Restaurant osteria della piazza bianca. New location: Osteria della Piazza Bianca

Osteria Della Piazza Bianca is located in the thick of the restaurant cluster, which occupied the White Square next to the Belorussky railway station. The room at the Italian restaurant is angular, elongated, glass. The exterior décor, including the signage, porch and Vespa moped, looks neat and welcoming. Entrance groups - and there are at least two of them in the restaurant - are regular, with paired doors separated by a corridor. In the cold winter season, guests will not have to put up with unexpected gusts of cold air. Three interior areas - two dining rooms and a bar - are quite spacious and bright. The interior is more reminiscent of not Italian Italy, but American. Tiled floors, a bar counter combined with a kitchen and stoves, aquariums, a long green sofa around the perimeter, marble tables, rounded shapes of furniture - all this suggests not about Rome or Milan, but about New York. Of the minuses - too close arrangement of tables and the inconvenience of iron chairs at the bar.

The Italian menu is simple. You read, you understand, you order, you don't worry. Prices are above average for the center.

The food during my visit provoked my brain to two Italian words: "Buono" and "Perche?" ("Good" and "Why?").

I was not offered a "bread basket" even for money, which is strange for an Italian institution. By the way, they didn’t give out parmesan for pasta either, although there were jars of cheese crumbs on the kitchen counter. The question immediately arose in my head: “Perche?”.

"Vitello Tonnato" - a large portion of a traditional Italian dish in a classic version. The meat is tender, juicy, red. The sauce is moderately thick, tuna, salty. Spices are light, laid-back. “Buono” started spinning in my head.

Spaghetti carbonara with cheeks is a perfectly cooked pasta, a hearty cheese sauce with a splash of toasted meat strips. The color, however, is whitish, but the cooks and the waiter denied the cream in the dish. The taste is decent, so Buono.

"Pizza Margherita" looks right. The dough is thin, the crust is crispy. The ratio of sauce and cheese is right. No wet mess, no rubber threads. But for some unknown reason, the pizza was bitter, and the bitterness was manifested not by a hint and not in places, but constantly and intrusively. In my head "Perche?".

"Sea scallops with saffron sauce and asparagus" were small, but golden, however, the appetizing crust was only on the top side. The bottom side, which the cooks drowned in a yellowish sauce, turned out white and cold. Why it is impossible to fry the scallops on both sides remains a mystery to me. The asparagus didn't look good either. She was old, perhaps defrosted, and badly chewed. "Perche?"

The Milanese cutlet arrived already cut into small pieces, accompanied by French fries and supposedly Parmesan-based cheese sauce. Before Osteria, I had never seen such a serving of cutlets in Milanese. "Perche?" I found the answer on the underside of the patty: the breading was torn, and in some places it was completely absent.

But the Machete steak, aka Skurt, did not cause any complaints. Outwardly, however, it looked more like another steak, but this is not so important, because the meat was properly done, juicy, appetizing and was given a proper rest before serving. Buono. The sauce was on point, but the puree was slightly sour. "Perche?"

And, of course, I couldn't get past the branded Meringue Roll with Raspberries and Pistachios. Dessert worthy. The portion is large, the taste is pleasantly sweet, raspberry. Airy consistency. Buono.

The service during my visit did not disappoint: it was prompt, polite, interested. There were some flaws, but they did not affect the overall impression.

The bottom line is this:

Despite the fact that the question of “Perche” has often arisen in my mind, Osteria Della Piazza Bianca still has enough of the minimum necessary restaurant qualities that pull this “Osteria” out of the pool of mediocrity.

Osteria della piazza Bianca is a fairly well-known establishment and, without exaggeration, one of the most beloved by metropolitan gourmets. Both regular guests and guests of the capital find here a friendly atmosphere, sincere home cooking and, of course, excellent wines and cocktails, without which a cheerful Italian meal is unthinkable. Osteria is located in a busy place near Belorusskaya Square, not far from the Belorussky railway station. Ancient two-story mansions and a church, ultra-modern business centers, eclectic architecture, fast traffic - and then the murmur of fountains, a shadow on a hot afternoon, a sunset sky in the evening and a sea of greenery. The benefits of a big city are at the same time an island of relaxation where you can recharge with positive emotions. Life here is in full swing around the clock - in all its manifestations, be it love, business, business plans, friendly gatherings over beer and sports broadcasts, family weekends, rest between trips. If on weekdays there are a lot of business people, in the evenings - especially on the open veranda - couples in love, then on weekends a relaxed family atmosphere reigns in the restaurant. While parents and grandparents enjoy socializing, children learn how to make pizza from chef Vincenzo DiLillo himself. Vincenzo won the World Pizzaiolo Championship and entered the Russian Book of Records. So his food and master classes are impressive: he teaches children not only to knead and roll out the dough, but also to juggle effectively and choose the toppings for pizza.
The menu of Osteria Bianca has both time-tested dishes, appreciated by guests, and new items - how could it be without them? All this is a world-favorite Italian classic. Even sophisticated gourmets will appreciate Roman pinza with burrata and tomatoes, Genoese minestrone, gazpacho with shrimp. Oysters, vongole and mussels can be selected from the aquarium. In addition, seafood lovers should pay attention to grilled octopus with mini potatoes, handmade ravioli with seafood, steaks and tuna and salmon. Milanese cutlet, Roman saltimbocca, ossobuco with risotto, striploin - they sound like music for fans of meat cuisine. For desserts after a hearty meal, there is often “no room left”. But the regular guests of the osteria say that if a hot chocolate tortino is carried past, then it is impossible not to be tempted: the aroma simply strikes on the spot. The constant hit of Osteria Bianca is meringue roll with raspberries. Fragile meringue melts in your mouth, and raspberries in it are like from a bush - fragrant and sweet.
You can have breakfast in the osteria from 07:00 to 12:00, and on weekdays Italian-style business lunches are served on a separate menu.
The wine list was compiled by Vlada Lesnichenko - this is already a sign of quality and subtle knowledge of the matter. In addition to wines and strong alcohol, Osteria Bianca also has cocktails - both classics (say, martini-based) and author's. A sip of "Chao" - a mix based on homemade limoncello - beckons you to come back here again.

