Tag: Lido

Lido 84 in Camanini, the rise to The World’s 50 Best Restaurants – Italian Cuisine


In seven years, the Camanini brothers have made a beautiful place one of the meccas of gourmets all over the world: the 15th place in the most important ranking is only a consecration. An Italian story, simple and incredible. To tell

Now all to say that it was taken for granted after 2019, when Lido 84 was awarded with the Miele One To Watch Award 2019, recognition that highlights the rising stars of the kitchen, making it enter the 78th place of the The World's 50 Best Restaurants. Yesterday, the consecration: the restaurant Lido 84 of Gardone Riviera rose to 15th place with a prodigious leap – which also earned him theHighest New Entry Award – in the most prestigious ranking on the planet. Just to understand each other, the Osteria Francescana is out of the question – because Massimo Bottura is in the Hall of Fame – the Camanini brothers' restaurant has become the best in Italy. In an edition like the one in Antwerp where we did well in general: the Reale by Niko Romito jumps from the 51st to the 29th of this year, Le Calandre by Massimiliano Alajmo climbs five positions, from 31st to 26th, while Piazza Duomo by Enrico Crippa passes from 29th to 18th. But the cover is all for the Camanini brothers, sons of the Iseo adopted by the Brescia Garda: the chef Riccardo and the man of the dining room Giancarlo.

Pupil of Marchesi

When they opened in 2014, recovering the restaurant of the old bathhouse on the lake – Lido 84 in fact – it was the classic bet on the future. It is true that at 19 Riccardo was at the Albereta with Gualtiero Marchesi ("The teacher who guided my career" he always remembers) and the education continued between France and England, but no one would have thought that the ex-young man who came out of Villa Fiordaliso for fifteen years, Michelin starred with specialization in banquets, he would become one of the top twenty chefs in the world. Especially since the place was sober to say the least, with the dishes of the old restaurant and six employees in addition to the cook and his brother Giancarlo who to follow the adventure gave up a safe job as manager of the Fondital di Vobarno: he became so good at manage the room (and not only) which in 2017 was awarded by Gambero Rosso as number one in Italy. He took us, since at the end of 2014, Lido 84 was already Michelin star: it still is, incredibly. But we doubt that the next lap will not become two: it would be grotesque.

The Camanini Method

The awards – many, in Italy and abroad – and the evaluations of the guides please the Camanini. But less than the system they have developed, the work they ensure. Now the brigade has exceeded twenty units, all hired for an indefinite period, with holidays, permits and contributions. “Obviously with board and lodging at our expense. It is truly the result that makes us most proud, since we started with the goal of being completely sustainable without external help, which made everything slower and more difficult. I do not forget that Giancarlo and I did not earn a salary for two seasons says the chef. On the other hand, a Camanini method which briefly is based on the responsibility of individuals – in every aspect, not only related to the specific role – which starts from the creation of individual projects at the beginning of the season up to the reading of the books recommended by the brothers. Seen from the outside, Lido 84 looks like a cross between a convent (serene, not gloomy) and a social center (apparently chaotic but far from anarchic) ​​as we were the first to define.

Iconic dishes

Season after season, slowly but surely, everything that does not concern cooking has changed its face. The internal room is filled with design objects, the dehors is characterized by a large counter that helps the service, the mise en place is well cared for without exercises in style, the paper is hand-printed … Lido 84, also and above all for frequenting with the world of The World's 50 Best Restaurants, he found the right mood to end up where he ended up. Of course, those who work there are all Italians and Gardone Riviera remains a beautiful town on Lake Garda, which has always been loved by foreigners: but especially in the 'holes' of the pandemic and its reopening, there is a feeling of being in the world. For customers and for the kitchen, always in positive tension and with a whirlwind of recipes perhaps unique in Italy: we are close to 400 recipes, all set up in the database, from the day of opening. Some already iconic such as the Spaghettone with butter and brewer's yeast that bewitched Ducasse and is part of the menu of the restaurant inside the MoMa in San Francisco, the one that replicates the most famous dishes of international top chefs. Or the Cacio e Pepe in the bladder which confirms Riccardo's passion for the past and culture in general. The sequence of ideas, flavors and combinations has few rivals on the market. There is no culinary technique that is excluded.

