With Expo less than a year away, it seems like everyone is going crazy for haute cuisine, chefs, and show cooking, just as it seems like everyone is a connoisseur, but how much truth is there in all this? To figure it out, one could take a weekend trip to the Taste of Milan.
What is it? An annual event that this year, for the second consecutive year, took place at Superstudio Più on Via Tortona. No one really knows how but everyone is going crazy about this location and by now if you want to be cool you have to exhibit in there, but there is no reason. Entering then you breathe an air of village fair where everyone offers 'tastings' to entice you to buy the products at bargain prices.
The purpose of the event was supposed to be to give more visibility to selected starred restaurants, giving everyone the opportunity to taste the creations of top chefs in small quantities at reduced prices. Basically at the cashiers you could buy a card to be recharged with a minimum of 10 Euros, with no limit, in multiples of 5, and then handing it to the restaurants' booths you used it to pay, having the cost of the appetizer scaled down, ranging from 4 to 5 to 6.
We tasted many dishes but the verdict is not always positive.
Not bad the potato sottoterra (barzotto egg, smoked potato, parmesan mornay, earth) from chef Marco Sacco's Piccolo Lago restaurant even though potato is and potato remains: rated 7.
Excellent ravioli capresi with cherry tomatoes and basil from Andrea Migliaccio's Larte: rated 9.
Incomprehensible chicken candy with rice flour and shrimp in smoked beet gelet and shortbread earth with brown bottom drops from Misha Sukyas' Alchemist: I guarantee you, it looked like crab! If you then consider that you paid 5 Euro for it and it was really badly presented, then there is nothing more to add that the grade can only be low: for us it is a 4.
Expectations were also high for Roberto Okabe's Finger's Garden, and it is true that it might have been better to taste the Yuke-Don-Wagyu (Kobebeef tartare with perfect quail egg, sushi rice and fresh wasabi), but we tried the Ghyosa Chicken Special (Chicken Ravioli in Finger's sauce) which was unfortunately extremely spicy: not there, grade 4.
Moving on to the more central stands, we found Ilario Vinciguerra Restaurant, by the chef of the same name, and indulged in the salt-marinated beef, pine nuts and crispy breadsticks, which was really excellent in both taste and appearance (rating 8), but we were disappointed by the conchiglioni stuffed with buffalo ricotta cheese on a bed of San Marzano tomato sauce (rating 5): good thing they declared it the best dish at Taste!
Right next door was Asola restaurant, 'Cucina Sartoriale,' by Matteo Torretta, located in the Brian&Barry Building, whose fusilloni di Gragnano with cannellini bean cream and mussel tartare we tried: not bad looking but spicy too! But will they understand that too much pepper covers the flavors! Rated 5.
Finally, we are enticed by the pumpkin flower with ricotta cream and anchovies from Iside de Cesare's La Parolina restaurant: another disappointment, rated 5.
Luckily, right next door was the Acanto of the Hotel Principe di Savoia with its soft dairy with Paestum ricotta, dehydrated blueberries and balsamic vinegar raspberry: a delight for the eyes and palate, rated 8.
Then if for one day you preferred to drink a good cocktail instead of the usual wine then it was time to stop by Drinkable, to taste an excellent Bloody Mary or an Americano with salted caramel mousse: outstanding. Slightly less so, however, the Gin (or alternatively Vodka) Zen at Rita's: really too spicy.
Bottom line: inadequate location, restaurants limited by the format, not bad seminars and cooking classes, too many branded booths. Very interesting though was the 'table of wonders': a long table where every hour it was possible to participate in blind tastings or atre initiatives.
Overall: rating 6.
