Return to Modena: A Psychedelic Feast at Osteria Francescana
- I Love Food
- Apr 30
- 4 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
Youtuber: Cosa Mangiamo Oggi ?
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Cosamangiamooggi
Website: https://cosamangiamooggi.it/it
Restaurant: https://maps.app.goo.gl/q8P7zKAmMggQDJxc6
Google Maps:
After visiting this summer, we just had to come back to Modena. Why? Because we missed something. A detail, a dish, a feeling—we weren’t sure. But it felt necessary.
Were we nervous? Not really. But as I walked in and saw the words "Annamaria Clementi 2011" and the room started whispering memories, I knew: this was going to be an extraordinary journey.
The Menu: Take Two
Like last time, we went for the full tasting menu. Why hold back? We’d done it before, we could do it again. This time, however, we came prepared—with a list of wines, complete with vintages and varietals. No need to stress about pairings.
Let’s begin.
🍄 Welcome to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
From the name alone, you know it’s going to be wild. Inspired by the iconic album, the welcome dish is a trio of meringues modeled after LSD pills—each a nod to creativity and meaning.
Red meringue: beetroot, umeboshi, sweet gorgonzola, red beet pico – dedicated to the women of the team.
Green meringue: spinach and mint, robiola, apple pico – a tribute to nature.
Orange meringue: carrot, tamarind, ginger – what Massimo poetically calls “The Light of the Italian Renaissance.”
Accompanied by Fonte Canale 2017 from Cristiana Tiberio—clean, coastal, pure steel. A great start.
🍞 A Day in the Life
We celebrate daily rituals through bread: a focaccia infused with Modenese white ricotta, the chef’s own honey, toasted hazelnuts, and shaved white truffle. Meant to be eaten by hand—intimate, primal, delicious.
🥀 Cellophane Flowers & Kaleidoscope Eyes
This dish is pure Beatles psychedelia: edible flower petals, chopped Mazara shrimp and scallop, raspberry gel, and smoked crème fraîche. Served with a broth of raspberry, red shiso infusion, and apple extract.
Delicate yet punchy. Acidic, floral, and hard to eat politely. But who cares?
🎯 If I’m Wrong, I’m Right
A declaration of intent. A dish born from the early days of Francescana, when critics said Bottura was “wrong.”
We’re served low-temp cod fillet, topped with an autumn-colored “meadow” of porcini, coconut-lime cream, and pumpkin. Red Thai curry sauce, Jerusalem artichoke chips, parsnip, and kefir lime.
It’s like stepping into Thailand with one bite. A stunning example of balance, nostalgia, and defiance.
🐌 Snails in the Skull
This dish tells stories—of biodiversity, collaboration, and culture. A Mexican skull-inspired tostada topped with Villa Maria Luigia herbs and filled with snails in red mole, green mole, and sauces like caramelized pineapple (with cuttlefish ink!), dehydrated onion, and beet pico.
Unexpected, earthy, and bold.
🐄 Chicken, Chicken, Chicken... Where Are You?
Spoiler: it’s in the broth. The dish is actually a Wagyu tartare, topped with julienned vegetables and caviar, resting on an egg yolk sauce. You pour over a ponzu broth made from chicken and onion.
It’s like a garden in a bowl—complex, delicate, explosive. Possibly my favorite dish of the day.
🎵 Lovely Rita
A tribute to Meta Davis from the Abbey Road days. The plate: a sweetbread with dried plums, Madeira port reduction, pickled cabbage, edible flowers, and a broth of dashi with sesame and geranium oil.
Sounds intense? It is. But the plums and port bind it all together, and the apple broth—served separately—cuts the richness with bright acidity.
🦌 Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow, Green & Orange?
A wild dish: deer meat with foie gras, black truffle, and umeboshi. Cherry and tamarind sauces, herbs, and Cervia salt. They even add blueberry juice and recreate Modena’s fog with truffle “air.”
Rich, smoky, romantic. The dish comes with bread, of course—for mandatory plate mopping.
🍓 Strawberry Fields (But Not Forever)
A twist on the ‘80s strawberry & champagne risotto. This version features strawberry-lambrusco risotto, game ragù, blueberry reduction, and herbs. A masterclass in acidity and nostalgia.
🧀 The Five Ages of Parmigiano Reggiano
A Bottura classic. Five textures, five temperatures, five maturations—from 24 to 50 months.
Cream
Demi-soufflé
Cold foam
Aged chips
Parmesan “air”
Just Parmigiano, and yet absolutely transcendent. A lesson in time, patience, and technique.
🌰 In the Sky Without Lucy
A dessert in disguise. Cinnamon ice cream, pumpkin mousse, tangerine sorbet, chestnut cream, hazelnuts, truffle powder, and edible leaves made of beet chips and porcini. Topped with a yogurt cotton candy cloud—a Modenese fog.
It’s poetic. Autumn in a dish. Not too sweet, and very smart.
🍨 Modena Sorbet (aka Tortellino “Mignolo”)
A savory surprise to close: a single tortellino wrapped around a pinky finger, served in a 30-month Parmigiano cream with shaved truffle.
Not a dessert, but the best encore possible. It quietly says: "Wanna start all over?"
🎂 Sgt. Pepper’s (Reprise)
Final bites:
Yuzu-lacquered madeleine
Raspberry macaron with white chocolate ganache, vanilla salt
Mini ‘Camouflage’ with chocolate, truffle, and game sauce
Chocolate cherry tribute to Vignola with sour cherry and corn purée
Tiny, elegant, powerful. Like an edible encore.
💳 The Bill
Two tasting menus, wines, water, extras: €835Discounted to €800Worth every cent. It’s not something you do every weekend, but once in a lifetime? Absolutely.
🎤 Final Thoughts
We ate in the temple of world cuisine. The location, art-filled and immersive. The service? Young, kind, sharp. The menu? A concert of memory, art, and flavor.
Massimo Bottura and Lara Gilmore didn’t just give us dinner—they gave us a performance.
If this post gets 70,000 likes, we’ll hit the next 3-star spot. Or maybe just 50k. Let’s not be greedy.