Gorky park.

The interior of the new Osteria looks more solid and mature compared to the first two. - apparently, so that it is immediately clear who is in charge. As conceived by Galina Duving, it resembles the Italian boat Riva: the teak-covered floor is rounded and smoothly merges into the walls, like a yacht; the windows of the restaurant are panoramic, all doors have large portholes, and the reception resembles a captain's bridge. The concept of the institution has remained the same: the menu includes Italian dishes prepared by chefs who have recently been ordered from Italy - that is, without the Moscow flair. And the more of them in the kitchen, the better.

The food chiefs at Osteria della Piazza Bianca are chef Salvatore Barbara, pizzaiolo Giambattista Sabia and pasta chef Giovanni Pinto. Salvatore, a student of the famous Paul Bocuse, worked in Singapore for about ten years and came to Moscow recently. He has his own idea of what Italian food should look like: classic dishes are served with a slight hint of Asia. In general, in this "Osteria" Italian cuisine appears cosmopolitan. For example, organic Californian wine, which has been made by a family from Tuscany for 80 years, will soon be added to the wine list.

The restaurant has two kitchens: open, enclosed by a bar counter, where you can sit and watch how pizza and pasta are prepared; and closed, where, in principle, you can look through a large porthole. The menu includes the same traditional dishes from different regions of Italy: pastas, pizzas, focaccia, soups, risotto, salads, appetizers and desserts. There's Rosa pizza with salmon and arugula, Parmigiano with eggplant and pesto, lentil soup with salsicci sausages, arancini with green pea puree, beef tartare and octopus with boiled potatoes - a fairly expected traditional set. On weekdays in Osteria della Piazza Bianca you can order lunch sets: meat, fish and vegetarian, which consist ofseveral dishes from the main menu, stacked on a large plate, similar to an Asian bento box.

The menu is planned to be updated regularly, but not in the format of proposals, but in full, depending on the season. Average check in Osteria della Piazza Bianca for about2,000 rubles, which is almost twice as high as the previous two Osterias, but at the same time, the most expensive dish on the menu costs 900 rubles - a whole grilled lobster with asparagus.

Salvatore Barbara

Chef at Osteria della Piazza Bianca

Food should be original, simple and fresh. It is now 2012, the food industry is actively developing, and all the chefs are trying to introduce some kind of innovation. But the main thing is still - simplicity and freshness.

I respect Italian cuisine, but I make it a bit international. Of course, Asia influenced me (I worked in Japan, Singapore and Indonesia): new cultures that you encounter always influence your cuisine. But here "Osteria" - a traditional Italian restaurant - people come here for Italian food. If guests come and say they want sashimi, I see no reason why I can't make this dish. I'd like to do whatever the guests want. Maybe someone wants to arrange a banquet or a small wedding and does not want dishes from the main menu. I can come up with something new - Azerbaijani kebab, for example.

If I am not busy in the kitchen all the time, I will go out, communicate with people, find out what Russians prefer. This, I think, is very important. My favorite dish on the menu of the new Osteria is fried tuna fillet with caramelized onions. I was born in Trapani, where they fish a lot and catch fresh tuna, for me these are fond memories.

Even at Osteria on Belorusskaya, they plan to regularly, once every three months, hold gastronomic tours of chefs and not so professional culinary specialists. Topping the list is chef, food journalist and TV and radio gastronomy show host Marja Sampsan. A New York-based Dutch woman known as the Dumpling Diva has already come up with an Italian-Asian menu for a three-day show in an open kitchen. From other events: from Thursday to Sunday (on weekdays from 18:00, on weekends from 16:00) live jazz is played in Osteria della Piazza Bianca, and on weekends, as well as in Osteria numero Uno, children's classes are held.

So far, the restaurant is open from 12 am to 12 am, but soon plans to enter the round-the-clock mode.