Sa Cardiga and Su Schironi (Cagliari, IT)

The day: 14^th September 2007, Dinner.
The place: stradale Pula, Bivio Capoterra, Loc. “La Maddalena Spiaggia” (Cagliari, IT)
The venue: Ristorante Sa Cardiga e Su Schironi
Closest Airport: Cagliari (BA, Easyjet)
The food: Traditional Italian/Sardinian Dining (mainly fish)
The drinks: Regionally based with some interesting wines, reasonably priced.

Here's the second review from our selection of the Sardinian holidays. It's about the kind of slightly upmarket family restaurant you can find in Italy: very comfortable environment, well appointed tables with regular tablecloths and napkins (and above all oceans of space between them), a diffuse simple elegance, with a relaxed, unstuffy and welcoming atmosphere that suits the tourist, the local and the businessperson alike (all three categories were represented on the night of our visit). Well, this is what we mean:

The restaurant, as one would expect, it being practically on the beachfront, specialises in seafood: as you enter, again as is standard practice in Italian fish restaurants, a display of what is on offer on that evening is the first sight that welcomes you:

Enough variety for you? You may be able to distinguish some glistening, impaled snake-like creatures peeking from the back of the mushrooms… if not, don’t worry; we’ll have more on this story later J

As soon as we are seated we are offered two glasses of bubbly – at the same time, as in many restaurants of this kind, the waiting staff come and ask us what we’d like to have – no menu in sight. But (unlike too many other establishments) there is no need to worry about being ripped off by being pushed towards expensive dishes, as the price list is stuck outside the door. There is an enticing list of both cold and hot starters: among the former, seafood salad, fresh Tuna Carloforte style (Carloforte being on an island in the South west of Sardinia, famous for its ‘tonnare’, where tuna fish was collected, slaughtered and then processed), oysters, tuna ‘bottarga’ (cured eggs), muggine (flathead mullet) bottarga: all between €5 and €8 (can you imagine?). Among the warm starters, seafood soup and a fry up of small fish, with nothing above €7. One can also have a sampling dish choosing five starters for €11.Primi are between €6 and €8, the cheapest item being the Culurgiones (type of ravioli filled in with potatoes, a kind of fresh pecorino cheese and mint, a very poor example of which we had at Sardo), and the most expensive various other fish dishes, as for instance the linguine with bottarga. Mains propose all sorts of grilled fish (the cheapest being eel, at €30 a Kilo, and the most expensive being langoustines, at €80 a Kilo), as well as the typical sardinian grilled porcetto (suckling pig), at €13, mixed fried fish from Cagliari gulf (€12) and lobster (€130 a chilo).

In amiable conversation with our pleasant waitress, it became quicly apparent to us that we should never let the starters pass by: we go for the mixed samples, and let the waitress choose for us. But after a second, here she comes again with a trolley with all sort of goodies: a plate with four warm and oversized bruschette, pane carasau, olives, and a chopping board hosting a huge salami looking Sardinian sausage and bottarga. They do want to keep us busy!

We manage to resist temptation and pass on the sausage, but give in remorslessly to bottarga

Of course, we could not expect this delicacy (and such a huge plate of it) to be complimentary, and we start wondering whether we should be worried: but as the room is filling up more and more with customers, we decide this cannot be a rip-off, and relax. As it turned out later, we paid €9 for it: a very honest price. And it was so good: just plain and simple bottarga on a bed of finely shredded raw artichokes (where did they find them at this time of the year?) simply seasoned with salt, oil and lemon – simple but very apt combination to underlinde the rich, delicate, inebriating taste of the bottarga. Quite a promising start!

Then, the starter arrives: good we asked for a single portion. It is made up of (clockwise from top left):

- seafood salad;

- fresh tuna with onions;

- Bosana style ‘agliata’ (i.e. gattuccio di mare (of Burrida fame), but it could also be done with skate);

- monkfish with mushrooms;

- bitesize mozzarelle with smoked swordfish (in the centre)

The picture cannot possibly convey the storm of flavours these stirred: all exceedingly varied in taste, and exceedingly good. A caleidoscope of innumerable tastes, from the slight acidity of the mozzarelle (impossibly fresh) and marinated monkfish, to the sweetness in the red sauce of the agliata (very tender), the smokiness of the swordfish, the sea bursting out of the seafood salad. Pretty amazing; only criticism, since we must be able to find one, the monkfish was a tad too dry. But the mozzarelline were spectacular.

Next, our primi arrive:

- black tagliatelle ‘our style’ (€7)

- pescatora style risotto (€8)

The black tagliatelle had been prepared with squid ink, and were presented in a tomato sauce with cep mushrooms, prawns and arselle (i.e. a local type of clam). The tomato sauce was beautifully sweet: the pasta had been cooked flawlessly, well ‘mantecata’ and the overall effect of this dish left both of us almost speechless.

