Day 11, Torino

I am writing this blog entry from the desk inside our hotel suite-- in the fanciest hotel I've ever been in. I mean fancy. Or at least it's fancy-looking and the prices are fancy too. Gramma and I are here one day early for the start of the Metropolitan Opera Guild's official tour, so we checked into the same hotel the tour will be staying at tomorrow night. Things will kick off with dinner tomorrow.
But speaking of dinner, Gramma and I just visited the restaurant downstairs for a very fancy experience. I can probably count on one finger the number of restaurants I've been to that offer foie gras and stuffed leg of rabbit on the menu. We sat down at the table, our place setting had a silver platter on it, and on top of the silver platter a lace doily, and on top of that lace doily was soon placed a very small square dish with one giant prawn looking up at me, legs, tentacles and all. This is not the first time I've had something staring at me from my plate, but I was hoping the last time would be the last time. Ah well, so much for that. Then the waiter came back with a plate of assorted bread rolls and four different varieties of olive oils that we could choose from, each from a different region of Italy. When our main dishes came, they were presented with silver domes on top of them, which made me feel more like I was in the fancy restaurant scene of a play rather than in a real restaurant. Wait wait, there's more. So after we ate and they took our plates away, one of the waiters (there were about half a dozen of them all fixin' and fidgeting and refilling stuff and carrying trays around) came to our table with a little silver hand-held thing that looked like a very short butter dish or something. I suppose it had little rollers in it, and it sucked up all the crumbs and ironed out our table cloth at the same time. (Anyone reading this who's been to a restaurant like this must think I'm so ignorant of these customs! But hey, first time for everything.)

I don't have any photos from today, so instead, I'll treat you all to the menu from the restaurant downstairs so you get an idea of what we're talking about here. I'll let you all guess what I might have ordered.

APPETISERS

Sautéed prawn tails with vanilla and soy sauce, marinated rye bread with fresh tomato
Pan fried tuna with chives sauce, Cous cous with vegetable and sparkling wine sauce
Red onions pie served with “Burrata” and rice biscuits
Gratinated mushrooms and peach saucepan served with quail poached eggs
Spices duck breast served with foie gras escalope , grapes and chicory salad
“Culatello” Ham served with celery pie

SOUP, RISOTTO AND PASTA

Creamed risotto with eggplants and pistachio
Drum wheat pasta “farfalle” with boar ragôut, red wine sauce and lemon peel
Home made thin tagliatelle with mushrooms, crunchy spinach in butter and sage sauce
Home made cornets with pilgrim scallops, fresh tomato sauce and fried zucchini peel
Home made spelt noodles with sweet pepper sauce and diced goose foie gras
Vegetables fresh soup with rice

FISH

Large slice of baked amberjack with sautéed mushrooms
Sword fish in curry sauce served with soy spaghetti and sautéed vegetable
Gratinated red mullet with stewed vegetable in tomato sauce
Grilled or steamed fish (as available)

MEATS

Stuffed leg of rabbit with black truffle, served with polenta and mushrooms pie
Baked belly veal served with mixed sautéed vegetable
Grilled sirloin of beef served with french fried potatoes
Mushrooms triptych (baked, sautéed and fried)
Fillet chateaubriand with grilled vegetable and béarnaise sauce (for 2 persons)
Raw fillet veal seasoned to your liking with oil, lemon, capers, anchovies, onions, garlic, parsley, chilli and egg yolk
Grilled vegetables with buffalo’s mozzarella cheese