Continuity

Silent genius (he practically disappeared in the hard times of the pandemic, dedicating himself to reading and testing in the kitchen), the chef Camanini will hardly lose his way even after the great result in Antwerp. "We had sensed that we could be in the top 50, but we weren't hoping for much: such a high position will make us continue to work with the responsibility we have in representing Italy – he said – the '50 Best 'is a tool for dialogue between cuisines from all over the world and we will try to best represent our country, our micro cultures, our wealth, the province, mothers, homes ". He's not wrong: recently, we tasted one of the 2021 recipes that is Rice, caprifico and walnut husk. The second product is a wild fig from which Camanini obtains an oil for creaming. A technical and fantastic dish as it was in 2014 on Rice, stracchino and sardines: direct and simple homage to pure health care. Everything has changed since Lido 84, or maybe nothing has changed.

for TripAdvisor the best Italian restaurant is Lido 84 – Italian Cuisine

for TripAdvisor the best Italian restaurant is Lido 84


There are still mysteries and inconsistencies, but in the Travelers 'Choice the Camanini brothers' restaurant is in 18th place: a result that gives credibility to the ranking. But it is also true that of our eleven three-starred, not one is among the top 25 …

What if the average TripAdvisor user weren't all that different from those who feel they are the custodians of the palate? We thought about it and discovered that in the Traveller's Choice 2020 – reserved for the best of the world's best in each category, from beaches to hotels and therefore also restaurants – the best venue in our country (for fine dining, then, there is another ranking for the so-called middle range) is Lido 84 in Gardone Riviera, 18th overall. The suspicion that there have been improvements in valuations in recent years comes naturally in the light of the result: the wedding favor of brothers Camanini is a Michelin star – with many experts and enthusiasts who find the lack of the second absurd, for the record – as well as Cinque Cappelli dell’Espresso and Tre Forchette del Gambero Rosso. That wasn't enough, in the latest edition of the T.he World’s 50 Best Restaurants – that of 2019, this year was not held due to the pandemic – it won the One to Watch award which is a clear anticipation of entering the absolute elite. Good TripAdvisor reviewers? Calm.

The Italian top ten

For example, it is perplexing that our kitchen – never so popular – can only place two other restaurants in the top 25: Quintessence in Trani and Don Alfonso 1890 in Sant’Agata dei Due Golfi, among other things exactly behind Lido 84. For the record, behind the three places mentioned, in our country there are Cum Quibus in San Gimignano, Villa Crespi in Orta San Giulio (first last year), Vun of the Park Hyatt Milan, Ensama Pesce in Sala Bolognese, From Vittorio to Brusaporto, Piazza Duomo to Alba and Seta of the Mandarin Oriental Milano. All starred, with a large number of foreigners, apart from Ensama Pesce who does not appear in the guides, but has been in the top ten for several years. Quite right? Mistaken? Who knows.

The usual French

Certainly, the theory is confirmed that in every ranking (of experts, journalists, people) the French are absolute protagonists. In the first place of the Travelers' choice 2020, there is a three-starred from beyond the Alps: Auberge du Vieux Puits in Fontjoncouse, followed by The Ville Blanche, a single macaron and historic address led by the Italian-born chef Yvann Guglielmetti. In short, France lives. Even if you don't see the current No. 1 in the world – Mirazur in Menton – not even mentioned, leaves you speechless. But then one reflects that like the good Colagreco, they ignore our national hero Bottura and think that we are on par with the hated cousins.

