Delicious food does not necessarily mean the most complex and advanced food with the most exclusive ingredients. No, delicious food is about the best tastes with the best texture and flavours made of ingredients of the highest quality. No one can say what is the best of anything, it is simply up to everyone to judge for himself, but we can guarantee you that if you mix some of the most important and influential food cultures of all time – the French and Italian – you will have some fantastic food if prepared by the proper persons. Enoteca Pinchiorri is an Italian restaurant, but with several French influences, and it is easy to proclaim that the restaurant is the perfect fusion of the Italian and French cuisine.

In 2012 Enoteca Pinchiorri celebrated the fact that it has been a restaurant for four decades and not just any restaurant, no, one of the best in the world. Very few restaurants manage to survive for 40 years and extremely few manage to be at the very top level. The answer to how a restaurant such as Enoteca Pinchiorri manages to stay on top is the perfect fusion of two cultures and two persons who have chosen to dedicate their lives to gastronomy and wine. Annie Féolde, originally from French Nice, and Giorgio Pinchiorri, an Italian from the Modenese region, have lived almost a whole life together and they reflect well indeed the similarities and differences between the two countries’ culture. In 1972 they opened a wine cellar and wine tasting room that after an almost immediate success eventually became the Enoteca Pinchiorri. Good food and wine always make the perfect marriage so Annie Féolde started in 1974 to cook food that was served to the guests. Her culinary passion has taught her how to cook in order to offer the guests dishes that are perfectly enjoyed with wine. Annie’s food became more and more delicious and elaborate and during the same time Giorgio Pinchiorri was developing and expanding the wine collection.

Over the years both the restaurant and its wine cellar have become forces to reckon with. Enoteca Pinchiorri ’s wine cellar is one of the best in the world with its 145,000 bottles and 5,000 different brands. 50 percent Italian wines, 40 percent French wines and 10 percent are from the rest of the world. The wine cellar is so much more than just volume, with many unique and extraordinary bottles of the absolutely best brands in the world. For instance the restaurant is offering the biggest selection in the world of Methuselah bottles. One bottle of Methuselah is the equivalent of eight standard bottles and only the very best brands are for sale. How about a bottle of Methuselah with Romanée-Conti from 1985 for 300,000 Euros? Just one example of the many thousands of unique wine bottles that you can buy, but of course you can also order in wines at much more modest prices.

Today the responsibility for the actual cooking is held by the two Head Chefs Italo Bassi and Riccardo Monco who have worked at Enoteca Pinchiorri for 20 years and they make some phenomenal Tuscany cuisine with several influences from all over Italy and France as well. The two head chefs’ cooking is an almost perfect balance between creativity and tradition and it comes in a lovely contrast to the contemporary and complex desserts made by the young Pastry Chef Luca Lacalamita with experience from former El Bulli.

The modern cuisine was probably born in Tuscany in the sixteenth century and the region still stands for some of the best food in the world. Enoteca Pinchiorri has been around for a long time and hopefully will the restaurant continue for many more years to come. It is a must visit for any gourmet and for anyone looking for a great evening.

Written by Andy