Italian nights
Villa Foksal
ul. Foksal 3/5
Telephone 827-8716
Hours: Monday-Friday:
Noon-last guest
Saturday-Sunday: 1 p.m.-last guest
Credit cards and reservations accepted
Last week's review at cheap and cheerful Vera Italia was Italian, family-style. This week, it's Italian in style at Warsaw's new ristorante, Villa Foksal.
Tucked away at the end of ulica Foksal in a beautiful pre-war manor house, Villa Italia has replaced Restauracja Foksal. It opened in January, and since then it's become so popular that the restaurant's telephone line is always busy. It took three calls before I managed to get through and make a booking.
While so many new Italian restaurants have become a victim of Styrofoam terracotta and faux grape vines, Villa Foksal feels about as Italian as a plate of steaming bigos and a shot of ice-cold vodka.
The "in" colors of the late-1990s were taupe, aubergine and smoke, but this place is a celebration of the new millennium, engaging a sleekly bland combo of blonde in its many shades: beige, biscuit, string, cream, ecru and sand. From its lime-washed recessed wooden ceiling to its nubuck seats and tiled floor, a night at Villa Foksal is a study in mind-cleansing minimalism: something like dining in a spacious conch shell, but with Louis Armstrong quietly trumpeting away instead of the hush of the ocean.
The garden, which is still under construction, looks equally contrived with immaculate sandstone pavers and manicured trees that surely will grow up to have enough fairy lights to play havoc with Chopin's air traffic control.
But despite its modern front, this place has still retained that friendly feel. The waiting staff are helpful and cheery and thankfully the guests the men in suits and ponytails; the women, smartly glam are on the raucous side of quiet. One pair of men barked into their mobiles all night rather than talk to each other, while some "ambassadorial types" murmured conspiratorially in Spanish and Italian.
Sipping on a whisky sour, which was more sweet than sour, and sitting on the restaurant's over-stuffed banquette, I felt a little like Alice watching the action unfold at the Mad Hatter's tea party.
But I was in safe hands. The owners of Villa Foksal are Warsaw restaurateurs from way back. They own Zacheta, the Italian restaurant under the Zacheta Gallery; the internationally flavored Odeon; and they serve up-market Polish at the Garret.
The manager says Villa Foksal serves Mediterranean rather than purely Italian food, and with a Greek salad and a Moroccan salsa on the menu representing a couple of other countries, who is going to argue.
I was planning on having the gravlax with asparagus and garlic aioli for starters, until the waiter asked if it was my main course. "No," I answered meekly.
"Well, it's very large," he replied, as if trying to give me a hint. I took heed and rather than appear greedy, I quickly changed my order to an appetizer of tuna, sole and salmon carpaccio. David chose the antipasti misto plate.
Before we could say grazie, the meal had begun: A gratis bowl of olives and sun-dried tomatoes was delivered to our table, along with a beautiful basket of breads and our very own bottle of olive oil so we could serve ourselves just like grown-ups should.
David's appetizer was an impressive plate of salami and prosciutto, folded into a tornado. There were a few wonderfully salty anchovies, shavings of Parmesan cheese, olives and grilled eggplant and zucchini.
"I've never had antipasto like this in Italy," said David, obviously impressed.
My carpaccio looked just as glamorous on its big white plate, with a sprinkling of fresh pepper around the edge. The carpaccio was rather bland, but what do you expect with a few thin slices of raw fish? Thankfully two pieces of tomato bruschetta that came with it provided some flavor.
I moved on to grilled veal chops and roasted potatoes with capers, lemon and fresh herb sauce. The chops were, thankfully, nicely tender and moist, with a crisply seared exterior. The sauce was lightly lemony with a wonderful salty burst from the capers.
David's grilled rack of lamb with roasted potatoes, vegetables and rosemary garlic sauce was something akin in size to a plate of Wilma Flintstone's T-Rex ribs. It was a huge rack of nine lamb chops. We had a bit of an argument of taste between us: I thought they were succulent crisp on the outside, pink on the inside with plenty of rosemary. David thought there were a bit bland and fatty.
"They're not as good as the ones at The Boathouse," was his assessment.
Regardless of quality, when it came to quantity we were both amazed that the men at the table next to us, who had just each consumed a rack of lamb, then ordered another to share.
"Call me street 'unwise,' but I've never seen that before," said David discreetly behind his napkin.
The succinct dessert menu had your usual suspects creme brulee, lemon tart, chocolate mousse and a cheese plate. It also had the popular Italian dessert, cannoli crisp tubes of deep-fried pastry filled with sweet ricotta and vanilla cream. It was a toss-up between the cannoli and you guessed it, tiramisu. The tiramisu won out and rather than bring us two spoons to share it, the waiter had it cut in half.
It was sprinkled with chopped, raw pistachio nuts, drizzled with chocolate, and came with a couple of miniature Savoiardi biscuits the Italian lady fingers that are an essential, and traditional, ingredient in tiramisu.
The taste was superb, with the subtle flavor of mascarpone, teamed with the sponge fingers, espresso coffee, and a heavy dusting of rich, almost salty, cocoa.
So this was an Italian meal of great finesse, fine fare and lots of fiddly garnish bits. It's certainly a place for that special dinner, rather than the sort of restaurant you visit once a week for a fix of your favorite pasta.
And here's a tip, when you do go, be sure to take some extra zlotys for the restaurant's exorbitantly priced wine list or afterwards, you could be walking home.
Dinner for two, not including drinks, came to zl. 198 ($49.50).
On the menu:
Trio of seafood carpaccio, tuna, sole and salmon zl. 24
Antipasti misto zl. 32
Tuscan bean soup with fresh sage zl. 16
Cannelloni filled with goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and arugula zl. 32
Grilled veal chops and roasted potatoes with capers, lemon and fresh herb sauce zl. 54
Grilled rack of lamb with roasted potatoes, vegetables and rosemary garlic sauce zl. 70
Sautéed sea bass with ratatouille and roasted potatoes zl. 50
Tiramisu zl. 18
Creme brulee zl. 19
Cannoli filled with sweet ricotta and vanilla cream zl. 19