South America at the top

That wasn't enough, there is the rest of the world ranking where (only) the insiders know the premises – and therefore it is not a question of scarsoni – but we remain perplexed about their placement and the absence of the phenomena. The third in the Travelers's ChoiceChila in Buenos Aires – is 29th in the Latin American ranking of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants while the fifth – Leo in Bogota – travels in eighth place and sixth is Aramburu in Buenos Aires: a room with 16 seats, where the chef Gonzalo Aramburu prepares Argentine meat with the technique of molecular cuisine. Well … And that TripAdvisor has a soft spot for South America is proved by the eighth place of 040 in Santiago (37th in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants). Fourth is Oldstead Black Swan, pub – but with a Michelin star – which had won the ranking last year. The top ten is completed by a transalpine two star hotel (the hotel restaurant The Maison d’à Côté in Montlivault, seventh), the Japanese Ise Sueyoshi (great kaiseki in Nishiazabu, ninth) and the English three-star The Fat Duck, in Bray, with the famous Heston Blumenthal directing.

How TripAdvisor works

It is worth remembering that, for those who work in the sector, TripAdvisor remains more of a cross than a delight (complete with complaints, trials and atavistic doubts about the veracity of the reviews); while for those the cure is pure mathematics. The site emphasizes that the popularity ranking "is based on an algorithm designed to provide a statistical measure of trust regarding the current experience at a facility". The factors that determine the ranking are "the quality, topicality and quantity of reviews that a facility receives from users, as well as the consistency of these reviews over time". In short, it does not go in spans, but it is it is clear that the number of reports – obviously, better if largely positive – remains a determining factor for climbing the mountain.

The best in the mid-range

An illuminating example, returning to our Ensama Pesce: opened in 2013, it was already fourth in 2017 and as we write it boasts a very high percentage of approval: 1091 reviews out of 1255 are excellent while joining scarce is bad it gets to 31. It's the perfect representation of TripAdvisor logic. But if this reasoning makes you smile on the Sala Baganza club, it is equally true for the formidable Lido 84: it is the # 1 of the 2020 Travelers Choice – which had to skip months of reviews here and there around the world, it should be remembered – because out of 1166 reviews boasts 804 excellent, 109 very good, 31 medium, 16 scarce and 13 bad. For the record, those with a negative sign appear to be delusional or in bad faith for almost all, but this is a separate chapter. One last curiosity remains about TripAdvisor's awards for 2020, those for the mid-range. Here are the top three in Italy: Chalet Plan Gorret in Courmayeur, Osteria del Grillo in Orvieto, Trattoria La Goccia in Desenzano. With great sincerity, we marked them on the notepad: we do not know them (and we can't wait to try them).

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The secret of the Lido 84? It's the vision, not the kitchen – Italian Cuisine

The secret of the Lido 84? It's the vision, not the kitchen


There is talk all over the world of the Camanini brothers' restaurant that has climbed the charts in less than five years. But the real reason for success has not yet been understood: an Italian story, unique and complicated, which goes far beyond dishes

Talk about Lido 84, the Camanini brothers' restaurant in Gardone Riviera it is very easy: beautiful for position and environment, it boasts a kitchen among the best in Italy (for critics and gourmets) and records a full constant of public, even in winter, when the Garda is practically closed. A place firmly at the top of Italian guides: one Michelin star (everyone is convinced that the second arrives in November), five Cappelli dell'Espresso (the only one to boast that it doesn't have three Stars) and Tre Forchette for Gambero Rosso. Not enough, in February he was honored at The World Restaurant Award in Paris for the signature dish of the year (the famous Cacio e Pepe in bladder) and looks forward to receiving in Singapore Honey One To Watch, recognition that the famous company assigns in the context of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants: a sort of pass to see it (probably) in the highly coveted ranking in a year. One has to lose one's head and partly one's sleep.

The Camanini method

But this is the point of arrival, the final result of a unique system in our country that has transformed a valid local restaurant in a real laboratory of ideas, bringing boys from all over Italy to Garda West. Apart from two foreigners "adopted" for some time, there are no Brescians in brigades, but on the other hand in the halls resonate accents of Puglia, Liguria, Sardinia, Mantua, Bergamo and so on. Everyone in Gardone Riviera to see if the Camanini method functions as they have heard or read. And if the Lido 84 is the middle ground between a convent (serene) and a social center (anything but anarchic) ​​that we first defined. Where is the law? total interchangeability in the kitchen and obsessive attention to savings. Riccardo, in particular, is a very careful controller: from the lights in the bathrooms to the use of detergents and the expense for the raw material even if in the last case he is happy with the results achieved. "The boys weigh everything and have a beastly ability to calculate the food cost of the dishes, including VAT", emphasizes the chef from Lovere.