The risotto was a little bit too salty for our taste. It had been also cooked very well, and the amount of seafood in it was again generous. Overall very good, but no wonder, this is what you get when a competent cook works with such first rate ingredients.

Now, an interlude: did you remember the impaled glistening creatures we tried to show you at the beginning: well, now we understand the name of the place better: Sa Cardiga and Su Schironi is Sardinian dialect for “The grille and the skewer”. And the skewer we get, proudly displayed by a waiter going around the dining room with the grilled eels on it. Now, we hope you’ll agree that a giant skewer is by far preferable to a giant peppermill…(remember this)

Of course we cannot let this provocation go unchallenged, so we decide to share one eel:

Delicious, rich and succulent, its sweet meat very moist, all accompanied by a glass of red Cannonau (local grenache): we later discovered this treat (including the wine) cost us a whopping €3.50 (yes, little more than £2 – maybe we are dreaming).

Now for our secondi:

- Grilled sarago (white seabream) €16

- Castagnola fillet in ‘cassola’ (signature dish) €20

We have to apologise for the look of the seabream, but Woman had greedily lunged to clean it up while the by now slightly Cannonau-inebriated Man was still dreamily enjoying the view instead of taking a picture, so there you go (by the way, a sign of the slight upmarketness of this place is that they did offer to clean the fish for us. In more basic places you would have no option but cleaning it yourself. We say cleaning it and not boning because you will always find that the fish has been cooked with its innards. Take it as a sign of fresheness, as an old fish cooked with its innards in would smell and taste foul!). Well, there isn’t much to say: the fish was fresh, it had been grilled as it should, and it was simply perfect.

As for the signature dish, now here the hand of the cook was more visible. This was a fish hotpot which, besides the advertised fillets of castagnola (damselfish, apparently), also included arselle (clams), mussels and shrimps. It had been seasoned with saffron (also produced on the island, if you can remember e.g. S’Apposentu's menu). The sauce was good, fresh and intense, the tomatoes in it again very sweet, and the fish was as good and nicely textured as we were by now exacting. Oh, and Man could enjoy the beautiful look of this dish, too (while less aestetically inclined Woman chomps on). And for the more cheap bastards among you, the signature dish comes with a free plate, as it is the “piatto del buon ricordo” (good memories dish) – the union of the “Ristoranti del buon ricordo”

gathers a large number of good quality restaurants (with all sorts of prices) which present the customers ordering the signature dish a corresponding signature plate. There is a good number of collectors of such plates in Italy

We just did not have any room for anything else, or at least we tried to behave, and skipped desserts, just ordering one coffee (€1, yes, 70 pence…in a restaurant…) to keep up appearances.

We had a bottle of formidable and interesting late-ripened white Cannonau (not commonly found, as Cannonau is usually expressed in red) ‘Leila’ 2003 Alberto Loi at €20. Add €1,50 for the water, and the total bill came at €98.

A very very honest price for a very very good place, as there used to be many in Italy. This restaurant proposes simple, unadulterated Italian regional cuisine which remain staunchly true to its core tradition: very fresh ingredients, of unbeatable quality, with a minimum of preparation. But what basic preparation is needed , it is executed with mastery – in a large restaurant kitchen (here for up to 400 covers!) even grilling can disappoint unless it is backed by care and organisation. The credit goes to the Murgia family owners, who have been going on since 1967, with two generations involved (the father Cesare having recently passed the operational baton to son and sommelier Gianluca). This format is something which is unlikely to ever catch up in the UK, simply because it is too much ingredient-driven, and traditional Italian cuisine is very regional, based on very local raw material. You’ve got to fly there to try… Sa Cardiga and Su Schironi brings you the generous and stirring soul of Sardinian fish cuisine, and it does so with professional service and at prices that leave the Londoner stunned. No wonder it is always busy, in an out of town location, and with a local customer base among the most demanding and competent on fresh fish; so much so we could not repeat the next night, Saturday, as it was fully booked! We wish the Murgia family a continued success; they gave us a completely enjoyable dinner out.

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S'Apposentu (Cagliari) - Chef Roberto Petza

The day: 5^th September 2007, Dinner.
The place: Teatro Lirico (Cagliari, IT)
The venue: Ristorante S’Apposentu
Closest Airport: Cagliari (BA, Easyjet)
The food: Fine Italian/Sardinian Dining The drinks: Extensive and careful list, Italian based, very strong on Sardinian wines, wide range of prices, also by the glass.

