Video: L ’ Olivo of the Capri Palace hotel, luxury is out of fashion?
2024 Author: Cody Thornton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 12:26
I did not choose the best day for the trip to Capri, the hydrofoil is very crowded as well as the port of Marina Grande. I take advantage of the beautiful day for an aperitif in the famous square: my heart sank. The increasingly designer streets are opposed to the door of the historic Scialapopolo kiosk, a symbol of Capri still closed, unfortunately. I do not forget the green sauce from the mysterious recipe that the good Vittoria used to dress toast. A taste of my childhood.
My appointment is with L’Olivo, the restaurant of the Capri Palace, a five-star luxury hotel of great charm.
The entrepreneur Tonino Cacace created this jewel where he was born, in Anacapri, the town located in the highest part of the island, at the foot of Mount Solaro. Louis XVI style furnishings, paintings by De Chirico that embellish the art gallery, two yachts available to wealthy customers, and above all an avant-garde spa that is the usual destination of the beautiful international world.
L’Olivo is no exception, the elegant restaurant led by chef Oliver Glowig, a German chef who brought the place to well-deserved success, obtaining a second Michelin star in 2008.
The welcome is typical of great places. The "restaurant manager" Fabio Raucci moves with experience, like the sommelier Angelo Di Costanzo and the rediscovered Giovanna Ragone (he was at the Casa del nonno 13, a restaurant north of Salerno). The menu includes a "Menu of Tradition" (150 euros), a 7-course interpretation of Campania cuisine, and a "Tasting Menu" (190 euros), a journey through the restaurant's specialties which includes the same number of courses.
There is no derogation from these prices even at lunch, L’Olivo, kingdom of extra-luxury does not adapt to the trend of many starred restaurants, who knows if such an operation would accord with the philosophy of the structure.
I choose the second menu. The "welcome" is original: cod, almond milk foam and pieces of Jerusalem artichoke.
Just as the presentation of cod tripe with caviar, bacon, ricotta and snow peas is taken care of, but the dish in terms of flavor is struggling to take off.
The reward is the best dish of lunch. Corned veal cheek and amberjack carpaccio with broad beans, asparagus and peas with bergamot. I can only praise him.
Here are the Spaghetti with sea urchins. I am not in tune with the creaming but not because of the chef's demerit. There are several recipes, my favorite is only with hedgehog eggs, extra virgin olive oil and a little chilli, not with the pulp that surrounds the spaghetti, which is abundant and too liquid.
Steamed sea bass with oysters (oyster) and star anise-scented sea jelly is a textbook thanks to the enveloping flavor and above all to the impeccable cooking.
The raw and cooked vegetable is a prelude to the veal shank with spices and citrus fruits with braised vegetables. Two dishes that do not dispense particular satisfaction.
The dessert on the menu is discreet, Chocolate in five consistencies and liquorice parfait.
Angelo Di Costanzo will accompany my lunch with three wines. White Pallagrello Le Serole 2009 by Terre del Principe, Trebbiano d’Abruzzo 2003 by Valentini and a beautiful discovery, the Cilento Aglianico Cupersito 2008 by Casebianche, a small winery that produces 18,000 bottles per year, owned by two architects converted to enology. On the sweet Di Costanzo he made me try an aged Aglianico, Grandma Erminia's Il Ratafià, produced by the Irpinia company Di Meo, which I will find in some wine shop as soon as possible.
My lunch was longer than that of the other six guests who were at Olivo. I remain alone in the restaurant and the usual question "are you okay?" I have a pleasant exchange of views with Di Costanzo and Fabio Raucci. My impression is, as often happens in the great Tablets, that Oliver Glowig is somehow "prisoner" of this magnificent place. He does not dare, he does not push, even if he has the means.
The cooking is perfect, and apart from a few acceptable smudges, the technique is certainly not lacking, but it is not a throbbing cuisine. It responds to approved requests, to typical parameters of a luxury restaurant and it may be right.
I am convinced that the best time to get to know the cuisine of a skilled chef is at the beginning, when inspiration is intact. Working in a structure like the Capri Palace, for a clientele who is satisfied with a proven cuisine, the risk of flattening out is strong, the executions are exemplary but not thrilling.
Sometimes questioning is healthy, experimenting, varying the menu often, even at the risk of running some risks. This is how you leave a restaurant fully satisfied, even if you pay a bill of 250 euros.
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