This place, I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I found it a little bit weird… The service was slightly off shall we say, and I was confused by the intention of some of the dishes. I was given some bread to start in a brown paper bag, I am all for rustic, but this looked shabby. Fair enough if I am taking the bread away this is fine, but to put it on the table like this…? It gave the impression that they can’t be bothered.
For the first course I took the special, a raw ceviche style plate with pink peppercorns, chilli. It was light, the fish tasted fresh but there was a couple of chewy parts. I wasn’t 100 percent convinced on this.
Next- Octopus with cauliflower, olives, and leek. If you are going to use leek in a dish, three little bits on the plate doesn’t really count. The octopus was proficient in the cookery, there was a couple of cauliflower florets and puree on the bottom. This dish just felt small, starter like in feel, and it was 25 euros. Expensive for what it was and not worth it.
I also took a side dish of brussels sprouts with pecan nuts. I thought they had used too much fat to cook them in as it was tasting greasy and slightly over seasoned. This is not the Italian way at all, so it surprised me and at 10 euros I was expecting much better. Once again, the portion didn’t match the price point.
I had this feeling that the restaurant was lost and didn’t know the direction they were going in, this is just my intuition and what I took away from the visit. For me it’s just another ticked off the list in Milan for Rovello 18.
