First impressions are not always what they seem to be. Ristorante Perbellini is located just a few minutes away from Verona, between Milan and Venice. You will arrive at an industrial setting just next to the autostrada and you will initially think that you have taken a wrong turn. But you can rest assured that you have come to one of Italy’s finest restaurants.

Chef Patron Giancarlo Perbellini comes from a family of successful pastry-makers. His family started to make a name for themselves in 1890 and is today recognised as one of the best Italian confectioners. Giancarlo was born in Italian Bovolone in the Province of Verona in 1964. He soon discovered that his true passion was not to run a pastry factory and simply take over his father’s business, no, it was in the world of gastronomy he truly found the inspiration and excitement which has taken him all the way to the top of today’s Italian culinary world.

Chef Perbellini started his career at Dodici Apostoli and Marconi in Verona, and he continued to Imola and their top restaurant San Domenico. After three years in Imola he moved to Paris to work for Taillevent, L’Ambroisie and Le Chateau d’Esclimont. These three fantastic restaurants where followed by work at La Terrasse in French Juan les Pins. After France he worked for a while in London as well before he moved back to Italy. In 1989 he opened his eponymous restaurant in Isola Rizza at the same site as his father’s pastry factory. Giancarlo has opened four additional restaurants, but his flagship is the food temple outside Verona.

The cuisine offers the utmost of Italian traditional cooking, all done with the best techniques and an emphasis on home-made. The classic cuisine becomes interesting and delicious thanks to the Chef’s creative and original ways of preparing his food. Cold spaghetti salad with cuttlefish, basil, marinated prawns and lime is cooked impeccable. If you do not go for a tasting menu you should consider order in a rack of lamb on pea cream, morels mushrooms and eucalyptus. The finale with a wide range of pastries will make you understand what all the fuss is about when it comes to the Perbellini’s amazing desserts.

Ristorante Perbellini is well worth a detour and you should not care for a second about the first impression of the industrial scenery of this wonderful gem of a restaurant.

Written by Andy