Perched above Italy's most beautiful fjord is Bluh Furore, Enrico Bartolini's restaurant led by the talented Vincenzo Russo. Our ‘overview’ of the hotel, restaurant and dishes on the menu.
Vincenzo Russo is a young man from 1995 who impressed me by winning Emergente Chef Centro Sud in 2023, we talked about him in this article, while Enrico Bartolini is a chef born in 1979 who, once out of the Alberghiero di Montecatini Terme, has never stopped confirming the importance of identity in haute cuisine. These two, today, take us to a Grand Hotel named after a fiord on the Amalfi Coast, a geographical heritage bestowed by nature and made suggestive by man.
The hotel
In these parts, the entrance of the Lattari mountains into the sea draws slashes of rock that, on calm days, seem to be asleep in the turquoise waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Beaches, cliffs, grottoes and inlets among which stands out the scenery of a fjord, that of Furore, which, looking at it from the sea, is a hidden corridor linking a small bay reserved for the rest of the world.
The tranquility of the waters and the geological conformation of the steep walls have made this bay the fortune of a small fishing village in history, now uninhabited. Upstream of the rocky staircase that climbs from the sea, reached after several bends by motorbike or car, there is instead the ‘high’ Furore with its small village and church on the edge of a historic Grand Hotel overlooking the blue.
The Furore Grand Hotel is a jewel restored to its 5-star luxury splendor by the Irollo de Lutiis family, with a major renovation and elegant restyling. A terraced project integrating 32 rooms, two flats with private pools, a spa, two indoor pools and two dining outlets into the promontory. The supervision of the structure's gastronomic offerings is by the infallible chef Enrico Bartolini, an entrepreneurial chef with twelve stars throughout Italy who, in his humility, his variable geometries and his lucid vision of cuisine, never misses an opportunity to be visionary and to shape tables of consolidated gastronomic success.
Entrusted to the same aptitude as Resident Chef Vincenzo Russo, the Grand Hotel Furore is home to both the Acquarasa restaurant and the Michelin-starred Bluh Furore. The former has an all-day long menu of dishes in favour of creative classicism from the land and hotellery, the latter, on the other hand, is refined fine dining with 18 seats in the balcony. The rooms throughout are spacious, designed in a regularity of lines whose angular symmetry makes the most of natural light, where the scale of whites in the chiaroscuro accompanies the essentiality of the furnishings.
The Bluh Furore restaurant and resident chef Vincenzo Russo
The two-aisle hall of the Bluh Furore restaurant recalls a long corridor that takes you into the sea over which it is suspended. An essential mise en place occupies the comfortable tables dressed in white tablecloths and all around you are served by a young, smiling staff. The Bluh Furore is open only for dinner, which in summer means enjoying first the power of the colours of the sunset and then the moonrise over the reflections of the sea.
Here, Vincenzo Russo, after seven years in the brigade with Antonino Cannavacciuolo at Villa Crespi and an experience in Sardinia, launched his kitchen, finally returning to his homeland. If it is true that Enrico Bartolini had been monitoring the gastronomic evolution of the Amalfi Coast for years, Vincenzo was certainly there waiting as much as he was for the opportunity to turn his curriculum over to the right table.
A precious encounter, that between the two, which focuses on creative talent, respect for the territory and an identity-based gastronomic vision. Four tasting courses are on the menu , the Verde Costiera in six vegetable courses (€ 150), the È Furore in six seafood courses linked to the local tradition (€ 170), the Nel Bluh with eight courses of creative seafood cuisine (€ 190) and finally the Day by Day, which is a daily three-course meal in the dark by the chef (€ 140).
Reading the menu makes one lean towards everything from the Elephant's Ear made with peppers (coastal green) or the Lamb fondant cooked in clay (it's furore) to the Spaghetti with urchins, saffron and passion fruit (in the bluh). All the dishes on the menu have a stimulating character of choice, one would gladly return to try the rest, but the kindness and helpfulness of the kitchen (if service is feasible) always tries to accommodate the desire for a few changes in the courses.
The dishes
At the table, the first special mention goes to the bread-making. The Neapolitan tarallo is one of the best and most authentic expressions that can be eaten in the coastal area and the breads, all homemade, are of great lightness and controlled acidity in the crumb, in favour of an excellent crunchy exterior. Incredibly tasty is the butter mantecato with colatura di alici (anchovies sauce) and covered with a powdered tomato (in the shape of a cornetto), and speaking of tomatoes, the main element of Campania's culture from the 18th century to the present day, let's start there with the first piece of dinner. The Tomato and Squid Festival is a dish capable of opening a dinner that will always be characterised by the same principle of cleanliness of taste. A few elements, enhanced in their respective characteristics by complex processing techniques, put on the plate to arrive in all their recognisable simplicity.
Immediate taste, complex flavour and on this rule of technique and cleanliness, the Pasta maritata di pesce also surprises. A risotto made of semolina and seafood water with sea snails glazed in veal stock, which is served at the table on a background of squid ink and sea urchins. A dish with amusing bounces of taste and bite, enveloping in its creamy fatty notes and pungent in varying degrees of natural flavour. Truly a return course. Spaghetti with urchins, saffron and passion fruit is another caption to the pleasure of elegant and satisfying eating. From the perfect cooking of the sweet wheat to the well-controlled contrasts of saffron between the sea urchins and passion fruit, each roll of spaghetti well coated in starch is an invitation to the enjoyment of slow chewing.
Remaining curious about that melting lamb, for consistency my second course was the barbecued dentex with trombette courgette. A fresh, moist catch that eaten alone brings back the delicacy of the sea in a meat rich in iron and iodine. Playing with the raw, marinated courgettes is the charred feel of a not excessively dry skin. All in all, an unelaborate dish respecting the raw material, served in its refined simplicity.
The chapter on pre-desserts, desserts and small pastries deserves a side note and essentially for two contrasting reasons. While the pastry at Bluh Furore has an excellent technique and a great success in taste, it deviates somewhat from the essentiality of a cuisine that focuses on the exaltation of a few elements. The pre-dessert is a semi-sweet dessert by the spoonful, where the lemon namelaka and yuzu satisfy, but go beyond the personal concept of resetting the palate. The dessert is served on two plates and recounts a fascinating coastal legend of two lovers coming together amid passion and betrayal. Overall, the masterful technique makes the main course an aesthetic explosion of chocolates, but the one that struck me (and was my perfect dessert) was the honey Pannacotta served with almond ice cream and a peach and lavender puree. Elegant, complex and persistent in its accompanying role.
The wine list is extensive, with good research on local labels capable of entertaining, but the advice (even if you do not drink wine) is to let yourself be guided and surprised by sommelier Giovanna Ragno. The service led by Raffaele Rispoli is young, attentive and perhaps a little academic in its passages, but never indiscreet in its respect for the spectacle you experience between sky, sea and table. With a team that plays well behind him, Enrico Bartolini confirms himself a guarantee and Vincenzo Russo a talent with clear ideas, who never stops growing. Bluh Furore is one more reason to talk about a marvellous fjord that is worth the view and the descent, but it is above all an added value to an Amalfi Coast intolerant of confusion and ambitious to grow as an exclusive destination.
Contact
Via Dell'Amore, 2, 84010 Furore SA
Telephone: 089 93573
