Hotspot: Cucina Casalinga
Sometimes you eat somewhere so good, so authentic, that you wonder how on earth you’ve never heard of the restaurant in question. Cucina Casalinga is one of those places.
Upon arrival
Cucina Casalinga is located on Stadionweg, close to the increasingly charming Stadionplein. If you’re not paying attention, you’ll drive right past it, because it’s tucked away in a corner. At the front is a small terrace with a few tables; once inside, you’ll feel as though you’ve walked straight into your favorite aunt’s living room. Tables with red checked tablecloths, black-and-white photos of Italian celebrities on the walls, and small vases of flowers everywhere.
Italian bubbles
We start with a sparkling wine – no, not prosecco, but Franciacorta, Italy’s answer to champagne. This sparkling wine from Lombardy is made in exactly the same way as champagne (a second fermentation in the bottle). A delicious glass for ten euros.
Homemade bread
Remarkably good bread arrives at the table – and that immediately earns you points with us. The bread is made here from scratch every day. The black bread is particularly special (its color comes from squid ink). The olive oil and balsamic vinegar on the table are also more than up to par.
The menu
There is a classic menu that changes four times a year (with the seasons), as well as a weekly menu that is constantly changing. Chefs Giovanni Carmelitano and Luigi Ligorio have worked at several Michelin-starred restaurants and cook here con amore with products from the Mezzogiorno, the area south of Rome, particularly Calabria, Sicily, Puglia and Campania. Every Tuesday, a little cart arrives directly from the Italian market with the tastiest burrata, figs, cured meats and vegetables.
Heavenly burrata
We opt for the four-course menu (49.50 euros) and order various dishes from the menu. All the products in the kitchen are sustainable and organic. This includes the burrata from Andria (the capital of Puglia). You can do all sorts of things with burrata, but here the creamy cheese is allowed to shine by serving it plain, surrounded only by a few briefly grilled Sicilian figs. Heavenly. The large prawns, served with a carrot and apricot cream, are also incredibly delicious.
Fresh summer truffle
It’s the season (July–November) for the black Italian summer truffle, which is generously shaved over the risotto (made with carnaroli rice). We have rarely eaten a risotto executed so perfectly. Creamy, but not overly so; velvety soft, subtle and with the perfect bite. In an emotional moment, you might even burst into tears.
From the farmers’ kitchen of Puglia
The next dish is also executed to perfection. The fish, a thick-lipped grey mullet, rests on a ‘soup’ of white onion with white pepper and wild fennel flowers, preserved by the chef’s mother in Puglia and driven to Amsterdam. It perfectly captures the love of authentic products that radiates from every plate here. The ‘meatball’ is intriguing: bombette ripiene al prezzemolo is pork neck, stuffed in various ways. A true peasant dish from the south. Although it sounds heavy and rustic, it is actually subtle. And genuinely incredibly delicious.
Maccheroni
The homemade (biodynamic) maccheroni also comes with meat, from the famous Italian Cinta Senese, a breed of pig that happily roams the hills of Tuscany. Cinta refers to the white stripe on the pig, which resembles a belt (cinta means belt). Senese refers to its origin: the area around Siena. Alongside generous pieces of this glorious pork, the sauce also contains sweet red onions from Tropea. Once again, an incredible dish in which you can taste the simplicity and purity of Italian cuisine.
Special Italian wines
If you love Italian wine, you can really indulge with more than a hundred wines on the menu, twenty of which are available by the glass. There are especially many wines from the Mezzogiorno, alongside a fine collection of Northern Italian wines. No major brands, but small organic producers who make unique terroir wines from local, often unfamiliar grapes. Wines in which you can taste their place of origin. It is the same terroir that provides many of the products used in the kitchen. What grows together, goes together; the wines and dishes complement each other like an Italian on a Vespa. There is a wine pairing (four matching wines for thirty euros), but we opt for a soft, lightly spiced bottle of Malvasia from Lipari, which gives us plenty of pleasure for 44 euros.
Birre en bibitte
Beer drinkers are well catered for too. From the typical Italian Peroni to around six different beers from microbreweries. Prefer no alcohol? Order the lemonade, made with large, wild lemons from Amalfi.
Dolci to die for
Of course, desserts also arrive at the table. The Tartuffo di gianduja is a ‘truffle’ of vanilla ice cream with a core of gianduja chocolate, a soft and creamy blend of dark chocolate and pure hazelnut paste. Luckily, it’s large enough to share, because it could easily make you greedy. The panna cotta is everything you could hope for. Creamy, fresh and served with a fresh passion fruit sauce.
Will we come back?
Definitely! Preferably tonight. Because Cucina Casalinga is the most Italian Italian restaurant in Amsterdam. Here, you don’t need to ask for the menu. Just say, ‘surprise me,’ because everything here is equally wonderful. Classic dishes from the south, with everything centered around pure, authentic flavors. What a discovery!
Cucina Casalinga
Stadionweg 271, Amsterdam
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