Piazza Duomo, 3 Michelin Stars Dining, Alba, Italy
I don’t have the math to back it up, but the Piedmont region probably has the largest concentration of Michelin Star restaurants in the world. So picking one was no easy choice. We decided to go with Piazza Duomo in Alba for a mid-day lunch. Piazza Duomo is run by the same family that owns the Cerreto winery and vineyard we loved so much.
We arrived Piazza Duomo around 12:45, a little ahead of our 1pm reservation. I’ve never eaten at a 3 star Michelin restaurant, but there were aspects of the service that I’d never experienced before. A member of the staff is always aware of you and your needs. For instance, if you get up to go to the bathroom, they immediately accompany you from and back to your table.
Other things that I’d never experienced was the way that they serve the wine. We ordered a Barbaresco and when they brought it to us, they wheeled it over on a table with 3 glasses. They opened the wine, inspected the cork, and poured a little bit in the first glass, then poured that glass into the second glass, then poured that into the third glass.
There were 3 tasting menus as well as the a la carte options. We decided for the Langhe Now menu, translated to the “local menu” because we loved Piedmont food, and thought seeing his creations would be really fun for us to compare his take on what we had already had. Here was the menu:
Piedmontese Starter:
Codfish and wild garlic
L’Albese Tonnata (Veal with Tuna Sauce)
Agnolotti Del Pin (Meat filled Agnolotti)
Braised Veal Cheek
Gourmandise (Desserts)
Towards the end of the tasting, the chef came out to greet each table so that we could thank him for his art and each table took a photo with him. As a parting gift, the restaurant gave us seeds to plant and a little bottle of olive oil to remember our experience there.
We had a fantastic experience at Piazza Duomo, the simple pink dining room, that makes the experience all about the food, is fantastic, memorable, and certain to be a once in a lifetime experience.
