Lido 84 Gardone Riviera

Lake Garda, one of the loveliest sites of one of the loveliest restaurants, @ristorantelido84. Brothers Riccardo and Giancarlo Camanini have turned this tranquil spot into one of the most coveted dining destinations in the world. Formerly a pool house built in 1984, the beautifully refurbished space pays homage to 1960s art deco, offering marvelous views of the aquamarine waters.

Riccardo draws inspiration from the greats, mixed with influences from his travels abroad. There’s a delicate razor clam adorned with guanciale, Tonkin powder, and pink ginger; grilled octopus with blood orange and chili; a single huge pennoni pasta served with a dipping sauce of uni; a sweet dish of pasta riccia and mallard spiced with Ras al Hanout and black lemon. Paired with aged sake, black chanterelles and chestnut honey, mixed with razor clam liver and sesame oil brimmed with umami. As always, the cacio e pepe cooked in a pig’s bladder elicited rounds of applause. Less

Lido 84 is surely worth a journey. Riccardo and Giancarlo Camanini, two brothers coming from a family with no roots in the hospitality industry, run this lakeside restaurant with great earnestness and humbleness despite accruing numerous awards from all over the world. One of their dishes, the rigatoni cacio e pepe en vessie, has achieved cult status for its ingeniousness, taste and storyline.
Thanks to the fact that @Alex is a regular there, we were treated to an XXL version of their tasting menu, mixing traditional and new dishes.
I went there in August 2019 and I think in these three years, interrupted by multiple lock downs due to Covid, the food there has tremendously improved. The layering of tastes, the execution and the deliciousness of taste in each dish is astonishing. Some of their dishes is pure genius. They are able to create a deep flavor using only a few ingredients.
One of the early dishes was the Oyster and Bread. A Gillardeau oyster gets smoked a few seconds and served on a bread made with mungo pine and laurel. The ration between the fairly thick piece of bread and the oyster is perfect. The bread adds the needed acidity and texture to the sweetness and softness of the oyster. A classic like the uni truffle bite in Brooklyn Fare or the famous mifeuile of foie, eel and apple of Martin Berasetgui.
The Warm Fusilioni were served in a green sauce made of pistachios, laurel and green tomatoes. No cream or egg at all! The fat contained in the pistachios is enough to create a very creamy texture and the acidity of the green tomatoes added the edge to this great dish.
Another classic, the Spaghettoni with yeast crumble and butter. Smooth, succulent and incredibly satisfying.
When moved on from pasta and rice to meat, a veal sweetbread was served in two versions. One with honey and mustard and the other with an layer of tomatoes on top. The sweetbread was executed perfectly, crispy outside but soft on the inside. For me the one with tomatoes was the better one as I prefer the acidity to the sweetness of the honey.
Another great dish was the 752°F Eggplant alla Pormigiana. A eggplant baked in the oven and then finished table side with the sauce made of Parmesan. It created inside the eggplant a taste like lasagne. Wonderful.
And of course, the cult dish, the Rigatoni Cacio e Pepe en Vessie finished the savory dishes. This dish, inspired by a book of Apicius, cooked inside a femal pigs bladder is unique. All the ingredients are added, the bladder closed and then submerged into boiling water. This steams rather than boils the pasta. The variables of all the ingredients and the fact that one cannot fine tune the mixture anymore leads to a dish which will taste every time slightly differently. The Chef only can check the state of cooking in touching the bladder and feeling the pasta through the skin. It gets cooked on purpose “al chiodo“, which is slightly less then “al dente”, a not to the Roman origin of the dish.

Of course the setting on the shore of Lago di Garda and the great hospitality of the front office lead by Giancarlo Camanini maked this meal one of the great ones, one which you never forget. An experience which one will chase for ever to repeat.

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#NORDITALIA 2021 - A #enogastronomic journey through the NORTH OF ITALY

PART X / X

LIDO 84 - Riccardo Camanini ; 50best #15

É desarmante a calma e tranquilidade de Riccardo Camanini, com o sucesso a não lhe subir à cabeça. A sua cozinha é o reino do território e da intemporalidade. As vezes não sabemos se os pratos são clássicos ou modernos, novos ou velhos. Um chefe apaixonado que pensa pela sua cabeça, que ama os clássicos e a cozinha do seu país. Cozinha brilhante.

MELANZANA alla PARMIGIANA

Maravilhoso e guloso clássico revisitado: a beringela no forno inteira a 400°, mantém-se húmida graças apenas aos seus sucos. Aberta no momento do serviço e finalizada com azeite virgem, colatura di alici (“garum” de anchoas, condimento típico da Costa Amalfitana), pomodoro San Marzano e Parmigiano Vacche Rosse 24 meses.

#melanzanaallaparmigiana
#lido84
#maiakovskiinitaly Less

LIDO 84 - Rigatoni Cacio e Pepe in Vescica

Em Apicius descreve-se como as bexigas de porco eram usadas como recipiente para transportar ingredientes para as colónias. A partir dessa imagem, Riccardo Camanini teve a ideia de génio. Adaptou o mesmo princípio usado na Galinha de Bresse em Bexiga para criar um prato único.

