Alto Adige - Exploring the Italian Dolomites

I only first heard of the Dolomites in north-eastern Italy in 2009 when a travel program happened to be on tv in the US while I was visiting my family in Dallas, Texas.  Stunning jagged mountains caught my eye and I had to stop and watch the rest of the program to find out where this dramatic landscape was.  I mentally put them on my list of places to go, noncommittally, someday.  But then, 6 months later, my eye was again caught by a picture on the cover of Food and Travel – an old church atop a hill, with a breathtaking view of mountains in the background.  “Gourmet travels in the Dolomites,” it read.  

I indulgently popped a copy in my trolley and savoured every word I read about the Alto Adige region in Italy.  It turns out that the scenery isn’t the only draw for this region.  With 4 Michelin stars in an area spanning 20km, this mountainous region in northeast Italy has become a hotbed of culinary acumen.

The Trentino-Alto Adige region was originally part of the Austrian Empire, only turned over to Italy as of 1919.  As you drive around, you don’t feel you’re in Italy as much of the Austrian influence has remained.  Often, signs are posted in three languages – Italian, German, and Ladin, a local language of the autonomous region.  Alta Badia, the valley in which we stayed, consists of 6 small villages, all linked by a very large network of hiking trails.  The towns are Corvara, Colfosco, La Villa, San Cassiano, Badia (Pedraces), and La Valle.  Our hotel (Hotel Ustaria Posta - my review here) was in Badia (also known as Pedraces), perfectly located in between quite a few other towns of Alta Badia and right next to the La Crusc/Santa Croce lift.  By happy coincidence, this lift took us up to that lovely church atop the hill I’d originally seen on the Food and Travel cover.  Here's our own pic of it:

As far as I could see, there are few well-written guides on this region, so much of our understanding of it happened in real-time.  On the plus side, it made for lots of adventurous trailblazing and spontaneous discoveries.  However, we did sometimes feel quite blind, and quite a few of the things we sought out landed us at a dead-end.  We learned a ton about the region and already plan to go back, but I’m happy to share a few helpful tips we sure wish we’d known prior to booking our trip. 

1)  If you’re going for hiking AND the food, go anytime from last week of June through to early/mid-September (the driest month for hiking is September).  Alto Adige essentially shuts down between its ski season and summer hiking season.  We went the first week of June which is within this “in-between” period.  What was great about this time of year was that there were very few tourists there – at times, we felt we had the mountains and lakes all to ourselves!  However, this also meant that:

a.       Most of the chair lifts were still closed (this limited the hikes we could elect to do). Thankfully the Santa Croce lift was one of the few that had just opened.

b.      A majority of the mountain refuges (which are speckled all over the mountains as excellent places to stop and rest during a long day hike or overnight hike) were closed

c.       Most restaurants were also closed, including all three restaurants that have Michelin Stars (they all opened June 24^th), so our gourmet experience was a little more of a mission than we’d expected it to be. 

d.      The weather was fairly temperamental – every day it rained, though it typically had sunny spells as well so we managed a hike every day of the week

2)     Be prepared for rain.  Even if you go in August/September, it’s likely you’ll have rain at least some days.  We didn’t bring truly waterproof hiking clothes and ended up spending a small fortune on proper, good quality waterproofs

3)     You’ll need to buy hiking maps when you get there… most trails are not well marked, especially if it’s not one of the most popular hikes.  You can find these in places like sports supplies shops.  Tobacco maps are renowned as the most up to date and you can buy different ones for the various mountain networks you are interested in hiking.  

4)     Buses and Taxis – Badia/Pedraces was the smallest of the villages in terms of restaurants/shops and we therefore liked to explore some of the other towns as well, especially for dining in the evening.  We took a few buses as well as taxis (since we both fancy wine with our dinner and didn’t want to drive).  The buses only ran once an hour and stopped running around 19:30 (they might operate more frequently during the official summer season though).  We could take a bus to one of the other villages in the early evening, but then we had to take taxis back to our hotel.  As Alto-Adige valley is quite small and there aren’t so many tourists to warrant countless taxis servicing the area, it does mean that taxis can charge quite a premium.  A taxi from La Villa to Badia (3.5km) was €25… ouch!

Despite coming at a “wrong” time, like I said, the upside was that we felt like we were the only ones there.  We discovered some incredible foods (speck and gorgonzola pizza is my new favourite), 

had countless memorable picnics (some dry, some not so dry) with gorgeous views, 

and were spoiled for choice of hikes around emerald lakes (Lago di Braies, our favourite lake, below), 

 

(Lago di Braies - with a lovely place right at the start/finish to have a bratwurst and bier... yes, we're still in Italy!)

We fell in love with this beautiful, delicious, and relatively less-discovered region in Italy.

I think a repeat visit will have to be in the not-too-distant future.

Harwood Arms - London Pub with a Michelin Star

Last night, we went to the Harwood Arms in Fulham Broadway. It had been on my list for quite some time as it was London's first pub to receive a Michelin Star.

The look and the feel of the place is pretty much like any other upscale pub (careful not to use the G-word, gastropub, since that term is apparently thrown to the wayside of late). Ok, there are a few touches that I wouldn't find in my local. One of our friends came out of the gents and was giddy to tell us that there were actual hand towels instead of dryers or paper towels. On our table was a small, sweet bouquet of flowers and a nice candle (which I managed to knock over and spill wax all over my friend).

Our server made us feel right at home - she wasn't rushing us and had very decisive, confident recommendations anytime we asked. She looked after us well - not overly-attentive yet there right when we needed something.

But of course, these are all bonuses in my book - we'd really come for the food. Thankfully, it didn't disappoint for the most part. I wouldn't normally comment on a restaurant's bread and butter - but Harwood Arms' was standout. Very fresh and flavourful and the butter was room temperature and nicely salted. For our starter, we shared the plate of wood pigeon for two (in the picture we snapped here). It consisted of risolles, one large kiev, and pâté- plus small cups of soup. We both really enjoyed this dish - the rissoles were the best. I'm not a big pâté fan but my partner assured me it was very good. Our friends both had the pork belly starter. I wish I'd snapped a photo as it was the most inventive way I've seen pork belly served! They'd used the actual pork belly to create ravioli (you would have thought it was a very thin pasta) stuffed with a delicious filling - they were quite happy with their choice, too. Mains came and three of us had the cod which was served with cauliflower, samphire, and small brown shrimps. It was perfectly cooked and the flavours in the broth that surrounded the fish were a perfect compliment. While I've cooked with samphire before, this was the first time I really got samphire and what it can add to a dish if paired and cooked properly. My partner chose the beef cheeks in ale sauce, served with champ (mashed potatoes with spring onions)... not quite as satisfying as our cod.

It was quiz night at the Harwood Arms which they had warned us about prior to booking. We were happy to partake and thought it was great fun, despite coming in nearly last place. The one thing I hadn't realised until visiting the website today is that quiz night also means an abbreviated menu versus other nights... so you have 3 choices each for starter, main , and pud... And while I definitely would like to go back for another quiz night (perhaps with some smarter friends in tow), I think I'll give a normal night a try too, just so that I can revel in the full menu of options.