IT’S NEW, bright blue and buzzing. If you want to take an Italian taste trip on home soil, head for the revitalised former Dom Pedro’s premises in Woodstock, where passionate Tuscan-born chef Andrea Volpe is now making culinary waves in his own space.
Drawn to Cape Town by love (he met and married a girl from Swaziland and settled here) he has forged a partnership of land and sea: his partner Sicilian Giuseppe La Gattuta is a food-lover cum entrepreneur, importing 20 000 artichoke bulbs to start a thriving business in Worcester’s fertile Nuy Valley. (While Giuseppe is a front-of-house charmer, he’s already grumbling that the long restaurant hours will keep him from his artichokes in picking season).
Andrea, however, is a born chef. A dining-room “comi” at a 5-star hotel in Viareggio at 16, he worked his way up through top Italian resorts and Michelin-starred restaurants to reach celebrity status. He understands prime quality and what can be done with food; decries the fact that that tuna belly (a delicacy in Italy) is simply thrown away here, but with an engaging grin adds: “but nice for me because it’s cheap!”
Pesce azzurro is the collective name of “red meat fish” (anchovies, sardines, mackerel and tuna) that appear silver and blue in the waters of the Med. According to Andrea, they are best eaten fresh and require little cooking or preparation.
The results of the Tuscan/Sicilian partnership are zingingly fresh and enticing. Those violet-tinged soft artichokes, for example, combine crunch with smoothness - and you don’t eat them leaf by leaf, they’re sliced and simply served as artichoke caponata.
This is not gourmet food, nor does it embody the current fashion of foraging. Put simply, it’s the essence of fresh peasant fare, each flavour distinct and lifted to a new level. Dishes take you from the north down south, savouring the delicacies and regional specialities in an authentic, contemporary take on tradition. Staples are seasonal fresh ingredients, sustainable fresh fish and seafood, with the plus of charming, helpful service.
Don’t just read the menu; ask Andrea for recommendations. To listen to him describe a dish (with appropriate gestures) is live entertainment that must have enthralled his Italian TV cooking-show audiences.
Though his authentic spaghetti carbonara with guanciale (pork cheeks) egg yolk and pecorino called from the menu, when assured that the tapas dishes weren’t heavy, I was tempted into a representative sampling without feeling in the least bloated.
What appealed to me was the subtle interaction of the flavours. Taste treats include trout marinated in orange juice with fresh local mozzarella; octopus offset with potatoes; and that tender tuna belly. Focus is on fresh ingredients, stripped of complexity: one of my favourites was the gnudi burro e salvia (nude butter and sage stuffing) sans encircling pasta shell.
Though I found grandma’s “ironed chicken”, ironed with a searingly hot old iron till the skin blackens, too dry, granny regained her reputation with an utterly delicious recipe for creamy tiramisu, spooned from a glass. Don’t leave without sipping Giuseppe’s refreshing Lemoncello.
l Tapas for two, sharing, R130 for 5 pieces; starters R65-R89; primi piatti R85 –R105, secondi R89 – R120; desserts R45-R55.