We decided to spend our last evening in the heart of the trendy and lively area of Navigli right by the touristy Naviglio Grande canal.
The Navigli district is a bustling area best known for its bars and al fresco dining overlooking the grand canal but fine-dining is never its forte. So, I was both surprised and relieved to find a Michelin starred restaurant here, an osteria serving contemporary Italian slow food.
At Al Pont De Ferr, we can still find traces of the old warehouse before the time where it became a rustic restaurant.
I didn't know much about Al Pont De Ferr's head chef Vittorio Fusari other than the fact that he's been raised at the Franciacorta vineyards. He did some great works at his first restaurant, Il Volto just a stone's throw from the Iseo lakefront and was awarded with a Michelin star.
Whatever chef Vittorio Fusari has been doing, he has Al Pont De Ferr trending in the right direction. His creative cuisine has made the restaurant one of the most popular dining destinations in Navigli.
The Degustation menu (130 Euros) would have been a great way to experience the chef's borderless cuisine but that would be too heavy for us considering that we had just finished an amazing meal at Restaurant Le 1920 not too long ago.
Some amuse bouche to warm up our palates first. First up, a small tartlet filled with tomato paste. There's a cute little drop of green pea gel on top.
Beetroot macaron with foie gras. A perfect match of richness and acidity.
They were followed by more small nibbles. The dumpling with salami was an interesting fusion which was pretty decent. I didn't enjoy the deep-fried meatball (thanks to the olive flavor) as much although the wasabi mayo had my palate dancing in joy.
After the amuse bouche, we were offered some homemade bread. The grissini was really nice and so was the flaky brioche.
As attractive as the omakase tasting menu was, we ended up going for the a la carte menu instead (otherwise, we will be having this meal until 11pm at least). I had the homemade linguini, tossed with what they called a sea water emulsion with prawns, mussels and rock fish. This wasn't bad. The sea water emulsion was a little on the salty side but I love the pleasant, slightly chewy texture.
Jelloman had the Pluma of Iberico pork which was finished off with some pork jus on top. There were small dabs of sea urchin sauce and burrata there as a dip. Decent but some pieces were noticeably more undercooked than others. On a typical night, I would've voiced it out to my server but not tonight.
Dessert was probably a good idea (I have seen pictures of their amazing desserts) but at this point, both of us were way too sleepy to carry on. Plus we had bags to pack and an early flight to catch early next morning. So, we quickly settled the bill and started jogging back to our hotel (there's a major construction going on in the area so we had to do some zigzagging).
With this final meal in the books, we have pushed the grand total of Michelin stars up to 12 for this trip. Not bad for a little more than a week's work (I'm not looking forward to my credit card statement). Looking back, there were seriously amazing meals on this journey but unfortunately tonight's not one of them. I thought the creative edge was definitely there but the execution had room for improvement.
Food Rating: 5.4/10
Price: €€€
Address: Ripa di Porta Ticinese, 55, 20143 Milan, Italy
Tel: +39 02 8940-6277
Website: www.pontdeferr.it
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