The drive, the ambiance, the food--all well worth it at I Malardot. Start with the food. We’ve eaten at I Malardot 4-5 times now. With confidence, you can begin with a tagliere, mixed sliced meats and cheeses. For primo piato our current favorite is artichoke ravioli with fosse cheese. That might well qualify as a desert island food for me. I could never tire of eating it. In addition we have had the tagliatelle with sausage and peas, passatelli in brodo, and strozzopreti with I don’t remember what sauce. All the primi are good. But the ravioli are really special. Our usual side dish is the erbe di campagne, always terrific with piada and stracchino or squaquarone. House wine, terrific. Desserts, excellent. ||Ah, but the drive up is in a word spectacular. You begin your ascent to I Malardot at Ponte Verucchio, rise to Torriana, from which you have a view of old Verucchio across the valley of the Marecchia. Continue on--upward, upward--to the drive that takes you to the restaurant. The views are something to keep in mind: if you can, go to this restaurant for lunch.||The ambiance inside Malardot is another reason to give this place a try. Hanging from the ceiling, chairs, bicycles, implements, al manner of very cool junk. ||Finally, perhaps the most persuasive imprimatur. Every time we go for lunch, there’s a table of old boys. Fifty some years ago they would have been Felini’s vitelloni--brash, aimless, late adolescent pleasure-seekers. They are now all grown up, pleasure seekers still, taking their long lunch at a table for six, opening wine, ordering taglieres spilling over with meats, and primi, primi, primi. If they want to be at Malardot, so do I. And so, I...
Read moreThe drive, the ambiance, the food--all well worth it at I Malardot. Start with the food. We’ve eaten at I Malardot 4-5 times now. With confidence, you can begin with a tagliere, mixed sliced meats and cheeses. For primo piato our current favorite is artichoke ravioli with fosse cheese. That might well qualify as a desert island food for me. I could never tire of eating it. In addition we have had the tagliatelle with sausage and peas, passatelli in brodo, and strozzopreti with I don’t remember what sauce. All the primi are good. But the ravioli are really special. Our usual side dish is the erbe di campagne, always terrific with piada and stracchino or squaquarone. House wine, terrific. Desserts, excellent. ||Ah, but the drive up is in a word spectacular. You begin your ascent to I Malardot at Ponte Verucchio, rise to Torriana, from which you have a view of old Verucchio across the valley of the Marecchia. Continue on--upward, upward--to the drive that takes you to the restaurant. The views are something to keep in mind: if you can, go to this restaurant for lunch.||The ambiance inside Malardot is another reason to give this place a try. Hanging from the ceiling, chairs, bicycles, implements, al manner of very cool junk. ||Finally, perhaps the most persuasive imprimatur. Every time we go for lunch, there’s a table of old boys. Fifty some years ago they would have been Felini’s vitelloni--brash, aimless, late adolescent pleasure-seekers. They are now all grown up, pleasure seekers still, taking their long lunch at a table for six, opening wine, ordering taglieres spilling over with meats, and primi, primi, primi. If they want to be at Malardot, so do I. And so, I...
Read moreIf Henry VIII th or Falstaff accompanied my femme and i into this osteria, its name I Malardot ( dialect for"misplaced"), would not seem out of place.|| Its high up on a hill and really quite out of the way but it is the definitive osteria in my reckoning. The atmosphere is casual while the furnishings resemble another time but the food does not disappoint.|| Coursely sliced porchetta, salame and mortadella arrive on wax paper to go with your wine. Noodles follow, made from wheat and chickpea flours and gnocchi with sausage and peas. My femme adored her tortelloni filled with chickpea and fresh tomato sauce.|| All the pastas floating to other tables looked good, but for me, it was the corateline con carciofi, delicate sweetbreads, heart and lung served with lightly fried artichokes. My favourite dessert is pere ubriacle, with a rich sticky finish. The food here is not formal but delicious and genuine with wines the equal of the...
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