Lunch at Il Piccolo, on Via del Serrone in Murata, the restaurant run by Mario Liotta.
Four courses, all from the sea: a mixed platter of raw fish, tartare, ravioli filled with smoked salmon, and a millefeuille with chantilly cream. The verdict fits in one line: twenty kilometers from the coast and in a different country altogether, the fish here arrives on the table the way it should on the Riviera — and often doesn’t.
The mixed raw fish platter is the dish that carries the whole lunch. Thinly sliced carpaccio, two small servings of tartare, a prawn and a scampi. Dressing kept to the bare minimum: oil, citrus, nothing else. It’s the course that reveals everything about a kitchen, because raw fish allows no corrections: if the ingredients aren’t impeccable, you notice on the first bite. Here, that never happens.
The tartare is the driest dish on the menu — in the best sense. A shallow disc, a touch of oil, a scattering of herbs around it, a ribbon of zucchini on top. No sauce to mask it, no concessions: the fish stands alone, and it holds up.
The ravioli filled with smoked salmon are the riskiest dish on the menu, since smoked flavor tends to overpower everything it touches. Not here: fresh cherry tomatoes and squid keep it in check, and the filling stays recognizable without becoming overwhelming. It’s the kind of balance that only looks easy when it actually works.
The millefeuille with chantilly cream closes things out in the most classic fashion possible. Pastry that makes the right sound under the spoon, properly whipped cream, a strawberry coulis. No attempt to reinvent a dessert that doesn’t need reinventing.
The register here is classic — which also makes it the most exposed: no reinterpretations to hide behind, no sauce to cover up a mistake. A seafood lunch like this either holds together or it doesn’t. Here, all four courses hold up, from the raw fish to the millefeuille, and you leave having eaten exactly what the menu promised.
It’s the hardest compliment to earn — and the hardest to fake.
Il tavolo in fondo (“The Table in the Back”) is Insider.sm’s review column. We sit down unannounced, order what anyone else would order, pay the bill, and write about it. No restaurant can buy a review — or have one taken down.
