“Ever since I started this job I have always wanted to ennoble what my mountain offers, beginning with transforming an old malga into a haute cuisine restaurant, but without distorting its essence.” The story and dishes of Paolo Donei, chef of Malga Panna: discovering a unique destination surrounded by mountain peaks.
The story
It all starts with great-grandfather Lattanzio, who in the summers of the early 1900s used to accompany the cows to graze in the alpine pastures just above the village, in this alpine hut built by nailing a few wooden planks together, where it was rumored that the best cream in the area was made. And the name shaped itself, that alpine farmstead was and will be in time, for everyone “Malga Panna”. Without bothering emblazoned naming agencies, this place will always have imprinted on it the unique and unmistakable name that still denotes it perfectly today.

“I have been called in several companies ,” says chef and patron Paolo Donei, great-grandson of Lattanzio, “ to offer me astronomical sums of money in exchange for what has now become the brand name of my restaurant, but I will never give it up to anyone. And how can you blame him, after all, this place has become his life and work project for more than 30 years. At 1,400 m above sea level, just a few kilometers uphill from the center of Moena, with postcard views of the enchanting Val di Fassa resort, that one hundred-year-old barn is now one of the nearly four hundred restaurants that the Michelin guide awards as the best in Italy. Malga Panna has not only held a Michelin star since 1993, but the young Paolo Donei, then just 19 years old, won the prestigious award, setting a record that is still unmatched as the youngest chef to achieve that honor.
The restaurant
The allure one immediately breathes upon entering is that of an enchanted place, capable of transforming with the passing of the seasons. During winter, the warm wood of the stube envelops guests in a charming intimacy; when the season turns warmer, the veranda opens wide to the garden, offering a view that expands over the surrounding landscape. In the interior spaces, artworks create a refined visual impact, naturally combining elegance and coziness. A balance that combines sophistication with an immediate sense of comfort, making luxury accessible and free of formal rigidity.

"During the summer we often welcome cyclists returning from their mountain rides. Seeing that, attracted by the view of the veranda, they feel free to come in for a quick meal without worrying about old formalities fills me with satisfaction,", notes Paolo. It is a statement that fully reflects a modern conception of hospitality and haute cuisine, made up of authentic hospitality and no old labels, capable of meeting the desires of an increasingly varied and dynamic clientele.

For Donei, too, the post-pandemic period was, as for all forward-thinking restaurateurs, a time to be exploited for work and renovations that involved, in addition to the veranda and some furnishings, the inclusion of his wife Cristina, previously employed in a completely different sector, in the dining room staff. Where the competence and impeccable savoir faire of sommelier Antonio Gilli, twenty-nine years old, educated and a devotee of a wine narrative with a graceful and erudite register, camp.

At Malga Panna, everything really converges in the pivotal point represented by maximum customer focus, as the most authoritative manuals on service marketing have been thundering for decades. “Customer centricity” is the essential pillar of success. A principle that should also find priority in the restaurant world, but which, in recent times, has often been overshadowed by the unbridled egocentrism of some chefs. The self-aggrandizement of one's talent, the emphasis on the supposed uniqueness of one's culinary philosophy and the ostentation of superfine technique often end up stifling what should be the main objective: ensuring the satisfaction and happiness of those who sit at the table. And it is an episode that Paul tells us that sums up his understanding of the direction in which luxury gastronomy is going today. When the secretary of a well-known fashion entrepreneur booked a private dining room for a business dinner. Upon his arrival, the manager immediately addressed heartfelt compliments to the chef, but surprised everyone by asking exclusively for some slices of excellent quality speck for dinner. Which promptly arrived at the table. For Donei, fully complying with such an unusual request, which most would have interpreted as almost insulting to their talent, was instead a source of great fulfillment, for having fully met the guest's expectations.

An open-mindedness that is also seen in his collaborations, as evidenced by the synergy born of his long friendship with chef Demetrio Fiorot, chef of the Olympic SPA Hotel in Moena. For the hotel's dinner menu, served in the striking plexiglass bubble overlooking the Dolomites, Donei designed an exclusive dish. And he also contributed a selection of petit fours accompanied by his renowned hay herbal tea, which guests find in their rooms at the Olympic after dinner.

