Eating Italy: Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni, Lake Como

The Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio runs a superb restaurant.

Situated on the northernmost tip of the southern lip of Lake Como, it juts out into the lake, commanding a wonderful view of the beautiful lake. I attended a Lange sponsored dinner at the hotel's restaurant. Begining 2012, Lange is one of the sponsors of the Concorso d'Eleganza della Villa D'Este, to be held in Cornobbio the following day. Our table ovelook the hotel's pool, which in turn overlooks the lake.

Amuse bouche

I am not sure what the amuse bouche was...the waiter did not explain, and it was not listed in the menu. I didn't really quite like the amuse...but it was decidedly not spectacular in any way.

The first course was the reverse...spectacular in every way...it was a serving of crunchy prawns with mixed greens and citrus salad

The prawns were indeed crunchy and very sweet. Super fresh. The pastry which wrapped the prawns were light, crisp and broke to the touch...not a tad of grease was detected, though I am sure it was deep fried. The greens wer also fresh, light, and the salad dressing was quite superb.

The next course was also quite spectacular...a homemade ravioli with cottage cheese and spinach, fondant egg yolk, parmesan cheese and truffle.

Very tasty as well...except for the truffle, though looked like a fairly generous shaving, it lacked punch and taste. The aroma of truffle itself was very mild. But the ravioli was perfect. The pasta done superbly...al dente, and bursting within the stuffing.

For mains, we were served the loin of veal cooked in olive oil, fried potato and broccoli tartare and baby aubergine

In a word superb. The meat was done to perfection. The meat was glorious. The texture - text book perfect. The meat was tender but at the same time provided a bit of resistance. A light lingering taste of milk fed to the calf remained. Very good.

Next a show of sorts...the desssert was coffee cream with chocolate cookie with a nitrogen frozen Calvados ice cream. Liquid nitrogen was poured into the bowl of milk, briskly and expertly stirred, and served. All done in situ, right by the table side.

Judging by how busy this little team of waiters were making the calvados ice cream, this is indeed a popular dish.

Excellent meal. I overheard someone saying that the restaurant had one Michelin star, but searching the web sources, I could not confirm it. But the meal I had was spectacular, and worthy a Michelin star.

Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni
Via Roma, 1
22021 Bellagio Como, Italia
+39 031 950216