PASCUCCI AT THE MARINA
We met the chef Gianfranco Pascucci thanks to its many programs broadcast on Gambero Rosso Channel.
His deep knowledge and his way of talking about the sea and fish products have fascinated us for years, and they pushed us to travel to try his cuisine at the restaurant Pascucci at the Porticciolo, a Fiumicino, on a Saturday in late summer.
250 kilometers each way plus the same number on the way back, 500 kilometers by car in a day to satisfy a gastronomic desire. But we have a certain propensity for pilgrimage, and the distances certainly do not scare us.
Pascucci al Porticciolo restaurant is beautiful, almost an immersion in a marine environment: powder blue walls, white furniture and lots of decorative objects recalling the sea (like coral lamps and vases) e non solo (tra gli altri, a majestic turquoise pine cone, a bubble in Venetian glass and two Sicilian Moor's heads).
We decided to order à la carte to have the opportunity to taste as many things as possible by exchanging them between us from time to time.
The hymn to the sea begins with the welcome: Starfish-shaped potato sheets filled with tuna sauce and capers and crispy beetroot waffles with horseradish sauce.
A seguire, another snack to eat with your hands, one of the house signatures, sometimes also offered for take-away: the Beach Sandwich. An alalunga burger with spring onion mayonnaise enclosed in a bun made by the well-known Roman "baker" (the definition is obviously reductive) Gabriele Bonci, who is also the author of the subsequent loaf accompanied by butter worked with anchovies (a spread so good that it is addictive!).
A collaboration, the one between Bonci and Pascucci, able to optimally enhance the products of both.
The Mullet, meaty and tasty, cut into small fillets, gains umami notes thanks to marinating in kombu seaweed, while the combination with almond rice, honey and orange placed on the bottom gives it delicacy.
Roasted squid with its infusion of Mediterranean scents thanks to the rose-shaped cut acquires stratification and considerable chewability. The broth is very pleasant to drink in a cup, which completes the dish.
Tagliatelle with lobster, orange and rosemary are pure pleasure. Impossible not to make the shoe with the bread in the fantastic sauce!
The Mancini Trenette in sea extract are a concentrate of iodine, a saline lash.
The Fake pasta and beans with yellow grouper and seafood is an almost perfect illusion to sight and taste.
But what has definitely won us over are the scampi steamed with herbs and spices.
The chef himself brought a tagine to the table, and once the lid was lifted there was a real explosion of perfumes! A wonder in which to plunge your nose voluptuously.
pink pepper, anice stellato, long pepper and lots of parsley give the crustaceans and the cooking steam an intense aroma.
Come predessert, two sorbets in the shells of the bivalves, almost a re-enactment of the fruit filled with ice cream in vogue several years ago. Nostalgia effect.
Simple but effective desserts: Consistencies of hazelnut and lemon and Coconut and raspberry variation. Here too a tribute to the sea, a decoration in the shape of a red coral.
La carta dei vini è corposa, and includes numerous international references.
The service is courteous, never invasive, professional but not cold: exactly what we like.
Eating at Pascucci's at the Porticciolo is one of those moments to frame.
The aesthetic factor is coupled with substance, and a lot! Dishes that strike the eye and caress the palate. Here only non-farmed fish is used, worked with great technique, but above all with passion.
The overall experience is strong, engaging, and we would like to recommend it with enthusiasm.
Pascucci al Porticciolo offers three tasting menus: the classic tasting menu, A journey into the sun and salt, and How deep is the sea, with prices starting from 90 Euro.
Pascucci at the Porticciolo
Viale Traiano, 85 – Fiumicino, Roma
such. 06/65029204; 329/4603566
www.pascuccialporticciolo.com
1 stella Michelin