Turin | Casa Amelie: a love story

I want to start this 2020 with a love story, the one of Casa Amelie.

It’s the story of the love of Guido for Antonietta that brought him to move to Turin from Bologna.

It’s the love for the bulldog Amelie, to whom Guido dedicated the name of his restaurant.

It’s the love for the roots, with a Campania that is often present on the menu, contaminating the sacred Piedmontese dogmas.

Campania is indeed present in the menu - ‘la genovese di mammà’ (mom’s genovese sauce) makes its pleasure-seeking way into the shape of ravioli - but the personality of the chef is in the hedge-walking use of bitterness and sweet: the bottarga leaves ‘stains’ on the umani taste of the classic vitello tonnato giving it a new existence, radicchio and liquorice chase each other on the fat texture of the scallops...

A restaurant worth the visit, especially if you feel like experiencing a regional cuisine of contamination, being welcomed by the giant and genuine smile of chef Guido Perino and if you do not mind a music playlist that jumps from Champagne by Peppino di Capri to the Raffaella Carrà’s Maracaibo in a blink of a eye!

My favorite dish was a magic trick: agnolotti with shrimps and burnt leeks stock. At the sight, it reminds of the iconic agnolotti del plin, fresh filled Piedmontese pasta served in a clear gravy resulting from braising the meat for the filling... the taste instead throws you straight into the sea, with a clear and sharp taste of shrimps, paired with a clever use of smokiness and bitterness.