At the top of the list for area attractions, the Laurin remains in good form with its 114-year history. Inside, the cuisine takes off to unexpected destinations thanks to the voyager's flair of Dario Tornatore, a facility executive torn between two parallel projects: the Laurin and ConTanima.
The hotel
Walking among Disneyesque paths, hidden greenhouses and arbors in full photosynthesis two minutes from the city's hustle and bustle, one almost feels as if one is experiencing the dreamlike scene of a Lewis Carroll tale. Suddenly you step into Alice's shoes, but here the “garden of wonders” really exists, and it is inside a centuries-old palace made green by the continuous cycle of flowering species.
Planted as it is halfway between the train station and the glamorous glitter of Bolzano's Corso, the Hotel Laurin has been fulfilling its function as a meeting place for seasonal guests and regulars for 114 years, retaining the solemn spirit of long-lived buildings. Yet beyond the threshold is the buzz of places on the move, never sitting on the laurels of past glories.
One only has to walk alongside the lobby and enter the 4,000-square-foot lawn to capture the epicenter of South Tyrol's nightlife in a flash: it's time for the "long aperitif," a regular stop every Thursday night, and the poolside cocktail area teems with drinks tinged with the orangey light of sunset. All the while, a huddle of groups admire with the same absorbed expression both the stone families of elephants scattered among the pathways (groups of signature statues commissioned by director Franz Staffler as a tribute to his favorite animal) and the intrepid Merano rose plant climbing the trunk of a cedar tree, the world record holder for height with its 28 meters of vertical acrobatics.
It is around the latter that the Laurin Restaurant 's dining room sprouts, a crown of open-air tables ready to take refuge in the indoor spaces during the winter months, where 13 tree profiles from the park have been reproduced ad hoc by author Marilù Eustachio to bridge the inside-outside gap. It's easy to think of a menu stuffed with dumplings and spaetzle, but no, the cuisine takes off to surprise destinations thanks to the voyager 's flair of Dario Tornatore, the establishment's executive divided between two parallel projects: the Laurin, precisely, and ConTanima, the apex branch of the maison's proposal.
Campanian natives, a Roman childhood and an itinerant career from London to Bahrain (with decisive stakes in Gordon Ramsay's dragnet and at Sheikh Mohamed Al Khalifa's restaurant chain, ITTICO UK), today the chef breaks down our customs into a prism of cultural reflections that shed new light on hotel gastronomy. But before zooming in on the menu, let's change the frame, hit rewind, and return to the entrance corridor to enjoy the lounge that has inscribed the complex on the top list of area attractions.
The history, the environments, the experience
Chances are you will immediately look up at the ceiling, lingering perhaps a bit too much on the silhouettes frescoed on the walls and risking “blocking traffic” right there in the doorway. Nevertheless, the King Laurin cycle fully deserves that abundant handful of minutes that new visitors instinctively find themselves devoting to it. We're talking about the Dolomite legend portrayed in 1911 by the well-known Bavarian artist Bruno Goldschmitt, in which the characters take on features between the comic and the grotesque, with the “ruler of the dwarves” intent on confronting the destruction of the court rose garden by Theodoric the Great.
It is not, however, only the uniqueness of the "ironic Judgenstil” (an irreverent strand from which the work originated) that captures the attention of adults and children alike: in fact, in front of the upholstered armchairs, a traditional fireplace stands giantly in contrast to the aerial installation "Pause to Marvel” by Dutch designer Pieke Bergmans, famous for his “fluid objects” suspended in space and time. The result is a limitless invitation to pause in Bar Laurin forgetting watches and devices, head up toward the wood paneling and a goblet at hand, lost amid the persuasive notes of jazz and the viscous talk of fellow drinkers.
By the way: if during the day the bistro plays the finger food card with a parade of canapés and snacks in trend, at dusk the cocktail palimpsest, in our case set up by Barman Cris Cipriani (soon to be involved in similar thick projects), meets with acclaim. Hitting the mark is a pummeling re-edition of the Bloody Mary with double shot of Belvedere Vodka, homemade tomato soda, rosemary, celeriac and citrus, as well as the Laurin 1910, Campari base plus lime and agave syrup. So the happy hour flows quickly until it's time to fork over the cutlery: destination Laurin.
