Category Archives: Food

Guest of Giuseppe Zen @ Mangiari di strada

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Yesterday it was quite late for lunch (3pm) but I did an attempt to check if I could eat at Mangiari di strada in Milan.
They were already taking away the food so I was ready to turn back and skip the lunch altogether when Giuseppe noticed my presence and invited me to join him and his friends for a late lunch.
I felt a bit of discomfort as it was about being a guest instead of a customer and I never had met the other people before.

Well it was good to resist the temptation to leave.

Giuseppe prepared for us his interpretation of the spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino (detail of preparation later in the post) and black bread with butter and salted anchovies.

Spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino is a common last-minute disk in Italy and for a reason: the everyday version is about getting garlic and chili pepper to fry in olive oil and then use the oil to dress the spaghetti.
Giuseppe could not go for something that easy and did his interpretation of this classic:
1) instead of getting the garlic in boiling oil he had the oil in the oven at 70 celsius during the night with the garlic inside to get the flavor without altering the natural taste of the oil with the high temperature.
2) he added a second layer of garlic by making a cream with garlic and milk (with a different garlic than the one used for the oil)
3) the chili pepper was added as a paprika-like powder made with his own peppers
All the rest is the chef secret.

Giuseppe’s version tasted better and more complex than the classical one and I had no garlic taste in my mouth in the afternoon.
Sure it’s not a last-minute preparation anymore but I’ll take his interpretation over the traditional any time if I’m offered the option.

The butter and the anchovies were not the average run of the mill either:
the butter had a clear taste of the grass like in the best cheeses and the anchovies maintained the taste of the fresh fish that usually is completely missing in the salted version that are commonly available.

Turkish Airlines: great in-flight food, not-so-great customer care

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In the last 12 month I’ve had 20 flights with Turkish Airlines.
The food was always nice and I’d say that it’s the best available in any airline at least as far as economy class is concerned.

It’s more than 15 years that I don’t fly business hence I can’t comment on the current food level: in the past Iberia was great while Alitalia and Lufthansa were nothing to write home about.

Too bad that the customer care for the frequent flyer program is not at the level of the food.
I’ve compiled the module in the in-flight magazine several months ago, taken the tear off card and started to register the related number at check-in time.
Given the long time without news from the program I tried to register the card on the website, but it’s not possible: I only can get a new card number when registering.
I wrote an email to milesandsmiles@thy.com asking for support 1 month ago: no answer at all.

Today I’ve tried dialing the customer care: there it is no way to register the card I’ve used so far.
Nor to get the flight moved to the number I already got from the web.
A new account was created and the flights have to be added one at a time; and some of them appears to be already registered but it’s not clear if this is referring to the paper-only number or to the Miles&More account that I also have.

After 35 minutes we were only at flight #2 and the rep asked me to send in the boarding cards.
Guess what? I have not kept them after the flights.
Line dropped.
Morale dropped.
No smiles.

Dinner @ Al pompiere

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In 1999 and 2000 I used to eat at this restaurant quite often and with good satisfaction: I wondered if the place was the place still worth the visit after 12 years.
I was in Rome on a business trip and took the opportunity to test it.

I got the 3 classical fried starters baccalà, fiore di zucca (zucchini flower stuffed with mozzarella cheese and a salted anchovies) and carciofo alla giudia (artichoke), as main course I got costolette di abbacchio panate (fried suckling lamb ribs) with puntarelle as a side dish. Withe wine of the house.
Last but not least the dessert: a very nice cake, crostata di ricotta e visciole.

I was overall satisfied with only a couple of exception:
The flower was only acceptable, not great.
The wine gave me a headache the day after.
The bill was a relevant one (55€): skipping the flower and the wine it would have been a good deal for the quality.

Do I recommend the place? If money is not an objection yes, if your budget is limited and your hunger is not I’d say no.
If you happen to be in the area it’s worth to jump in and see if you can get the crostata di ricotta e visciole only: 6.5€ invested very well.

How good a “five star” food is really?

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A few days ago I’ve posted about a very nice crème caramel I had at Mangiari di strada and I defined it “delicious”.

I started to think how to put in perspective the pleasure I had from it.
It was for sure one of the best, if not the best, crème caramel I ever had, but was it worth driving 30 miles for the sole purpose of eating it?

My answer is no and it’s a relatively easy one ’cause I’m more into appetizers and main courses than into desserts.

My reasoning did not stop there and I continued to think of foods and places evaluations based on the distance I would be happy to travel to taste them.
It’s really the complete package of distance plus direct cost that I take into account.

A few examples:
Once or twice a year Lo Dzerby is worth a 200 miles trip.
Mangiari di strada for me is worth a 30 miles trip (even on a weekly basis, given the great number of different great dishes they offer) as a complete eating experience but the single crème caramel is not. Even if it’s five stars without any doubt.

Crème Caramel @ Mangiari di strada

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Only one word: delicious!
The texture is very nice: it melts smoothly in the mouth.
The caramel is providing mainly an olfactory clue and keeps you able to taste the milk used.

Mangiari di strada is one of my preferred restaurants in Milan.
Is at the end of Via Lorenteggio in a very convenient position for anyone having to do business with Vodafone in Italy.
Lunch time only. Monday to Saturday

They are not updating on a regular base the official site, but have a Facebook page that is more up-to-date.
But what is more important than the online presence is that the food is simply great and never boring.

Just go and test yourself!