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Peter and Linda D'Aprix 2002 The restaurant of the Relais & Chateaux Hotel Giardino is rated at 17/20 by the guide book GaultMillau. We really wish we could agree whole heartedly with them, but while many of the dishes are indeed excellent, the service friendly and professional, the chef delightful and the culinary orientation modern and innovative, too many of the dishes that we were served did not quite live up to the way they looked. That is not to say they were at all bad, just that they did not quite live up to expectations. But there is so much that this establishment does that is excellent, that these reservations of ours should give pause only to the most demanding of gourmets. The restaurant provides a lovely ambiance and as part of a holiday with all the other facilities of the Hotel Giardino, this would be a minor glitch at worst. Their breakfast buffet is without doubt the best and most expansive we have encountered yet and their lunch Mediterranean buffet is also superb. On a sunny day, the awning covered dining terrace that fronts the pond is simply incomparable. Even in poor weather the plentiful daylight that floods the dining room through the vaulted glass roof makes it feel like summer. In summer, these same glass roofs telescope back opening the dining room to the stars.
By far the majority of the guests here are from Germany and correspondingly the service staff speak German as their first language. But English is also spoken. Our waitress was a charming young woman by the name of "Happy" who gives validity to the theory that people live up to their names. M. Martin Haier, our maitre d'hotel who is also the Assistant Food and Beverage director, was fluent in English and seemed to have plenty of time to discuss all options on the menu with enthusiasm and give verbal wine tours of local vintages all the while never neglecting other diners. The dishes are certainly a treat to the eye, even if some don't quite follow through on the balance of tastes. I started with the marinated tuna with fried vegetables and lime oil. This was a success. Linda enjoyed the sweet pepper broth with red curry and coriander ravioli even though the curry was a little to much in evidence for her taste. I was grudgingly about to skip the pasta course to leave room for the rest of the meal, but M. Haier suggested their Pasta Degustation or sampler dish featuring their 3 house specialties. He is a hard man to resist especially when resisting is the last thing you want to do. The dish arrived (see just below) with three small portions guaranteed not to fill you up. The fresh white cheese and wild garlic ravioli with morels and olive oil (front) was indeed excellent. The Barolo rice risotto with oxtail ragout was not as successful but pleasant enough. For the last taster you must like saffron a lot. I like it in gentle amounts but not taking over the whole taste of the dish and this is what it does in this version. If you love saffron, you will love this. The saffron ladened spaghetti is topped with the outer ring of tomatoes and two Venus clams out of shell.
This we followed with the tea smoked breast of duck with white asparagus and ginger. This was quite successful and would have been more so if the ginger had not taken the upper hand. Linda did enjoy her market fresh fish which this evening was Wild sea bass and saffron tomato risotto. Again the saffron was applied with too heavy a hand but the sea bass was excellent. Between courses we savaged the basket of home made breads that were to die for. The next morning at the breakfast we were delighted to find an entire two tier table stacked with wall to wall baskets of fresh breads of every shape, size and description. Another table was filled with fresh and preserved fruits and fresh juices not to mention the 20 different loose teas on a table of their own. We'd stay at this hotel just for its breakfast buffet! The wine cellar of this hotel is magnificent and spacious. It is well stocked with local vintages of Ticino reds and whites and the special whites made from red grapes such as Merlot. The Pinot Grigios are superb. Guests are welcome to take a small tour of the cellar and if you liked the wine you had with dinner, you can purchase more from the cellar.
The dessert menu is not copious but the dessert degustation (sampler) is excellent for those with a sweet tooth. (photo above). Top is Vanilla Ravioli, Front is "Nicino" ice cream with crystallized walnuts, middle left is Strawberry Soup with vanilla cream froth on top, right middle is Fresh Strawberries with a curl of chocolate hatching. This is served with a small glass of a local specialty "digestif" liqueur made from walnuts. Chef Armin Rottele, from Germany, explained that the drink also has herbs that help digestion. I personally found the liqueur delicious but it will not appeal to all. It was, however, a perfect complement to the dessert plate. As well as their Ticino and Italian cheese tray, they have a cooked cream pudding with coconut and strawberries; a Cantucci cream with Vin Santo ice cream and vanilla-apple sauce; gratinated whisky oranges with walnut praline ice cream; lastly a fresh fruit salad. With at least some consideration for those diners who find strong pipe and cigar smoke offensive at any time and most especially during an expensive and refined meal will find some pleasure in the fast that guests are requested to hold off on pipes and cigars until after dinner and then smoke them in the lounge. Cigarettes which can be just as offensive to those will allergies to any smoke are permitted. Our recommendation is to arrive at dinner just as soon as the restaurant opens and sit by an openable window or door. If the fresh air offends a smoker just propose an exchange. In short, this is an excellent hotel and food experience even if some dishes are more successful than others. Then there is always the choice of the Italian restaurant Osteria Giardino also in the hotel which, in our estimation, a bit more successful in reaching their goals and which serves delicious food. Albergo Giardino
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