Oh Joséphine! Son petit séjour à Bologne

I Portici, the contemporary bourgeois

Bologne, Portici, salle,JL

Like Pilgrims, with the same amount of devoutness (if not more), we went for a pilgrimage to Bologna – the holy city of Italian gourmet.

It was early October, thanks to the Bologna Magazine (http://www.bolognamagazine.com/), who provided an insider’s list of its top gastronomy scenarios, on which our strictly planed ( at least 2 weeks in advance booked) meal schedule was largely based. It started from the restaurant « I Portici » (of I Portici hotel) – the highest rated restaurant in Bologna according to the Michelin Guide. And it’s bea………utiful!

Right at the heart of the historical city, the hotel overwhelms quietly with its minimal classical interiors. White and shimmering, subtle and suggestive, fine and elegant, a contemporary bourgeois…

The dining hall features a stage facing an auditorium of 40 seats with galleries above, surrounding beautiful frescos. As it’s actually inside the late-19th century Eden Theatre, the old Ice House of Rocca di Galliera.

Such a pretty place… From oil candles to fine porcelains, from white linen fabric to the elegant looking bread, display is the code here; it is a theater indeed, after all.

Pleasantly impressed by the space and smooth services of the equally fine looking staff, we were put almost immediately into a comfortable ‘floating mood’ –relaxed and playful, deciding to let the waves of its tasting menu take us to the next shore…

And not disappointed, each dish was to make a masterpiece for the show.

Price very friendly, wine list decent; but in the fancy crowds of fineness and glittering silverwares, the food itself seemed a bit fading away. Our soup “The Potato”, ambitiously sophisticated, ended up somehow indecisive; main course “The piglet”, almost disappointing for being way too ordinary for all the visual foreplays and the promising stage settings.

Perhaps, indeed, we should have avoided the tasting menus – as our mutual friend, Mr. Francois Simon would have suggested. But it was still a mellow evening, with light rain; we were tired, excited, and certainly pleased; and the journey had just begun… And we knew when we walked out later, the city would shine for us, in the night, in the rain, reflected from the wet, freshly washed ground, with the magic scent of the moist earth…

So, morals of the story –

A) Definitely worth a visit, but go to impress your dates, not palates;

B) Always follow your heart, not the Michelin Guide.

And, a bonus tip in the end – don’t miss the rooms at the back side – you need to explore a bit further after the journey to the lady’s (or boy’s) room, where cellars can be seen through glass floors.

Bologne, Portici, plat, JL

Price: Tasting menu (4 courses) € 70-80.

Via dell’Indipendenza, 69, 40050 Bologna, Italie
+39 051 42185