Restaurant review: Modigliani

Newsroom 25/06/2015 | 15:52

In restaurants, less is more. You don’t want a War and Peace size menu, listing dozens of dishes. You want a confident house, presenting a small selection of courses in each section, that it (a) will have, (b) will do very well because it has specialized in them and (c) will do with the freshest ingredients because each option is ordered often.

Less is also more in portion size: quality trumps quantity. Most diners don’t want to fall into a food coma after a restaurant meal; nor do ethically-minded ones want to leave a lot on the plate. A moderate amount of a great dish is what’s required.

Modigliani gets all this. The menu is concise, running from healthy options to gastronomic indulgencies. Starters, for example, include foie gras caldo con marmellata di cipolla di tropea (seared goose liver, brioche toast and red onion confit, RON 75), but also insalata di mozzarella di bufala (tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, avocado, pesto, RON 58).

The latter was a simple dish – but these are often the best gauge of a restaurant. It was bright, light (but generous with the cheese) and perkily presented, the mozzarella balanced atop the avocado slices and drizzled in the pesto.

Of the soups, the caciucco (seafood chowder, RON 42) caught our eye: a robust and tasty tomato sauce didn’t overwhelm the delicate fruits of the sea.

Mains are split into pasta and risotto (catering well for vegetarians), dishes from the grill and a handful of chef’s recommendations. Beef features a lot, and there’s also a good range of fish. The menu jumps around the globe to bring the right ingredient from the right place – the beef is from the US and Argentina (RON 145-180), the lamb from New Zealand (RON 170) and there are giant tiger prawns from Indonesia (RON 150).

We went for fettuccine salmone affumicato e porri (fettuccine with smoked salmon and leek, RON 55), which was top-notch comfort food, creamy but not sickly, underpinned by the subtle leek flavors and made with house-made pasta, and a flawless salmone mediterranea (salmon fillet with sautéed vegetables and capers, RON 105), the tender fish crumbling off the fork.

An indulgent tortino di cioccolato fondente (hot chocolate fondant, RON 34), served with ice cream in an appealing yin and yang of hot and cold, was worth the wait, especially as the wait was enlivened by a peppy tortino di ricotta (ricotta cheese cake, also RON 34). All was offset by an ample glass of house red (choose between Romanian and Italian) at RON 30.

The bill came in at just below RON 420 for a three-course meal for two (including one glass of wine and two coffees). The price reflects the quality, imported ingredients and location: Modigliani is in the five-star Intercontinental, and is probably the closest high-end restaurant to the center of town. And with fewer courses, sticking to the pastas/risottos and avoiding alcohol, it would be a very reasonable meal out.

Service was pitched exactly right: staff were friendly, informative and attentive but there was no hovering. The ambience was upmarket but not fussy and the décor reflected the art theme.

A piano player put in a brief appearance. Otherwise the music (Simply Red, Lighthouse Family) was light, pleasant and easy to digest – much like the food.

The Intercontinental, 4 Nicolae Balcescu Boulevard. 021 310 2020, 0730 644 806. modigliani@ihg.com. 

Monday – Saturday: 16:00 – 23:30
Sunday : 18:00 – 23:30

Debbie Stowe

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