Oltressenda Alta Contrada Bricconi — Restaurant in Oltressenda Alta

The environment and location is beautiful, but what it really comes down to at the end of the day is the taste of the food.

I found Contrada’s dishes to be bold and exciting, but unfortunately quite unbalanced. Too often there was one dominant flavor and the supplementary or secondary accessory flavors were far too muted.

For example, there is a blackberry pasta dish with a chimichurri base sauce. The sourness of the blackberries were distractingly strong and overpowered the chimichurri by a wide margin. It was too distracting.

When I got a ton of the chimichurri and a little pasta, it was excellent. But I honestly don’t feel like I should have to figure that out or use up a lot of the base for one good bite.

Another example, the corn tortilla taco with herbs. Almost no corn tortilla flavor and it’s dominated by a very potent herb flavor - it was way too much.

This is too bad because usually the problem with fine dining restaurants in my experience is not enough risk taking and too subtle of flavor profiles.

But Contrada was a big swing in the opposite direction, not in a particularly good way.

I hope this review finds the staff well and is seen as constructive feedback rather than harsh criticism. There is so much potential for this restaurant, and a lot of these balances of flavors could be relatively...

A quite unique experience compared to the “classic” starred restaurants.

The restaurant is located almost at the top of a steep valley side, with a beautiful view and surrounded by nature. The journey starts with a visit to the farm and barns, where you can see some of the ingredients being cultivated locally and the animals raised.

The atmosphere is simple, but very elegant at the same time. You have the feeling of being in an old barn but with all the comforts expected from a starred restaurant.

Food is overall great, with quite unique combinations and a menu that is often adjusted to the seasonal ingredients. Personally I found the “pasta” dish a bit too bitter and the gnocchi a bit too salty for my taste, but definitely nothing that can impact negatively the experience. The trout dish is an absolute masterpiece. Great are also the snails (never tried in my life because I don’t like the texture but these ones were far from being slimy and with a great flavor). Very interesting the fake “lardo” dish that tricks your brain in a very smart way.

Last but not least, I would like to thank the server that followed me for the entire meal (Lidia) that possesses amazing English and knowledge...

Contrada Bricconi is one of the Best Restaurants in the World right now. Simple as that. In the past few years I’ve been to noma, DiverXO, Central, El Celler de Can Roca, Mugaritz, just for reference.

It's an oasis of peace — during the three-hour experience, you completely forget about real life because the team takes such exceptional care of you. Michele's cuisine uses local products from their own farm and garden (where they’ve impressively succeeded in growing seeds from all over the world), and brings out their full flavor with fire and embers as the common thread. Giacomo, Davide, Lidia, Claudia and all the team constantly go above and beyond to make you feel at home.

Thanks for continuing to push the boundaries, keep up the...