Sometimes, in a raw mineral, a gem cutter can glimpse what is going to be a very precious diamond.

MoS Ristorante only opened its doors on 22 May 2021 beside the old harbour in Desenzano del Garda and we visited a few days later. It is located in the premises of a restaurant I’d been to a couple years ago, which served typical Italian fish based dishes of reasonable quality. Now, two young guys, Mattia and Stefano have transformed it into something that I am quite sure, given a chance, will be a bright and shining jewel of a place. The two guys, both in their mid-twenties have been friends since they studied hospitality together. Since then they’ve worked together and separately in top-end establishments across Europe. The result of this broad experience is an approach to cooking and hospitality that is eclectic, innovative and establishes its own way of preparing food. If the Michelin reviewers don’t get this place on their list of places to visit then they aren’t doing their jobs properly!

Sitting one evening at a mediocre but popular restaurant, just across the way, we noticed first the bright yellow striped aprons of the waiting staff, the linen tea-towels used as table cloths and the discrete and attentive service offered to customers. Even from a distance it was clear that the three staff very easily established a rapport with the guests. They chatted with them but also observed discretion when the customers were already engaged in their own conversations – so often these days, in may other establishments, waiters think it’s ok to interrupt diners. Despite the food served to us in the place next door being quite tasty, the service was surly and the crockery and glassware not always clean. We rapidly came to the conclusion that we’d chosen the wrong restaurant and made a resolution to rectify that in the coming days.

When we returned for lunch two days later, it was clear that MoS (referring to the names of the owners Mattia and Stefano but also to the Latin word, mos, meaning habit, usage or custom) was something very different to the type of restaurant one habitually finds in such towns, or indeed anywhere in Italy, except in 3* territory. The welcome from Mattia and Letizia was genuinely warm. They’d remembered us from the causal words we’d exchanged two evenings previously and seemed truly pleased that we’d come to try them out. We were a mixed-language group of three and Mattia easily moved between speaking to us in Italian and English and was enthusiastic, when asked, to tell us the story of the creation of MoS.

We’d chosen a tasting menu, which represents great value for money and gives the opportunity to experience the fullness of the food philosophy of Chef Stefano. Ingredients are sourced from small suppliers in preference to the conglomerates and there’s a heavy reliance of products from the adjacent Lake Garda and the Venetian Lagoon, Oysters from the Po Delta and Trout from the River Brenta. In trying to sum up my experience of the food, I keep returning to two adjectives, intense and balanced. Pick up individual elements on your fork and you might think, wow that’s too strong a flavour, such as the tomatoes in the terrine, but take in a piece of fresh oyster on top and it all creates a perfect harmony and makes complete sense.

The amuse bouche were playful, simple and packed with flavour and the bread and Garda oil were delicious.

First up on the Spontaneo Equilibrio menu proper, was Melanzana in saor (Aubergine). Saor in the Venetian dialect means taste and on the plate provides sweet vinegary flavours with onions pine nuts and sultanas. In this case it was served on top of unctuous, smokey aubergine flesh topped with a foraged sorrel leaf and alongside a green pea puree.

Secondly the Terrina di pomodoro e ostriche (tomato terrine and oyster) as mentioned above, was made with three types of tomato, sitting on an emulsion made from dried tomatoes – just the right portion size it excitingly provided a mouthful or two of ‘summer by the sea’.

Of all the lovely things they offered us the Tortellini in guazzetto lacustre (tortellini in lake stew) was the most spectacular in terms of flavour. The perfectly made tortellini are stuffed with tiny pieces of salami, and sit in a mild broth made from shell fish from the Venetian Lagoon. Biting into a tortellino gives an immediate explosion of salty meatiness. Its a similar experience to eating a spoonful of popping candy and the delicate broth brings a gentle balance so as to ensure the experience is brought to a polite conclusion.

A second pasta dish followed, Fusilli in zuppa forte di seppia (fusilli in calamari ink soup). A visual triumph of yellow pasta and jet-black seppia ink, topped with a transparent slice of calamari. Fusilli are the cork-screw short pasta shapes – not normally my favourite but in this case perfectly suited to collecting the silky sauce.

The Trota del Brenta Ikejime (Trout) was served in two parts. First came a pan-fried fillet simply served with leak and a puree in a delicate sauce. The Japanese Ikejime humane method of dispatching the fish ensures optimal taste and the development of illusive umami flavours. Its tail meat came alongside, ceviche style, with its characteristic citrus hit, calmed by the raw peas and slivers of runner beans which accompanied it.

Pudding was a Mela marscapone sambuco (apple with marscapone and elderflower). Moist sponge with slices of apple cooked with the flavour of elderflower and marscapone. (no picture sadly).

Starting a new restaurant in these difficult economic times is brave. It’s even braver to set up a restaurant that offers such a contrast to the normal Italian way of eating out. Italians are conservative by nature and especially when it comes to food but I hope that people will choose to travel to Desenzano del Garda to experience Stefano’s excellent cooking and Mattia’s hospitality ‘front of house’. I’m keen to see how they develop the business and even keener to return myself and experience more of what they have to offer by the shores of Lake Garda.

In bocco al lupo ragazzi!