An online review of a Michelin-starred restaurant in Italy is getting a lot of attention, after a travel writer said her experience 鈥渨asn鈥檛 dinner, it was dinner theatre.鈥
In , The Everywhereist, author Geraldine DeRuiter outlined her experience over a 27-course meal that lasted four and a half hours at Bros' restaurant in Lecce.
Though, in the post, she said there was 鈥渘othing even close to an actual meal served.鈥
There was the 鈥渢ablespoon of crab,鈥 the droplets of gelee infused with meat molecules, the 鈥渇rozen air鈥 that melted before it could be eaten, and the citrus foam course that was served 鈥 without utensils -- in a plaster cast of the chef鈥檚 mouth. The latter, she wrote, 鈥渨e were told to lick it out of the chef鈥檚 mouth.鈥
鈥淪ome 鈥榗ourses鈥 were slivers of edible paper,鈥 she added. 鈥淪ome shots were vinegar. Everything tasted like fish, even the non-fish courses.鈥
Nearly everything was served cold, DeRuiter said.
She said the portions for each course were so small that 鈥渁massing two-dozen of them together amounted to a meal the same way amassing two-dozen toddlers amounts to one middle-aged adult.鈥
Her scathing takedown prompted a lengthy response by the restaurant鈥檚 chef, Floriano Pellegrino, that included philosophical musings on the concept of art: 鈥淲hat is art? What is food? What is a chef? What is a client? What is good taste? What looks beautiful? What is a man on a horse?鈥
Pellegrino compared a line drawing of man on a horse with a version from the famous masterpiece series, Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David, and with Misheck Masamvu鈥檚 contemporary Trophies and Sycophants, saying he was 鈥渂ored with spectacular paintings鈥 like the one by David, which are 鈥渋mpressive but it鈥檚 shallow.鈥
鈥淐ontemporary art does not provide you with answers, but offers you great questions. Contemporary cuisine should do the same. A chef should not offer easy answers, but challenge you with interesting questions,鈥 Pellegrino responded.
鈥淲e thank Mrs. XXX 鈥 I don鈥檛 remember her name 鈥 for making us get to where we had not yet arrived.鈥
In her review, DeRuiter said she has tried to 鈥渃ome up with hypotheses for what happened.鈥
鈥淢aybe the staff just ran out of food that night,鈥 she wrote. 鈥淢aybe they confused our table with that of their ex-lover鈥檚. Maybe they were drunk.鈥
She said among the courses her party received were 鈥渢welve kinds of foam, something I can only describe as 鈥榓n oyster loaf that tasted like Newark airport,鈥 and a teaspoon of savoury ice cream that was olive flavoured.鈥
There was no menu, DeRuiter said, meaning she had no option other than the tasting menu.
鈥淭he servers will not explain to you what the hell is going on,鈥 she wrote.
One dish was a tiny fried cheese ball that the server explained was made with rancid ricotta, she described.
Thinking perhaps something was lost in translation, they tried to clarify if he meant fermented or aged, she wrote.
鈥淣o. Rancid.鈥 When she tried again to clarify in Italian, the server responded, 鈥淩ancido.鈥
In her post, DeRuiter included photos of the food, and her seven dining companions reacting to it.
At one point a member of her party was 鈥渟colded鈥 for getting up to have a cigarette outside and was told to sit down, she said.
DeRuiter also says one member was served nothing for 鈥渢hree consecutive courses鈥 because the restaurant couldn鈥檛 accommodate her food allergies.
Meanwhile, husband Rand was served food he was allergic to because 鈥渢hey didn鈥檛 care enough to accommodate [him],鈥 she wrote.
Bros鈥 website says an eight-course tasting menu costs 鈧130 ($187), while a 13-course tasting menu will run you 鈧200.
DeRuiter called the experience 鈥渙ne of the worst wastes of money in my entire food and travel writing career.鈥
鈥淒o not eat here,鈥 she wrote. 鈥淚 cannot express this enough.鈥
