If you believe that every meal when you travel should be sublime then you’re in luck because BSpoke Travel has curated a marvelous list of Italian—and one Moroccan—hotels and restaurants that’s perfect for traveling gourmets.
Borgo Santo Pietro, Tuscany, Italy
At Borgo Santo Pietro a team of farmers, culinary gardeners, and talented chefs work together to create an ultimate Michelin-starred dining experience. Meo Modo offers a well-balanced gourmet tasting menu with a right proportion of vegetables, protein, and carbons. Borgo estate’s productions include over 300 types of vegetables, fruits, herbs, cheese, and meat.
If you are fancy for more traditional Italian food Trattoria sull’Albero offers a menu with a wide selection of pasta dishes, main courses, and antipasti made only from the fresh estate’s products or bought from local producers.
This new boutique hotel situated in the UNESCO world heritage site of Montferrat, deep in Italy’s Piedmont wine country, has two restaurants curated by a head chef and mentor Andrea Ribaldone and a resident chef Charles Pearce. Two restaurants L’Orto and The Bistrot combine the authenticity of Piedmontese cuisine with the experimental ambition of modern fine dining.
L’Orto Restaurant is a relaxed fine-dining concept. The menu is based solely on freshly caught seafood from the Ligurian coast and locally grown vegetables.
The Bistrot offers a more informal experience, focusing on Piedmontese ingredients, culture, and stories of the region. The main approach chosen by the chefs is respect for the traditions of the region while experimenting and pushing boundaries.
Ciasa Salares, Dolomites, Italy
Run by the Wieser Family ever since its establishment in 1964, the hotel is well known for its outstanding wine cellar and food experience.
Cocun is a wine-cellar restaurant with over 1900 labels, 24,000 bottles from every corner of the world, and a voyage over 1,000 culinary latitudes by the cold cuts, the cheeses, and the 15 dishes prepared with carefully selected ingredients.
Nida is the cheese room and boasts a selection of 65 raw-milk cheeses, jams, chutneys, and jellies.
Nodla is the chocolate room, where you can dive into a world of no less than 120 different kinds of chocolate.
Other dining options include a new Sori Restaurant with the sun-kissed Infiní “Eat on Beat” Terrace and Bona Lüna Dine Bar – perfect for early-evening aperitifs or after-dinner drinks.
Capri Tiberio Palace, Capri, Italy
Capri Tiberio Palace, the iconic property located just a few steps from Piazzetta, is known also for its fizzy splendid style inspired by La Dolce Vita. At Terrazza Tiberio the Executive Chef Nello Siano offers a new menu inspired by the Mediterranean diet but with an unexpected international flavours.
Fairmont Taghazout Bay, Agadir, Morocco
Nestled in the heart of Taghazout Bay, the resort sprawls on 18 hectares of olive groves and argan gardens with the Atlantic Ocean as its backdrop, Fairmont Taghazout Bay features a wide variety of culinary experiences through different themed restaurants and bars:
• Morimoto restaurant – modern Japanese cuisine with fresh ingredients in an elegant and sophisticated atmosphere;
• Beef & Reef – Mediterranean cuisine where seafood and meat dishes are presented with unexpected pairing suggestions;
• NOLA bar – a wide selection of original and creative cocktails and a list of premium spirits to be paired with chocolate and cigars.
Vilòn Roma, located steps away from Palazzo Borghese and Via Dei Condotti, is now known for the restaurant Adelaide that just won the prize as one of the best places for all’amatriciana – a famous traditional Roman dish.
The menu changes according to the seasons and includes Roman classics with modern twists. Sunday’s lunches are dedicated to “Il Pranzo della Domenica” when, according to the local market’s offer, Executive Chef Gabriele Muro expresses his creativity at the best.
Located in the original residence of Gaetano Donizetti Maalot Roma is primarily a restaurant, and then a hotel. Designed to celebrate life and social gathering, Don Pasquale is set to be an all-day dining experience for locals and hotels guests. Named after one of the most renowned works of Gaetano Donizetti, the restaurant menu pays homage to the tradition and attention to what the new modern food lovers are looking for.
Expect Maritozzo con la Panna, Pizza with Mortadella, and a vast choice of cooked eggs reinvented with roman traditional ingredients. Lunch and dinner options include a wide range of vegetables from local producers to meet the needs of modern trends. And do stay for an aperitif – Maritozzo Salato is a must-try!
Because I always like to include a recipe, here is one for Gricia from my acquaintance Katie Parla, a food writer and author of Tasting Rome: Fresh Flavors and Forgotten Recipes from an Ancient City: A Cookbook and Food of the Italian South Recipes For Classic, Disappearing, and Lost Dishes: A Cookbook who lives in Rome. The following recipe was featured in her story, When I First Moved to Rome, I Found the Sunday Dinners I Never Had, sponsored by Lagostina.
“This classic Roman pasta sauce always features Pecorino Romano, guanciale, and plenty of black pepper,” writes Katie. “But if I’m making a few dishes for a dinner party, like this Roman-style stuffed zucchini, I’ll often enrich the pasta with the insides of the zucchini that’s leftover from the recipe. After all, there’s no sense in wasting the cored inside of the zucchini, which is suited to cooking in rendered guanciale fat until creamy. Toss the zucchini and guanciale with the pasta (a large, round type of pasta called mezze maniche), plus a little bit of pasta water, and stir it vigorously until a thick sauce forms.”
PREP TIME: 10 minutes
COOK TIME: 25 minutes
SERVES: 4 to 6
- 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 7 ounces guanciale, cut into 1 1/2 x 1/2-inch strips
- Cored insides of 6 zucchini, roughly chopped
- Sea salt
- 1 pound rigatoni, mezze maniche, paccheri, or other tubular pasta
- 1 cup grated Pecorino Romano
- Freshly ground black pepper
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over low heat. When the oil begins to shimmer, add the guanciale and cook, stirring, until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Add the zucchini, season with salt, and cook until the zucchini is softened and cooked through, about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil over high heat. Salt the water. When the salt has dissolved, add the pasta and cook until al dente.
Add a ladle of the pasta cooking water to the skillet with the zucchini and bring to a simmer. When the pasta is very al dente, drain, reserving the cooking water. Add the pasta and another ladle of its cooking water to the pan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring vigorously, until a thick sauce forms, adding more water if necessary to achieve the desired consistency.
Remove the skillet from the heat and, add 3/4 cup of the Pecorino Romano, and mix thoroughly. Season to taste.
Plate and sprinkle each portion with some of the remaining Pecorino Romano and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
