La Casina - Drena

Let me start by saying that La Casina may be the most beautiful country restaurant I even ever been in, and I have been in several in several countries. The enormous terrace shaded by a pergola of wisteria, allowed for tables (made of stone) to be widely spaced. It reminded me strongly of the French Laundry in the Napa Valley, but was if anything even more beautiful and gracefully proportioned. For some reason (though they knew I spoke English and barely a dozen words of Italian — they knew this because I had phoned ahead for a reservation), they assigned us one of the few waitresses who didn’t seem to know English at all. Fortunately, all the younger staff (the runners, etc), knew some English and a few of them knew English very well. Now may be as good a time as any to mention that the entire restaurant, from Executive Chef to Maitre d’, to all the floor staff, consisted of women. In America that would very likely be illegal in a restaurant not run entirely by one family. In Italy it was merely a curiosity. It didn’t make any difference that I noticed; I suspect that many people probably didn’t notice it. The food was imaginative — often an imaginative tweak of some northern Italian dish that didn’t really need any tweaking. In almost every instance it was somewhat more imaginative than it was good. For example, I began with risotto with fresh berries the most successful dish I ordered. The slight sourness of the fruits — raspberries, strawberries, blue berries, and a black berry or two — worked well with the rice and creamy cheese (fontina? clearly not parmigiana). The texture was both creamy and nutty, a state not easily achieved in a restaurant, where the slow cooking required of a traditional risotto is usually broken up into stages so that the final dish can be finished off in a matter of about 10 15 minutes instead of the usual 40. The result in many restaurants is often a dish devoid of the slight crunch of the best risottos. This one, however, was perfectly executed. The flavours, though unusual together, worked well together. My daughter began with a spaghetti flavoured with sardines and capers. She didn’t like it much, so we switched. I thought it was delicious if perhaps a little bland. Bland being the operative adjective for nearly all the food. As with the rice in the risotto, the spaghetti was cooked perfectly, properly al dente. With my first course I had an Italian Riesling, made by a winery called Kelner, which was complex, substantial, and very slightly peppery (a favour note I don’t generally associate with Riesling). It was “real wine,” as my close friend Paul (who knows more about wine than anyone else I know) might put it. I alone had a second course, which consisted of the smallest pork chops I have ever seen (about the size of normal lamb chops) that were grilled and served with the strangest polenta I have ever eaten, gelatinous and largely lacking in flavour, though to the extent I can remember any flavour it was thyme, a little too much thyme. This was accompanied by a so called ratatouille that bore almost no relation to the classic dish. It consisted of barely cooked and largely flavourless rondelles of tomato, daikon radish, and courgettes, with almost no seasoning at all, not even salt. Something is clearly wrong when a tomatoe in Italy in July is lacking flavour. The meat was over cooked and leathery it's always a risk with lean pork, but it can an should be avoided in a kitchen that clearly has ambitions. It was a nice idea, sounded very appetising on the menu, but it was not well achieved. The polenta was frankly abominable, resembling sea slug. Now, I happen to like sea slug, but not when it is called polenta. And I happen to like polenta when it tastes of maize and has a texture of, well, of polenta, not of sea slug. With my second course I drank an Italian Pinot Noir that was splendid — somewhere between a French Pinot Noir (more red Sancerre than Burgundy) and a Northern California Pinot Noir, with lots of zip to it. The wines, together with the setting, were the best part of the evening. We carried on to dessert, as one sometimes does even while knowing it’s going to be a risk. Meggie had a strawberry extravaganza (a sort of strawberries six ways), while I opted for the house version of tiramisu. Again, loads of imagination, lots of technique, beautiful presentation, but the flavours were, as with too much of the food we ate, simply under seasoned and unexciting (not subtle, but bland), as though the chef had been suffering a bad cold. There are lots of ways to tweak a classic tiramisu that can work — but making it too obviously an homage to something concocted at El Bulli was not, in my view the best way to go. It did not help, in my view, that it arrived as a pale pink globe on a bed of crumbled chocolate cookies. What, I wondered, is this? I continued to wonder it right through to the end. In sum, the setting was inspiring. The wines were eye opening. But the food was not as good as it should have been, bright ideas perhaps, but marred by a lack of flavour and a well judged sprinkling of salt and pepper. Lest some of you wonder if perhaps I might have been suffering from Covid, I can assure you that I was not. Proof was that I tasted the wines perfectly well.

Nice location, nice presentation on the plates, however the food was disappointing. The ideas are nice, however the taste of the food does not match the expectations that are bsing created. The fried fish we ordered was very dry and the papardelle had no taste. The risotto was ok, but far from mind-blowing. We ate far better for half the price in other restaurants in the area!

I chose this restaurant because it was recommended by our host, the wonderful presentation on its website and based on the raving latest reviews I found online (e.g. here). Unfortunately the restaurant and the food did not meet our expectations for the following reasons: first the ambience inside reminded me of the eating parlor at a youth hostel wide open space with scattered tables (well beyond COVID distance requirements) on stone floors, creating a rather noisy and very cold environment combined with rather rustic furniture. More importantly, though, the food was underwhelming… I left with the feeling, that the chef wanted to create (and present) something special but unfortunately failed to create or even capture the taste off the dishes. My food was frankly bland… I had rabbit leg with polenta, and while polenta can be challenging for creating taste, the taste should come from the sauce of the rabbit stew … well it did not. Plus I got the feeling that the dish stood too long in the kitchen to be delivered, the sauce was thickened and Luke warm only. My wife‘s trout was topped with a neon blue, artificially looking algae sauce and my daughter’s beef sirloin was so rough, her steak knife hardly made it through the meat. Last but not least the service was underwhelming both in regards the friendliness as well as knowledge (of wine pairing) and timing. Bottom line, nice location, good concept (modern take on traditional food) but poorly executed… and thus too pricey. Really sorry! and I mean it.

We had lunch with the family in this restaurant. We were fine. good food, fantastic location, discreet wine card.

We were here thanks to a friend's advice. the restaurant is located in a very quiet place, in the nature. has a nice porch, unfortunately the weather was not the best so we ate inside. the interior is however very nice, fireplace and beautiful atmosphere. fast and courteous service. the food really good, I tasted typical things, cook well. averagely higher prices.