The restaurant Laurin
@-Peter Unterthurner
It is now close to reopening the Gourmet ConTanima (to which we will soon devote a separate in-depth article), located in a charming outdoor greenhouse that picks up on the botanical thread stretched to bind the hotel's various rooms. Same hand and different approach for Laurin Restaurant, accomplice to both the greater number of covers (80 versus 20) and Tornatore's eclecticism in changing register according to the expectations of customers. The goal, to break the plaster of territoriality that often shrouds dishes crystallized in custom, crossing popular repertoires between the South, the North and transcends beyond the border.
ConTanima
Basically, the menu travels from full-bodied main courses from Lazio to Nordic stuffed pastas, via alpine kolossals and a mixage of techniques from around the world. It happens, then, to find schüttelbrot (typical Tyrolean crusty bread,ed.) in the Fettuccine with stewed leeks and chanterelles, or friggitelli to “campanize” the Tataki of albacore; the Tarte tatin not sweet, but totally salted and composed of thin layers of onion, or the Mountain Herb Salad made smart by pickled vegetables.
And for those who would still like to fasten their enjoyment seatbelts (while dodging possible parachutes), the chef offers the opportunity to fly flush with such strongholds as Schlutzkrapfen ricotta, spinach, butter and Parmigiano and Linzer cake (see under “Timeless Classics,” with an accompanying 50€ tasting course). In response, among the meats piques interest (and appetite) a parterre of plural-matured cuts, including the ever-present Tomahawk and rib eye sirloin, cooked live by the barbecued-front team.
@sophiakobald
The dishes
We have chosen-and will tell you about-the most comprehensive tasting, as well as representative of the agility with which Tornatore shapes the top courses. It is "Quattro passi con lo chef," at €80, whose green stand-in is "Sapore vegetariano," at €65. "I love to merge recipes born in even very distant places on a map, either because they condense my travel memory or because they nourish that of the guests," the chef explains. “But in the end, the lintel on which the whole experience rests is a widespread sense of balance and familiarity-I'm someone who gives string to pleasantness even when experimenting.” The result shines through in detail, in a sequence of tastings that are complementary in concept and character.
The room picks up pace with the introduction of organic South Tyrolean steak tartare on grilled veal marrow. On top, marinated yolk and mustard seeds; on the side, homemade panbrioche with a slight bruschetta: the spoon to dip into the bone to extract the best of it, the slice to dip at regular intervals in egg yolk. Easy but impressive: what, on the premise, could have been an easy lipid-injection appetizer turns out instead to be a feast of scents, between the smoky of direct flame and the pressing pungency of spice.
The first one? “It actually stems from a second,” the chef clarifies. And here the Raviolini del plin “à la Tornatore” hatch a U.S. soul: beneath the pastry, a vigorous pulled pork filling. “Last spring, in the brigade, we were reasoning about the potential of grilling to go beyond the usual steaks. Hence the idea of practicing a gentle, slow smoking process, such as to push the succulence of the pork. We did a lot of testing, until we were convinced by the attempt to use the tender fillets as a stuffing.” So you see the plin coming to you in its basic form and then, upon chewing, you discover a set of “kindred opposites”: the gentle dough, the bbq-tinged core, the umami of the shitake mushrooms, and the stimulating bitterness of the Cynar Jus poured over the stock.
It harks back to Latium's “tordo matto” (characteristic horse roulade with ham batting) the Quaglia lardellata, spinach and firferli, the dinner's peak of opulence. Ingredient under the lens: “We source from a mini-farm in Veneto, in Marostica, that pulls up quail and partridge almost exclusively for us.” In the pot-bellied bird, a layering of lard, pepper, coriander and herbs again stretches the arc of astonishment: there is freshness over the savory latticework of the meat, rich with humors no less than vegetable inserts.
Closing the circle is a “two-in-one,” the multiple dessert to prove voracious palates. “Objective, to combine the generosity of tiramisu and the aplomb of choux pastry." In between take turns a chocolate craquelin to simulate cocoa powder, coffee ice cream for the thermal jump, and super creamy mascarpone mousse. Last, the Dalgona Coffee, an oriental preparation composed of coffee, sugar and hot water whipped by hand into a frothy nembo. Strong, this Tirami-Choux.
Contact
Parkhotel Laurin- Restaurant Laurin- ConTanima
Via Laurin, 4, 39100 Bolzano BZ
Phone: 0471 311000
