were some really deep thoughts right there!
We have really enjoyed every moment of this culinary experience. Chef Massimo Bottura's cuisine has a perfect balance of tradition (risotto, ravioli...) and revolution (sardine/scampi, oyster/lamb...) that is exciting and unique.
Chef Bottura is a real funny guy who takes cooking very seriously. And I bet he would make a great philosopher if he ever decided to give up cooking one day!
Food Rating: 9/10
Chef Bottura is a real funny guy who takes cooking very seriously. And I bet he would make a great philosopher if he ever decided to give up cooking one day!
Food Rating: 9/10
Price: €€€€
Address: Via Stella, 22, 41121 Modena, Italy
Tel: +39 059 210118
Website: www.osteriafrancescana.it
S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants: 3rd (2013)
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Tel: +39 059 210118
Website: www.osteriafrancescana.it
S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants: 3rd (2013)
View Larger Map
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