6214 Piedmont - Locanda del Boscogrande, Restaurant review

This was our first visit to Locanda del Boscogrande as it is located a little west of our usual haunts, but new friends have moved nearby so we decided to try. Here are our impressions.

Impresive building and grounds located on top of a hill above Montegrosso d'Asti (off the main Asti to Nizza Monferrato road) the restaurant seats about 40 and was full when our party of 6 arrived last Saturday night and we were glad we had reserved. Seating is such that it did not feel crowded or noisy.

As is typical the only menu was the extensive wine list (we chose a Roberto Urscheler cortese alto monferrato and Chiarlo's "la court" barbera d'asti 2001), and the chef/owner came to the table to detail the nights offerings. Some English is spoken, but did not run to detailed explanations of the dishes so some dining Italian is recommended. One of party was vegetarian, which was easily communicated and presented no problems.

My choices (and yes I know I could have been more adventurous) -

[B]Veal in tuna sauce (Vitello Tonata)[/B] - regional speciality and this was an excellent example, thinly sliced melt in the mouth veal and perfect consistency sauce matched the crisp fruity cortese perfectly.

[B]Gnocci[/B] - I don't know how they made it so light, but this was not the stodgy, filling dish that one sometimes gets, delecate flavour and consistency and a serving size that was just right and leaving me looking forwards to the secondo...

[B]Chingalli[/B] - again speciality of the area I love wild boar and this was a tender and succulent example, the strong flavours complimented by the rich barbera d'asti superiore.

[B]Torone semi-fredo[/B] - cleansed the pallet and excited my sweet tooth all in one, I love this desert. Nougat is a Turin speciality and this is a partly frozen cream and nougat dish.

Throughout the meal there was much sharing of dishes and exclamations of pleasure (but I have forgotten the detail of all the dishes), so I can report that everything was received well. Service was excellent (often not the case in Piedmont when a retaurant gets busy) but unobtrusive. Ambience was good but we thought the room a little modern for the context of Piemonte countryside.

For all six of us including the wine - Euro 200. We thought this an absolute bargain (not sure if we got a discount for paying cash or if someone forgot to write down everything we had).

Highly recommended, a little off the beaten path so check directions carefully.