An assorted brigade

"When Giancarlo and I opened in the spring of 2014, we only had six employees," recalls Riccardo, "now they are twenty-two, all hired on a permanent basis, with their own holidays, permits and contributions. Obviously with food and lodging at our expense. It is truly the result that makes us most proud, given that we started with the goal to be completely sustainable without external help, which made everything slower and more difficult. I do not forget that he and I did not earn a salary for two seasons . The brigade is made up of veterans of the first hour, an important nucleus that comes from Alma (the highly rated Parmia cooking school, ed.) And from boys chosen according to the curriculum. "150 arrive a year, 95 percent concerns the kitchen. A precise choice for our project that has paid and continues to pay, for example a sous chef, Gilles Fornoni, started from scratch, "he explains Giancarlo Camanini, fundamental in the development of Lido 84. When Riccardo was the soul of Villa Fiordaliso, he was the manager at the Fondital of Vobarno: he became so good at managing the hall (and not only) that in 2017 he was awarded by Gambero Rosso as number one in Italy.

Non-separated roles

Already the hall: a tourbillon of boys, a "kaos" in the original sense of the word because the disorder is only apparent, the cooks at the tables that change with each dish follow a specific order. On the pass there is Riccardo who dictates the times and controls the work in the kitchen, in the Giancarlo room that looks at everything, communicates the situation and in the case solves the (small) problem of the tarantiniano Mr. Wolf. And there are many peculiarities. «In January, with Riccardo we establish a dozen projects, at the reopening they introduce themselves to the brigade and try to bring them to the end. They can be on new dishes or on a card of herbal teas. But also on the savings in this or that sector: the important one it is assigning tasks beyond the normal routine. Every day we do a couple of briefings, very executive and on Saturday for an hour each one reads a book chosen by us ", explains Giancarlo, the man who arranged about 300 recipes in a database from the day of opening. Like it Spaghettone with butter and brewer's yeast that bewitched Ducasse and is part of the menu of the restaurant inside the MoMa in San Francisco, the one that replicates the most famous dishes of the top international chefs.

Research and tradition

If the menu path Classic already gives considerable emotions, that of Oscillations – seven courses freehand, you can see some of them in our gallery realized in May – it's incredible as it is the result of the inspiration of the moment, of the research on a product that hit Camanini (now it's the turn of tomato concentrate), of a technique introduced by curiosity and not as an exercise in style. The last is the smoking with the Josper that puts dishes that taste like scorched on the table, including bread and vegetable ones. Pasta is the magnificent obsession, today served – with explanation on paper – after cooking for 84 hours and 11 minutes, with a process of crystallization of the starches that makes it nutty, perfectly al dente and very digestible. And in all this "mess of ideas" – visible in a crazy card where you go from imperial purple shrimps, bitters, oranges and marigold to the press, according to the Apicius recipe – you have not forgotten the tradition and territory. The Torta di Rose with the zabione al Vov is easily the best in Italian catering; the spit of sardines – lacquered with bergamot honey and helichrysum – recalls absolute brescianità replacing the little birds forbidden with freshwater fish; the pike del Garda is cooked au bleu and seasoned with almonds, parsley, capers and lemon

The Marquis example

Last peculiarity: the Lido 84 is one of the restaurants most talked about in the world among cooks. Impossible not to see at least one sitting at each service. «Friends and curious, want to understand how we do to hold the tasting at 80 and 90 euros respectively for the Classic and Oscillations. It is that we are sustainable, we have always done business with our money, a small step at a time . And, without rhetoric, it is a place where you can breathe passion and ethics. «Because, if I am correct with my employees, the possibility of them doing the same with me becomes high. And then if on the one hand I demand a lot from them, on the other I am always here: I open the restaurant at dawn preparing the bread and cleaning the fish. Activities that relax me so much and make you think. Then remember what Marchesi said? The highest form of teaching is the example: the Master was right in this too ".

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