NO LONGER WITH US

This was the Michelin starred culinary destination during our beach-bumming holidays on the splendid Southwestern coast of Sardinia. Alas, all good things must come to an end; and this unfortunately applies to our holidays as well as to this restaurant: S’Apposentu will close in December because of financial disagreements between Chef patron Roberto Petza and his ‘hosts’ at the Teatro Lirico (a very colourful, very Italian story at once sad and farcical, too long to tell here, though…). Nevertheless Chef Petza is not going to disappear, so we think this report will be of interest to those who wish to assay his cuisine in whatever new enterprise he launches. At the time of writing, there is much speculation on whether he will abandon his native Sardinia or not. It would be a pity if he did, as Sardinia does not shine for ‘high’ cuisine as it does with natural beauty (while offering fantastic traditional cuisine - more on this story later...).

Let’s be straight: we are happy that Pezta is moving away from Teatro Lirico. We didn't find it a welcoming venue, situated as it is in an area which felt seedy and mildly threatening, and presenting the customer with a locked door necessitating the use of an interphone to communicate with the restaurant on the first floor. Appropriate maybe for a posh London club, not for a Sardinian restaurant (hospitality is a pleasant feature of this region). We arrive 15 minutes early with respect to our booked time, at 8.15pm, and the voice through the interphone informs us that the restaurant ‘is only operational at 8.30’. We are not offered to sit at the bar, but rather invited to take a walk in the dark in the unpleasant neighbourhood. We worry, as Man has done his military service sitting in an office and his self defence skills are rather poor. A rather strange and unwelcoming start, which brings us very close to calling the visit off.

But we don’t, and things improve once we finally get inside. The large room manages to be both warm-rustic and sharp-modern at the same time. Photos only on request as it is going to disappear anyway...

There is a nice and welcoming front room crew, who ask us whether we prefer a fantastic, large and intimate table in an alcove, or a much smaller ordinary table in the middle of the room. Is it only us who get these questions, or are there really people with twisted preferences?

We are offered a fine Chardonnay Solis. As we discover later, when they say ‘may we offer you…’ here they really mean ‘offer’, unlike the annoying practice in many other establishments, sorry Malga Panna to single you out on this occasion (we really liked your cuisine and so the disappointment was greater).

The bread arrives in its full glory.

Aaah, this is real Sardinian hospitality. Look at how varied, colourful and generous the offering is. A painting. What a triumph: tomato focaccia, plain focaccia, stuffed bread, grissini, plain white, carasau, seeded bread…please remember this picture when you find yourselves at a restaurants in London and are offered a single piece of bread from a tray tightly held by the waiter. The interphone sourness has vanished by now. But there is more, here’s the amuse-bouche:

It’s a Terrina of Muggine (Flathead mullet, we discover on the dictionary) with bottarga (slivers of salt preserved fish-eggs) of swordfish and onions. An explosion from the sea, balanced and intense, a perfect amuse-bouche with a range of flavours, not least the sweet-sour of the onion.

The list offers two six-course tasting menus at €60 each, one of them entirely fish based. To learn the price, Woman has to stretch her neck to Man’s menu, as here too women are not expected to pay, it seems – they get an unnervingly sexist priceless menu. As usual, we go a la carte. For primi we chose:

- Lasagne with fresh sausage sauce, San Gavino saffron and smoked ricotta (€18)

- Fish fillet, mussels and basil fregua.(€20)

On the lasagne, Woman was rather tepid, let’s say the same as the dish temperature…Too rich, the pasta was OK, but overall a rather ordinary ensemble, she opined. Man warmed up more: the herbs lightened up on the palate a satisfyingly rich dish, the pasta was very good, quite fine, and the smoky flavour from the ricotta came out wonderfully as a dominant note. The only agreement between Man and Woman was that the serving temperature should have been higher. We believe the kitchen was under pressure - more on this story later...

The fregua (or fregola, i.e. a traditional Sardinian pasta type, imagine giant cous cous ‘grains’) instead enthused both of us. The fish broth was very dense, concentrated and intense, with dill freshening it all up. The raw materials were top notch, above all we were impressed by the mussels. Note that like all self respecting ‘zuppe’ there was bread as well as fregua in the broth (this is one of the differences between zuppa and minestra – in case you wish to retain this piece of information, remember the Italian saying ‘if it’s not zuppa it’s soaked bread’!).

For secondi we had:

- Porcetto (suckling pig) cooked in three ways with red onions in wine (€25)

- Sea bass with thyme aubergine sauce, mussels and candied cherry tomatoes (€25)

The porcetto was presented very neatly, two ‘fat’ cuts (belly and shoulder) and the chops, the latter breaded in almond shavings and quickly ‘scalded’. The belly had been cooked at 60 degrees in red wine, while the shoulder at 95 degrees with ‘mirto’. We forgot where the ‘green salt’ was…perhaps in the mushrooms - definitely too salty. The reason why we know these details is not that we bring thermometers with us, but that we were so impressed by the marvellous cooking that we sent the marvellous sommelier (yes, it was that busy a night) on an expedition to the kitchen to enquire on the chef’s secrets. Individually, each of these preparations was superb, Man finding the dominant and clear charcoal flavour at the centre of this symphony especially pleasing. The ‘conceptual’ reservation we have is that overall there was no respite, even in the chops, from the richness of the fat (which of course cannot be avoided in a suckling pig) making the dish a little heavy to our taste, for all its accomplishment.