Deslumbrante para os olhos e para o palato. A Poularde de Bresse en vessie é um método de sous vide arcaico, em que o bicho é cozinhado no vapor, recheada com lâminas de trufa colocadas entre a carne e a pele (demi-deuil). Depois, servida em dois serviços. Primeiro, o peito. Depois as pernas. A carne na máxima suavidade e respeito pela textura.
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Cozinhar numa bexiga é jogar com a inprevisibilidade. O tempo de cozedura não é constante. A miscibilidade dos ingredientes varia. Por isso Ricardo é obrigado a cozinhar vários pratos em simultâneo. De forma a que o ponto perfeito de cozedura nos possa surgir no prato. E a absorção dos sabores na massa seja uma realidade. Um prato de génio. Visualmente único. Less

One of the most talented, humble, sincere and kind hearted chefs that I have ever met. Chef Riccardo Camanini, in his stunning restaurant, Lido 84 @ristorantelido84 .
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Chef Riccardo first cooked in OAD 2016 in Copenhagen during the New to List dinner and that’s the first time I had his food. So simple, sophisticated, pure and unpretentious. With precision as sharp as Japanese chefs. Then in OAD 2018 in London, Chef Riccardo cooked again with Chef Tanaka of AT for a one night event. I knew if I don’t go there once I would for sure regret it.
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I met him one more time in Paris during World’s Restaurants Award, and finally at his own restaurant at Lake Garda, Italy. I was in love with the restaurant, I think forever. This time being able to see him and his brother Giancarlo in Tokyo, at another favorite restaurant of mine Den, had so much meaning.
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Despite becoming so famous and popular, chef Riccardo refuses to raise price (the most expensive menu is 90 euros, and you can do a la carte). He wants locals and young people to be able to enjoy his food
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I was such a happy person! Chef Riccardo, thank you for the great experience. It is my pleasure and honor to have had your food again ❤️❣️🙇‍♀️ #littlemeg_best2019 #littlemeg_bestmeals2019
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#italy #lakegarda #littlemeg_italy #littlemeg_lakegarda #littlemeg_lido84 #lido84 #theartofplating #gastroart #gastronogram @gastroart @theartofplating @gastronogram #food #foodstagram #foodies #foodpics #lefooding @lefooding #instafood #instagramers #gourmet #amazing #iphonesia #photooftheday #bestoftheday #igdaily #worlds50best #asias50best Less

Lido 84 also had one of #littlemeg_best2019 desserts! This deceptively simple Fior di latte Gelato (cow’s milk gelato) was presented unadorned, nothing but a beautiful scoop of white gelato. But that milk flavor 🤯🤯🤯 Chef Riccardo explained that they use the milk from small cows in the mountain which only produced 15-20 L of milk per day compared to 50-60 L of milk by normal adult cow. The flavor was so rich and milky, like full fat milk but with so much lightness in the aftertaste, but so delicate at the same time. Don’t think I have tasted better milk ice cream before!
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Plus the gelato here is churned a la minute, so the texture too. Creamy, velvety, intense but not overly dense. So so good. My favorite flor di latte gelato!
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I really love Lido 84 exactly because of things like this. Ingredients seem simple but they made it out of this world. This is no difference than eating in many places in Japan. The food is so real, but the taste so heavenly.
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Lido 84 is also one of #littlemeg_bestrestaurant2019
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#italy #lakegarda #littlemeg_italy #littlemeg_lakegarda #littlemeg_lido84 #lido84 #theartofplating #gastroart #gastronogram @gastroart @theartofplating @gastronogram #food #foodstagram #foodies #foodpics #lefooding @lefooding #instafood #instagramers #gourmet #amazing #iphonesia #photooftheday #bestoftheday #igdaily #worlds50best #asias50best #sweet #gelato #icecream Less

(SWIPE -> FOR MORE PICS) To carry on my #best2019 posts, I included the dishes I had in my Sep 2019 visit to Lido 84 here. We had close to 20 items, and everything from the small bite sized amuse such as the unexpectedly tasty sage leaf with honey and marigold , super delicious steamed leek with candied ginger and lemon, sublime clear mackerel stock with evoo (mind boggling), almond sauce/ soup, oyster grilled unde rcharcoal in shell served with soup of fig and temut pepper and covered with aromatic dried fig leaf, agnolotti stuffed with white watermelon mustard and free range hen, croques and parsley, “reheated rice” with sauce of sansho pepper, plum and Vermont reduction, decadent veal tongue with salsa of 5 spices from China and dried Senise red pepper and lemon leaves, so many memorable dishes!
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My notes may not be all correct but all I remembered was everything simple and clean in presentation but with great flavors, they served a point or had meaning and made a statement.
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And their potato purée, made with the ratio of 1kg potato to 1kg butter (see pic 6), ok just eat and go to the gym please. You don’t want to miss this (and probably want a refill)
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We also had over half of the deserts (they had 12!) and besides the best flor di latte gelato, the cold polenta & orange pie with grand mariner gelato (another killer) and Kougin Amann with orange, ginger, thyme, and coarse salt were all finger licking good. Oh my, I am hungry just reading my notes on what we had.
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To see more details of the whole meal, you can find my stories of Lido 84 pinned in my highlight (see last pic for where to find it) #littlemeg_bestmeals2019 Less