Modena

I’ve been fortunate enough to have eaten in Modena’s world class Osteria Francescana twice. On the second occasion, despite it already being fully booked, Chef Massimo Bottura kindly allocated us a table in recognition of the fact that one of the guests had recently undergone a long period of hospitilisation and this would be one of his first meals out after discharge, to celebrate my birthday.

Massimo Bottura and guests at Osteria Francescano

Osteria Francescana, however worderful it is, isn’t however the sort of place normal mortals can aford to eat on a regular basis. Fortunately it’s philosophy of using and promoting local products, a high level of precision and skill in cooking and above all, great hospitality, has been replicated in Franceschetta58, its stablemate in the same city of Modena, in the Italian food capital region of Emilia-Romagna.

Franceschetta58 is located in a side street otuside of the city centre and could easily be missed. It’s so small that the kitchen is split between the main restaurant bulding and space on the other side of the road. Young Chef Francesco Vincenzi was trained by Bottura at Osteria Francescana and prepares two tasting menus, one of their own classic dishes and a more seasonal one as well as fairly extensive à la carte. We chose the smaller seasonal tasting menu and all of the plates were packed with flavour, the only exception, in my view, being the so-called Zuppa Inglese pudding course, which I found to be fairly bland and as much unlike a trifle as you could imagine. That said the experience taken as a whole was superb. I’ll be back and might even take the nephew! 🤩

Bottura is undoubtedly worth a bob or two judging by the car he comes to work in but as well as his cooking he is also renowened for his efforts in the realm of social enterprise. The tortellini dish pictured above, which was exqusite by the way, exemplifies his charitable works. That dish is by ‘Tortellante” which is a social enterprise in Modena founded by Bottura as part of his not-for-profit organisation, Food for Soul as way to help youg adults with autism to gain independence through developing skills in making traditional hand-rolled tortellini. The trainees are paired with local rezdore, who are expert pasta makers willing to pass down their skill sot a new generation.

Not the song by The Beatles, from the film, Yellow Submarine, but the title of the latest tasting menu at Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy. The restaurant reopened in its Via Stella location in central Modena on 1 June, following the most recent lock-down restrictions with a menu which pays tribute, across 12 plates of food and 18 individual creations, to 16 Italian chefs.

The dishes are each inspired by the originals devised between 1963 and 2020, and have been reimagined, in homage to the original creator and presented in the most elegant and delicate way possible. In some cases chef Massimo Bottura plays with the mind as well as the eyes and the palate perhaps initially to confuse and then certainly excite the diner, but always in a way that makes sense, at least by the end of the particular course. One dish, Zuppa fredda di Carbonara, in homage to Gianfranco Vissani, translates as Cold Carbonara Soup. It is described as Crema Inglese (custard) with pepper, guanciale (cured pork cheek) banana, pecorino cheese ice cream and caviar! This was in fact the first of the deserts but perhaps is best described as a cross-over course! The sharp eyed among readers will notice the key ingredients for Carbonara sauce are mentioned (guanciale, pepper, pecorino and egg in the form of the custard) and clearly that classic Roman dish is the inspiration for this course. The salty tang of the fried guanciale, nestled under the custard and the cheese ice cream really set this dish alight with flavour. A-ma-zing!

I last mentioned Osteria Francescana in 2016. After my previous visit in 2014, I’d had a great desire to go again. Seven years of patience eventually paid off and I was very pleased to celebrate my birthday there just a few days ago with two friends, for one of whom it was his first experience of a Michelin 3* eatery.

My admiration for the chef is unbounded, not only for his undoubted skill in the kitchen, his limitless imagination and his kind personal welcome to every guest, but also because of his significant efforts in developing future talent in the hospitality industry, his interventions to help save the Parmsan Cheese production following an earthquake in 2012, his establishment of a ‘refectory’ during Milan Expo 2015, to feed the most vulnerable people of the city with the food from the various pavilions of the Expo and then the not-for-profit organisation he created with his wife, Food for the Soul, which grew out of that intitial enterprise.

This is a man who has a social conscience and one who, when you meet him, exudes a simplicity both in his love for food and hospitality. He has an open way of communicating and a gentle manner in treating his staff in what must be a very demanding working environment. Many of us are familiar with a style of running kitchens, espoused by the likes of that uncouth gorilla of a man, Gordon Ramsey. The foul language and aggressive way of treating staff, and sometimes customers, makes good TV but with Chef Bottura it’s completely different and consequently his accolades are higher and he remains first and foremost a cook. I wandered down a small road to the side of the restaurant shortly after Massimo had worked the dining room and spoken to each table. A small door into the kitchen was open and I was able to witness the man himself returning to the brigade full of smiles and friendly greetings. If massaging Wagyu cattle produces the finest beef in the world then being nice to the staff when you’re the boss produces quality too.

Osteria Francescana was ranked as number one in the world in 2016 and then again in 2018. It was the first Italian Restaurant to achieve this. It was second in the world in 2015 and third in 2013 and 2014. No one stays at the top of the league forever of course and now Mirazur has taken that first place but it’s clear that Bottura has stayed at the top of his game. His expansion with Franceschetta58, also in Modena and his kitchens in Istanbul, Dubai, Florence and Beverly Hills, often in conjunction with Gucci, make me worry that one day he will overstretch and that Osteria Francescana will consequently cease to be the unique experience it still is today.