The bass was no less good a dish. The thyme flavoured aubergine was superlative, and this should not belittle the main ingredient, of supreme quality as we had now come to expect. A slight acidity from the tomatoes underlined and complemented the other flavours aptly. We should also mention the wagonload of mussels and the unadvertised crispy pecorino cheese (we think). Altogether, as usual, this dish was rather involved. While Woman munches away quite unmoved by the aesthetics, Man would like to invite you to admire the colour palette of this presentation.

A pre-dessert arrives:

It’s a watermelon sorbet with whitecurrant. Nice and fresh, ideal after those mains.

From the interesting dessert menu we choose:

- San Sperate caramelised peaches with vanilla yoghurt mousse and coffee biscuit

- Cannolo filled with chocolate cream, Guerand salt and chilli pepper, with plums and candied lemon peel

For Man the peaches were a stunner of a dessert, very balanced, beautifully simple, the intense coffee biscuit matching the mousse ideally, and the peaches as good as they come. Does the very demanding Woman agree? She remarks that it’s more a Chantilly than a mousse (to be fair the Italian description said ‘spuma’ i.e. foam), but she agrees that it is veeeery well turned out, and that the coffee biscuit is exceptional: a really fine dessert indeed, with those flavours that remain sculpted in your memory!

Less agreement on the cannolo. Man quite appreciated the satisfying classic match at the core, in a beautifully looking and ambitious dessert conceived to strike and blow over, though balance is not one of its features: a dish to throw yourself in and enjoy the unruly mix of flavours without thinking too much. Woman was rather more taken aback by the violence of the chilli on the throat and not thoroughly impressed by the chocolate. However, overall, she concedes it was a good and interesting dessert.

Despite us having no coffee, the petit four are brought to us, as a full stop to an evening of great generosity.

We just tried the chocolate covered strawberries, and they were very good.

We had a Nieddera Contini 2004 Rosso della Valle del Tirso, recommended by the Sommelier off list at 18 Euros (a really interesting and nice wine which we’d never heard of, amazing value for money). Adding water (0.75 litres) at Euro 4, the total bill came to a round 130 Euro, well inside our £100 even after adding the well-deserved tip.

The service staff was very good, although the service itself was very hit and miss, with the typical alternation between extremely long waits and lack of any wait between dishes, which is the mark of a kitchen slightly off balance. A special mention is deserved by the Sommelier, whose friendliness and devotion to the customer were equal to his competence and professionalism. There was an obvious shortage of staff in the front room, as the Sommelier himself had to double as a waiter, rushing around to pick up empty plates. In spite of the pressure, though, all waiting staff were cheerful throughout.

The cuisine of Chef Petza is built around strong, clear and memorable flavours and expresses a rather ‘aggressive’ imagination. If any of his dishes has a fault, it will always be by excess rather than by defect. Although to our own personal taste some more balance, lightness and restraint would have sometimes been welcome (and we repeat, this is just a subjective preference others may not share), no-one can doubt his technical excellence, commitment to the highest quality in materials, ability to stride creatively tradition and innovation, and deftness of presentation. There is also a sense of great generosity and hospitality. We will remember this dinner as a pleasant and remarkable experience. R.I.P. S’Apposentu, and onward to the next venture!

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Burrida culture shock - can you spot the difference?

We spent our late Summer holidays in Sardinia. Before reporting on restaurants, a few thoughts on:

Burrida

A traditional fish dish in the Cagliari region (more on its preparation later).

Here is what we had at when we ordered it at Trattoria Bachixeddu (in Pula, Cagliari):



And this is what we found at Trattoria 'Zio Dino' (also in Pula):





They look pretty similar, don't they? That's because this is what burrida is, how Burrida is prepared. The fish is 'Gattuccio di mare' (a type of small shark) boiled and then enlivened with a sauce made up of the fish liver and walnuts pulped together, and vinegar. Absolutely delicious (we think you can spot from the photos the better one, the one with the more satisfying sauce).

But at Theo Randall in London when you ask for Burrida...now what is that?

We wonder...we wonder...what did his parents tell him during his trips in Italy as a little child?

Talking about culture shocks, let's also take a look at that great standard, Pasta con le vongole (clams):

At Bachixeddu:



and its leftover - it will take you a while to count the shells :-)



and at Osteria dell'Arancio (at twice the cost):

A little sadder, a little meaner, no?


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