Don Alfonso, Sorrento, Italy – 129 year history, 1982 vintage & Eel ice cream

It’s that time of the year where we celebrate Neal’s birthday and we are back in Italy, specifically Sorrento. The first few days here were glorious, the weather was superb. We spent it sipping cocktails, exploring the Amalfi coast by car with Vincenzo as our tour guide. We made it to the town of Ravello, (a must visit) based on the art exhibition we saw showcasing the photography works of Raffaello Celentano and it was worth it. We visited a wine shop called Wine and Drugs run by the formidable Stella. Now not only is she a very cool lady, she also had some truly dope wines like the Nocello which is a walnut liqueur which is 50% alcohol and a muffato desert wine made by the Antorini family for 26 generations and produce up to 3000 bottles a year! I mean come through Sorrento!

Dinner today is at Don Alfonso and what an experience it was. First off, they have been in business since 1890 that is over a century folks! When we arrived, we were given an unexpected tour and getting to see the gems of this property was unreal. We explored their wine cellar which is sectioned according to temperature (one section is kept at constant 12 degrees) and wine collection – (their oldest unopened vintage dates to 1945) and the family collection (none are for sale, date back to 1890). I mean even the stair well to the cellar is the original from 600BC! Plus, at the bottom of the stair well is where cheese is made. Their cellar has over 1700 different labels and to cap it all up, they have grown their own produce since 1985! We could not wait to sample the food and wines from Chef Ernesto and his team after this tour!  

When I tell you that Italy has some of the most interesting tasting bread ever, I tell no lies. I don’t know how they come up with flavours, but I am here for it. The meal started with a bread selection comprising bread sticks (that look like the stem of a vegetable) and onion bread! Now, you know my stand on onions right, it’s a NO! well, your girl enjoyed this bread. It was onion flavoured without any of the texture because you know I am not having no onion bits in my bread!

The meal started with amuse bouche, we had 2 courses and it was the second amuse bouche course that was dope. It was a rose pasta served with eel ice cream. Before I dive into the fact that the ice cream was eel, can I just emphasise that the pasta was ‘a’ meaning one, 1? Yep, it literally was 1 pasta which looked like a folded flower which was accompanied by eel ice cream. I was looking forward to tasting the eel ice cream, because one is somewhat versed in it so to speak. Ha! who am I kidding?! The only other place I recall having anything remotely similar was pollen street social, it was oyster ice cream which was delizioso! The eel ice cream and pasta? it was freaking brilliant. The pasta tasted delicate. I know, odd choice of words but it is the only description I can come up with. At it’s core was a pasta, but it was just you know, delicate. The eel ice cream was a cool contrast to the pasta. It had the texture of ice cream / cream cheese, with the taste akin to sea food in that it was salty and complimented the delicateness of the pasta.

The ricotta cheese course looked like dumplings! Morsels of tasty ricotta served in a consommé with lemon zest, yummy! You lot know I am a lover of fish and the grouper did not disappoint. It was vanilla scented with lemon and served with potato puree, vegetable ash and anchovies. We had a wine called polito which was a kind of red wine. I say kind of a red wine, but not entirely as this wine is also served with ice!!! Let me say that again, red wine + ice?! I was not ready! This wine was unlike most reds, err duh? It is served with ice? Ha ha! That aside, this wine was fruity with sweet undertones almost like a Moscato. It was like a cross between a Moscato and a port? Don’t know if that is even possible but hey. It tasted very sweet like cherry sweet and maybe that is why the ice is plopped in to soften / break that sweetness. It was interesting, and I loved it! After all it’s a food adventure.

The suckling pig course initially left me wanting, and this is because I was expecting sucking pig like Sabor in terms of size, I really should have reigned it in!

It was more a cut of a suckling pig as opposed to a quarter of a sucking pig, served with potato puree, chutney, sweet and sour tamarind. I am happy to say that the skin was tender as it was crispy, yas! crackling! The wine that accompanied this course though? I mentioned at the beginning that we had a tour of the wine cellar, my enthusiasm must have been obvious because the sommelier served a 1982 Antinori Tignanello, like hello! Aside from L’enclume, I don’t think I have had a vintage wine dating this far back. Talk about pulling it out of the hat eh? 

I don’t even think I can accurately describe what the wine tasted like, I mean it is over 30 years old! Saying that, I can assure you, it didn’t taste bleh, off or funny. As far as red wines go, it was that – red wine. It was dark, not to heavy or as the experts say full bodied. Ironically, I didn’t have the usually card box taste I associate with red wines. This might be because I was way too excited about having a glass of vintage wine to really notice. It did have oaky notes and a slight bitterness but not over bearing, I think it made the wine more ‘mature’. Did it go well with the suckling pig? most definitely.

The dessert and petit fours were a selection consisting of 4 courses of varying in texture, taste and sweetness. I mean one if it was swerved on what I can only call a paper serviette, complete with dusted chocolate. Everything was edible bar the serviette, lord knows I would have gladly eaten that too because it was soo good! three scoops of different flavoured ice cream as well? My night was made!

This food adventure started with a tour of the wine cellars and ended with a visit to Chef Ernesto’s kitchen!  Come on now!  I don’t think I will ever tire of the opportunity to see work spaces where magic is created!

Grazie Chef Ernesto, grazie Don Alfonso team!

Saluti

Ndidi