For several years now, “Malga Panna” has also been the brand name of a line of high craftsmanship products that counts among its various specialties, berry, cream and coffee cookies, prepared following traditional methods that guarantee long shelf life, just as grandmothers used to do, jams and the highly appreciated herbal teas made from mountain herbs and flowers, distributed in an exclusive selection of carefully chosen outlets.

“ Ever sinceI started this job,” the chef reveals, “ I have always wanted to ennoble what my mountain offers, starting with transforming an old malga into a haute cuisine restaurant, but without distorting its essence, I like to follow the rhythms of nature, gather herbs and flowers, the shoots of the pines, and I am inspired by this every day. It came quite naturally to the 14-year-old Donei to enroll in the hotel industry, as he grew up in his parents' restaurant. His father, Virgilio, not feeling his own vocation for agricultural life, turned the family alpine hut into a trattoria with simple dishes, polenta, cheese and mushrooms of which he was an expert connoisseur. Even today, the quality of mushrooms used in Paul's cooking reflects the experience he inherited from his father. It was his innate pragmatic approach that soon made him abandon his studies to learn in the field, working in various restaurants and training with great chefs. Over time, research has become a fundamental part of his growth, solidifying the belief that knowledge is necessary to best express the essence of his cuisine and the territory of which he is an interpreter.
The dishes
All this is condensed into a menu of immediate enjoyability, which does not need pyrotechnic extravagance but boasts that rate of substance that the mountain always legitimizes. Gilli's pairing is also extremely contemporary; between native, French wines and non-alcoholic beverages, we start with Red Moon, a sparkling red-fleshed apple-based juice with an incisive acidity due to its decisive anthocyanins.


The opening is the prerogative of a seductive alpine butter that along with a speck and potato emulsion accompanies the crackers and bread, flanking the mendacious burrata and stracciatella tomato covered in a tomato and extra virgin oil jelly.

A small salad of kale and strawberries that solace in a broth of milk, pepper and horseradish with an appealing pungency, welcomes the trout cooked only on the skin side, which takes on a crunchiness with burnt notes, leaving the flesh succulent. Freshwater fish from the mountains, then, but there is no shortage of seafood “I have not totally excluded it from the course,” Donei explains, “ because I don't want talk of territory to mean setting limits”.

Off we go then to a cream of squid ink and sardine roe that, along with butter, becomes a condiment for fusilloni monograno Felicetti, the highest pasta factory in the world, a fifteen-minute drive from there. Topped with slices of cuttlefish seasoned simply with Garda olive oil and salt.

It takes on the appearance of horseradish in the flavor of the buttermilk and cress risotto, albeit with smoother tones, with oil and bay leaf powder pressing down on the bitterness and yogurt lending freshness. With the umami of sweetbreads and marrow brushed on roast.

A macaron of soy meringue, red turnip and vinegar imprisons a slice of red turnip and blue Moena, a blue cheese that comes from the excellent El Mas farm. Served with fermented grapes and apple cubes.

In the mountain cuisine one expects, there can be no shortage of venison, which the chef has come up with a puffed quinoa breadcrumb coating as a cover for one side of the filet, to put a nutty, crispy accent on the meat. Accompanied by a pinot noir reduction, crossed with a streak of apricot cream and celery cream.

To anticipate dessert, a Moscow Mule “by the spoonful”, at the bottom of the famous Martini glass a slush of lime and other citrus is topped with a mousse of ginger beer and vodka.

Of great freshness is “Amnesia”, a honey and eucalyptus cream, combined with a wild fennel sorbet, all topped with a mousse of tonic where lemon meringue is hidden, and to adorn, gin pearls.

Aesthetically refined is the delicious chamomile parfait with peach gelée coating, a white chocolate mousse and fermented peaches. To be interspersed in the tasting with the geometrically perfect mini cubes of ultra-transparent peach liqueur jelly.

With the petit fours consisting of chocolate and vanilla meringues, fruit tartlet , cookie with Bavarian cream, chocolate with chocolate ganache, comes the indispensable alpine hay and mountain flower herbal tea, the composition of which is worth enunciating. Celery lovage, horsetail, clover blossoms, yarrow, marigold, mallow, elderberry, yarrow, dandelion, chamomile, orange, marigold that undergo slow, light-free drying for optimal preservation of aromas.
Contact
Malga Panna
Address: Strada de Sort 64, 38035 Moena (TN)
Home phone: 0462 573489
Mobile: +39 333 7978223
E-mail: info@malgapanna.it