Located in a small Central Italian town called Castel Di Sangro, Ristorante Reale was about a three-hour drive from Rome. It made its steady climb up the Michelin ranking quietly this past decade. The restaurant was awarded its first star back in 2007, its second in 2009 and finally the elusive third star in 2014.
Housed in a former monastery, the restaurant and adjacent hotel Casadonna are run by chef-owner Niko Romito and his sister Cristina.
There are only 6 tables in this spacious dining room.
Chef Romito is best known for his simple and unsophisticated interpretation of traditional Italian dishes. A similar approach is reflected in the way his dining room is decorated. A minimalist design at its best.
Our parade of nibbles started with a lovely presented plate of ricotta cheese crouton with sun-dried tomato, meatball with baby goat cheese, croquette with cheese and spinach, tuna ball stuffed with candied orange and finally sun dried beetroot with foie gras.
That was quite a brilliant start to this highly anticipated lunch.
The next nibble was a black olive tartlet with extra virgin olive oil. It has such great depth of olive flavor.
That was soon followed by an array of warm bread served with some really delicate smoked bacon.
Just when we thought we were done with our amuse bouche, a final nibble came in the form of a mini codfish burger. That was another excellent nibble. The buns were so fluffy and tender combining well with the slightly salted codfish.
This helped to put the finishing touches on an impressive collection of small bites for us (8/10).
We had a choice between two set menus - Essence, a 5-course set (€100) and Ideal, an eight-course surprise menu (€150) consisting of Chef Romito's best traditional and innovative creations. Being an idealist that we are, we wasted no time going for the latter.
Kicking off the surprise menu for us was a beef tartare with extra virgin olive oil and mayonnaise. The reddish color came from a special raspberry vinegar giving it a very nice sour flavor (7.5/10).
A sushi-like scampi dish came next. A lovely half-cooked scampi was served on a bed of spinach before finishing with an almond cream on top. That was easily the best dish of the afternoon and it had us setting the bars high for the remaining dishes (9/10).
But things quickly went south with the next three dishes. First it was the onion soup that was served with cheese gnocchi and saffron. The soup carried a strong vinegary taste that proved to be too overpowering for our liking (4/10).
I am not a big fan of sweetbreads so it would be hard-pressed for the next dish, calf sweetbread with lemon cream to impress (4/10).
Rounding out the trio of disappointing dishes was this buffalo ricotta cheese ravioli in buffalo cheese water, black pepper and capers. It looked and tasted strikingly similar to the onion soup we had a little while ago but even more bland and dull (3/10).
Our last pasta dish was a semolina fettuccelle pasta with red prawns and pink pepper. Other than the pasta being slightly undercooked, I thought it was a decent dish (5.5/10).
The one and only meat course was a cherry glazed crunchy duck. It was deboned and marinated nicely with cherry leaving it with a lovely sweet taste (6.5/10).
Dessert was a meringue pie with raspberry and caramel. Never thought raspberry and caramel could go so well together (7/10).
Finally we got to meet Chef Romito in person and he was kind enough to show us around his casadonna.
Castel di Sangro is such a beautiful community. Too bad the sun was about to set so it's time to hit the road again.
While the service warranted the three stars, I thought the surprise menu did not do enough to surprise us.
Price: €€€
Address: Piana Santa Liberata, 67031 Castel di Sangro L'Aquila, ItalyTel: +39 086 469382
Website: www.ristorantereale.it
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