My wife and I recently had the chance to dine at Osteria Francescana while visiting Italy and absolutely loved the experience! The current menu is inspired by dishes Massimo Bottura encountered in his travels around the world which made for a fun, if slightly random, theme. The service was excellent and the plateware was quite beautiful.
We thought the menu was a really lovely balance of thought-provoking dishes and simply delicious courses. I should mention that we are both vegetarians and they did a nice job of adapting the menu for us. A few highlights were the pasta dish, which mashed up Italian and Thai flavors, and the conical pastries, which somehow successfully combined a mushroom mousse with chocolate and served as a bridge between the savory and dessert courses. I also have to shout out the crispy breadsticks, which were maybe the tastiest baked good I’ve ever had. I couldn’t stop snacking on them throughout the meal.
I think the only slight down note was the “psychedelic beet” course. It was okay, but seemed like a pretty sharp downgrade from the regular menu course, which looked like a super fun take on American Thanksgiving staples. But other than that, this was definitely our favorite fine dining experience we’ve tried.
Senatorweims16
Thanks for sharing. I’m jealous. I went to Rome years ago and wanted to go to Osteria Francescana but didn’t make it. Hopefully someday.
2 Comments
My wife and I recently had the chance to dine at Osteria Francescana while visiting Italy and absolutely loved the experience! The current menu is inspired by dishes Massimo Bottura encountered in his travels around the world which made for a fun, if slightly random, theme. The service was excellent and the plateware was quite beautiful.
We thought the menu was a really lovely balance of thought-provoking dishes and simply delicious courses. I should mention that we are both vegetarians and they did a nice job of adapting the menu for us. A few highlights were the pasta dish, which mashed up Italian and Thai flavors, and the conical pastries, which somehow successfully combined a mushroom mousse with chocolate and served as a bridge between the savory and dessert courses. I also have to shout out the crispy breadsticks, which were maybe the tastiest baked good I’ve ever had. I couldn’t stop snacking on them throughout the meal.
I think the only slight down note was the “psychedelic beet” course. It was okay, but seemed like a pretty sharp downgrade from the regular menu course, which looked like a super fun take on American Thanksgiving staples. But other than that, this was definitely our favorite fine dining experience we’ve tried.
Thanks for sharing. I’m jealous. I went to Rome years ago and wanted to go to Osteria Francescana but didn’t make it. Hopefully someday.