My Kind of Food

Sometimes, when it seems likely I’ll eat in a particular place on numerous occasions I wait a while before writing about it, in order that what I write can be informed by a broader range of experiences and therefore less coloured by my mood on a particular day.

Bianca Maria Palace is a 4* hotel in Milan about twenty minutes walk from the Duomo.  It has a restaurant, Bianco Quattro, that’s open to non-residents and is, in terms of the food offered, a far cry from what could be described as a hotel dining room.  Notwithstanding this, the location of the restaurant in the basement of the hotel has the feel of a breakfast room, which I guess it doubles for.  The same space also seems to encompass the hotel bar.

I ate in the restaurant for the third time in three years quite recently.  It was a Friday night and it was relatively quiet, in terms of the number of covers. Consequently, the service was calm and unhurried and waiting staff seemed keen to please.

I want readers to understand that the appearance of the restaurant itself is nothing special, in fact, it is typified by seeming a bit outdated and ordinary.  In some places, this can be a disguise for what turns out to be a spectacular culinary experience.  Was that so in this case?  Well, yes and no!

There is much to commend this place and the greatest is the Executive Chef, Alessandro Menoncin, who has managed to design a very exciting menu and deliver some outstanding flavour combinations.  Having worked in kitchens at the Connaught Hotel in London he will have experience of sourcing great ingredients and cooking for discerning diners.  He clearly understands food.

It was a real thrill to taste the umami richness of the Beef Tataki made with hanger steak, so full of deep savoury flavour, but that was just me stealing a piece from a friend’s plate – it’s certainly what I’ll order next time!

For my own starter I chose from the Antipasto menu, Animella di Vitello in Tempura (veal sweetbreads) this was served with thin slices of artichoke, candied lemon and with subtle flavours of liquorice.  Taken as a whole it was delicious but if I have a criticism it would be that the sweetbreads weren’t uniformly crispy, nor indeed as crispy as I would prefer.  The picture below is of the dish served on a different occasion, where the sweetbreads appear to be very crispy indeed.  My plate, but not the serving, seemed smaller and therefore was more crowded, thus allowing the wetter elements on the plate to soften the tempura. an easy problem to solve – bigger plates!

My main course, from a choice of three meat dishes, was listed simply as Agnello.  The English on the menu told me it would be yoghurt marinated lamb shoulder, coffee sauce, cardamom and spring onion, although the Italian didn’t specify which cuts of meat would be used. Once again the flavour of this dish was truly amazing.  Using coffee with meat seems to be a trend at the moment.  On this occasion it was used to very great effect as the slightly bitter taste from the coffee was a great balance to the sweetness of the lamb.  Differences between what is described on the menu and what appears on the plate are a little bit irritating and the issue, in this case, is something I’ve only fully realised as I’m writing this.  What was presented, as can be seen, included part of the rack of the lamb; three tiny little chops that clearly indicated it was baby lamb, alongside the slower cooked shoulder meat and the confit onions.  Let me stress again the taste was delicious but the rack was to my mind undercooked.  Being so small it was always going to be a choice between (well) cooked or effectively raw and I think the addition of a bit of charring to those sweet little ribs would’ve enhanced them enormously.  Discussion with the chef about this dish at the end of the meal also indicated he’d used leg meat and not shoulder.  There’s an issue of consistency at stake here that is so so important. Cardamom is a very distinctive flavour and I couldn’t identify it in this dish – which of course doesn’t mean it wasn’t present.  Not to be able to do so didn’t detract from what was an exciting combination of tastes but I sort of think if it’s listed I should be able to identify it on my palate.

Pudding was not at all disappointing.  I had Panna Cotta al Peperoncino which was described in English as Chilly (sic) Panna Cotta!  In fact, while I’ve brought your attention back to the use of  English on the menu I should say it wasn’t the best translation I’ve seen! It’s sad in a way that these small errors detract from the overall experience.  Going back to my not so chilly, Chilli flavoured Panna Cotta, I’ll tell you it had the amazing effect of feeling not at all spicy in the mouth yet had a gentle kick in the back of the throat which was immediately soothed by the scrumptious yoghurt and honey ice cream with which it was served. I’m not a pudding person but this was truly lovely.

In summary, let me say that Chef Menoncin is one to watch.  He has a superb talent for flavour combination and menu design.  He needs to ensure the brigade delivers consistency as well as quality though and to perfect his skills for the even greater challenges that I’m sure lie ahead in his career.  Bravo Chef!