and so our (my) journey to cooking school in italy continues!
if you haven’t read the first two installments of this trip yet, you can do there here and here.
justine and i arrived in calabria late afternoon, and upon landing at lamezia terme international airport, we each grabbed a little sandwich for the road and then hopped in the car that was picking us up, as part of the school service.
we drove through so many beautiful mountains and couldn’t quite believe our eyes. so much untouched beauty! then, we saw the sea. and what a glorious sight it was.
‘calabria is a region in southern italy. it is a peninsula bordered by basilicata to the north, the ionian sea to the east, the strait of messina to the southwest, which separates it from sicily, and the tyrrhenian Sea to the west.’
calabria is famous for its crystal clear sea waters and is dotted with ancient villages, castles and archaeological parks.
calabria is also one of the poorest regions in italy, but i would say one of the richest regions agriculturally.
we pulled up to this rustic-looking building, right on the edge of a cliffside and both gasped. we could not believe this was home for the next 10 days.
we were greeted by chef rachel, and shown to our rooms. the accommodation was simple, somewhat dated but so perfect. it’s hard to describe my feelings as i walked into my room, but elation is the first word that comes to mind.
justines room was directly next to mine and both rooms were almost on an overhang, and the views from both of our rooms were quite spectacular.
as i walked in, i was greeted by a small kitchenette and a small dining table. directly behind the table was a glass wall that separated the living space from the bedroom and bathroom. and beyond that was a personal balcony that had 360 views of the sea. i felt tearful, and still could not believe that i was in italy, about to embark on my first real taste of culinary school.
weeks before, we had connected with a few other people who were going to be at school too (i forget how we all connected initially, i think it was via one of justines IG stories) and we had started an instagram group with some of the other girls.
we messaged everyone to see where they were and most of them were at the beach—which was a 5-minute walk from our hotel, down a little street at the end of the driveway. our welcome dinner was in an hour, so justine and i decided to go and shower and then meet everyone on alana’s terrace for a pre-dinner apero.
as soon as alana and i met, i just knew were were going to be the best of friends. it was an instant connection. like we had known each other for years. i felt the same about katie. katie and alana were friends already, and had come to school together - much like justine and i. we said hello to everyone and justine proceeded to make us all aperol spritzes. little did we know, this terrace and these spritz’s (justine’s, specifically) were both about to become our favorite pre-dinner ritual!
after our spritz apero, we all gathered at the front of the hotel to wait for the bus to take us down to the welcome dinner.
dinner was candlelit, right on the beach. you could hear the waves crashing as we ate a beautiful dinner together, all prepared by chef.
as we all sat together and got to know one another over dinner, it was very clear that everyone has the same passion for italian food and the desire and want to learn more. it was so special and interesting hearing everyone’s stories on what had brought them to culinary school.
people were from all over! puerto rico, ireland, uk, lisbon, nyc, chicago, paris, australia and more places that perhaps i cannot remember at this time. but you get the jist—we were a motley crew!
we stayed up quite late talking and getting to know one another. then it was time for bed as it was our first day of culinary school the next morning, and it was suffice to say—we had all had more than a few glasses of wine at this point. all of the excitement had taken over!
more on school soon!
king restaurant, nyc
if you have been following along on my instagram, i was just in new york. part work, part play—i have some really fun things coming up soon. which will all be revealed within the next few weeks (i believe). i will write more about all of the places we ate when we were in nyc, but i wanted to talk about a very special restaurant in particular, today—king.
sometimes you come across a restaurant that is nothing short than utter perfection. but in a very low-key sort of way.
that is my type of restaurant. that is king.
king is a gorgeous little place, situated on the southwest corner of king street and sixth avenue in new york city. the restaurant opened in september 2016 by three incredible women— two of which are british chefs and ballymaloe alum—clare de boer and jess shadbolt as well as annie shi, the beverage director.
jess and clare both attended ballymaloe cookery school but actually worked together at the river cafe in london. annie was in finance before moving into wine, whilst working in london. clare and annie met whilst hosting supper clubs together in london, which i find so incredibly inspiring. given that i also host supper clubs.
anyway—i had been meaning to go to king for so long but only somehow made it, this trip to nyc. we truly had some of the best food we had eaten in a long time. everything about king was, in my eyes, nothing short of perfection.
the decor, the vibe, the pacing, the music and of course—the food.
king describes its food as simple with influences from southern france and italy.
-
we both started with a thyme-infused gin gimlet, which was divine.
then, without ordering anything at all—they sent out a singular, crispy carta (also know as carta de muscia) to share. carta is a thin, crispy cracker-like bread that hails from sardinia, that they had smothered in garlic, parsley and olive oil. utter perfection.
next we had the panisse with crispy sage which was insatiable (we debated ordering more it was that good).
we then shared the ravioli and the spring asparagus, both were perfect in their simplicity (something is strive for as a chef).
next—the sirloin served over lentils and bitter greens, accompanied by what i can only describe as the best beans i have ever had in my life. reminiscent of the ones i had in rome, for sure. they were simple, but each bite was utter bliss. we were both full and incredibly happy.
to finish we had the rhubarb clafoutis, which i can only describe as an oven-baked pancake of sorts. sweet, but not too much—i think that is what i loved it so much.
the entire meal, the entire experience was nothing short of amazing. and, i think what i loved the most, was how everything was paired back just so perfectly. it is an art to be able to achieve such a wonderful restaurant with such wonderful food, so seamlessly.
if you haven’t been, you must go!
my mint chimichurri
i had my friends over for a roast dinner a few sundays ago and have been meaning to post this salsa verde / chimichurri recipe ever since. it was such a delicious pairing for the lamb and such a nice change from regular mint sauce/mint jelly.
i will also post the lamb recipe soon as well because it was too good to not give it to you guys!
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to anchovies & soup to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.