Ristorante Locatelli
Amara Hotel, Limassol, Cyprus (Visit: 2nd October 2020)
Our first night at Locatelli was no ordinary night. I had heard so many good reviews about Giorgio Locatelli‘s restaurants and being on our mini honeymoon, all I wanted was to let go, enjoy and have PASTA. The friendly staff led us to our romantic table for two which had the best view in the restaurant. The manager congratulated us on our wedding and asked which one of us is gluten intolerant. From the manager to the waiters to the sommelier and of course the talented chefs and cooks – everyone was so accommodating and the quality of the service was outstanding. If I had to describe the service, I would say effortless. They made you feel very comfortable from the outset.
Homemade
They brought my husband four different choices of bread; brown bread, sun-dried tomato bread, olive bread and focaccia. They brought for me gluten free bread which is in fact made homemade at the Amara Hotel. This went so well with the extra virgin olive oil brought to our table.
From the extensive wine list, although it was difficult to select one (as they all seemed so tempting to try), we opted for the Il Poggione, Rosso Di Montalcino. A deep, complex but smooth red wine. With the restaurant’s sommelier, whom we befriended immediately, we chatted about our shared love for wine and especially unfiltered wine. He treated us to two additional glasses each of two other different wines to taste with our meals. They all paired so well with every dish we had in front of us, including the Note de Bianco from the Alessandro Viola winery. Bellissimo!
Scallops
Scallops, saffron vinaigrette and celeriac puree
We shared the scallops as a starter. As our mains, I chose the lobster pasta but switched the linguini (Linguine all’ astice) for the gluten-free spaghetti. This dish contained lobster, garlic, sweet chilli and fresh tomato sauce. The Hubby went for red wine marinated venison from the Game menu, served with mild mushrooms, radicchio and fried cream. To introduce the Autumn menu, the restaurant offered an additional menu, the Game Menu which served dishes such as smoked duck breast and homemade ribbon shaped pasta with hare ragu and dark chocolate.
The lobster dish was so delicious and I really enjoyed the fact that the chilli was not overpowering any of the other ingredients. I could have easily asked for more but I thought, wait for Second night Round 2 haha!
The venison – cooked medium rare– was cooked to perfection.
Of course, we couldn’t leave without having dessert first. For dessert I had the Chocolate variation, which the Pastry Chef was very considerate to make gluten-free. I was pleased to hear that the Chefs really love the idea of going flourless- music to my ears! On the other hand, Stefan went for the special dessert of the day – millefeuille.
The night ended with some late night treats by serving us petit fours all made with amaretto but in different forms. They were so good we were able to take some with us back to our room for midnight treats!
Not only was the food absolutely incredible but I was astonished by the impeccable quality of the service. The waiters were friendly and professional and the chefs did an amazing job creating such delicious dishes. And for this reason, we booked a second night at Locatelli the day after. Stay tuned for next week’s post on our Date Night Round 2 at Locatelli!
