Back from Italy (7) - Ideas for an evening brunch

In a famous aphorism, Emily Dickinson, stated: “my friends are my estate”. I cannot agree more: friends make you prosperous because their way of being naturally enriches your perspective on the world, yet this prosperity is not tangible, you cannot trade it or stock it. Secondly, in their companionship, one feels able to express as liberally as possible: such a lack of restrictions in the unconscious exchange of our best part makes everything special.

A tasty paste-up with Emily and some crockery

Not In Vain by Emily Dickinson If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain: If I can ease one life the aching, Or cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain. One of my favorite poems.

The fact that this reciprocity doesn’t have any goal - save friendship itself - makes a relationship free from contractual bonds: one is friend to another not because of a reason related to the place (such as the class or the office), or because you are performing a service (as for the bartender and the client), or due to an earning that will be gained in the end. A friend is like an elephant bearing a tower, but it is a pretty inexplicable mythological apparition: from there you can see further beyond the horizon.

Via San Vitale, Bologna, Italy.

Their reproaches, even if sharp and hard to be accepted, are meant to help and never to demolish, they are constructive. Those who slip into the limbo ex-friends have normally developed a nasty form of envy, commuting altruism and sympathy into malice and contempt: friendship knows no form of evil competition and never turns into weapons those keys of our soul we entrusted to somebody:

When she got to the door, she found she had forgotten the little golden key, and when she went back for it, she found she could not possibly reach it. - From Alice Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol -

True friends, instead, are a refreshing source of good humour, support, laughs, and delightful time, in one word a pleasure without interest. Friendship, as a feeling, is a form of affection that does not reach, of course, the passion of love. Love is a sublimated desire, drive. In Latin, the word amor shares the same family etymology of the Ancient Greek mào, nonetheless I prefer the fake etymology of a-mors, i.e. something that makes death vanish. I cannot cope with my romantic side, my apologies:

This painting by Denise H. Cooperman is an allegory of Friend-Ship:

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/denise-cooperman.html

When I think of friendship I am still attached to the first image of the boat: it is that sentiment of “I like you and I care for you”. I must say that as an Italian, the expression “I love you” used for a friend sounds too emphatic. We make a great deal of distinction between “ti voglio bene” and “ti amo”. There is an abyss between them.

Heather Barrow' creation, Friendship

http://www.heatherbarronarts.com/large-view/My%20Gallery/295940-12-10-22573/Painting.html?thumbnails=on

 Love implies, indeed, a physical offering – at least a gathering of mutual lips -, an exchange of vital energies, which is closer to religious faith and relinquishment of the Self: true love stems indeed from the same esteem generated by friendship, but creates a halo of admiration, a perfect balance between external beauty and interior splendour. Friendship simply cannot reach this stage and doesn’t even need to: friendship is more related on sympathy, commitment and affection perhaps, to which love adds chemistry, uniqueness and dream. Love is then a form of Nirvana, a light casted on your hart, a light that generates peace.

The satori state in the buddhist conception of enlightenment

William Shakespeare found (obviously) a very powerful expression in his 116 Sonnet to describe love: “it is an ever-fixed mark / that looks on tempests and is never shaken”. I won’t contest, but I feel the need to add that the idea that we are the caretakesrs of the ever-fixed mark - this lighthose on the perilious sea-rocks of love-life.

The idea of Nirvana made stem another connection in my mind (the last I promise). Rachel Weisz, in Darren Aronofsky’s The fountain (2006), plays Isabel of Spain and in her gorgeousness I figuratively fond that sense of commitment, attractiveness, inexplicable drive, which should internally push each person to tend to the one’s own subjective best, the most delicate authenticity.

Rachel Weisz performing Queen Isabel of Spain in The Fountain
directed by Darren Aronofsky. Recently she also took some pictures
with her second husband Daniel Craig, former 007, at the Skyfall premiere:

All these entwined causes, brought me to think which was the best way to host a coming-back party at home: the ambition was that of witnessing the bonds of friendship and reproducing its nature throughout food. Something then was needed that should have reproduced the array of different personality gathering together. The perfect meal would have been the brunch, so various and flexible, but noon was a busy time of the day for everyone. What to do? Giving it up what not a choice! A tea party was too weak! What about a brunch after tea? I duplicated the idea of the brunch and its lavish comfort food, but I bent it to the exigencies of a dinnertime, and this is the visible result of it. Every dish is shaped on some features of my friends' personality: 

1. Claudine’s tarts: Claudine is the personification of Elegance. My idea is that she was one of those elegant one-trait-silhouettes of the early XX century that came to life, with her dowry of raven hair. Her interpretation and reception of this concept allows her to be always perfect in and for every occasion. Her style is a mirror of her interpretation of the world: formally exquisite, substantially impeccable. You simply cannot add or subtract anything from her without damaging the whole harmony: 

Home kneaded bread with Provola, Taggiasche olive, Sun-dried tomatoes
and sometimes Prosciutto crudo di Norcia. A perfect finger food.

2. Martha’s filled courgettes: Martha is mirrored by this dish. She's apparently coriaceous and crusty in the outside, but the reality is that she is very tender and romantic in the inside. Her appearance is striking and it is all there, without deceptions: she never hides something, because she is incapable of lying. Sometimes you feel in need of a pair of pinches to relate with her, because she is as a burning coal, yet this threat becomes a virtue because it works as a sort of earth-like energy which warms the spirit and the atmosphere, as a good fireplace. Her beauty and wit march at the same pace. 

Grilled courgettes
filled with Robiola cheese (creamy and thick, but still spreadable),
black pepper,
and freshly trimmed chives.

3. Hannah’s aubergines and mozzarella: Hannah is a living monument of aristocracy. In Ancient Greek oi àristoi were the best people. Although she'll deny it, she aims always for the best, she is a perfectionist of good manner, so she will be the perfect example for the Order of the Garter motto "honi soit qui mal y pense" (translation: shame upon who thinks evil of it). This attention to how to perform things rightly and righteously often slows down her approach to life, but she is working on that and with a great deal of success. And above all or after all she is a virtuoso of the use of languages, and she creates delightful puns in many idioms.

Grilled mille feuilles of aubergines, mozzarella, basil leaves and tomato:
as in bon-ton etiquette there are different layers and grades
of adequateness. Grill the aubergine, make a sort of pesto
with basil and oil and spread it onto the aubergine, lay on top
the mozzarella and the tomato, finally sprinkle with black pepper

4. Lora's chocolate plum-cake: Lora is an extremely dynamic woman. She is just a few years older than me, but this discrepancy brings along a wide range of jokes related to adulthood and aging. The one I prefer to mock her with is that she is supposed to have in her photo-album a polaroid of the clay that would have become Adam. Loughs, applause! She is also very stylish in her taste for clothes, and she ALWAYS swings between black and purple, a sort of chromatic chastity. To correspond this coloristic attitude I choose a chocolate plum-cake. Beautiful texture due to a diced apple, dark as the night for the coca powder, scented of cinnamon and crowned of a jewel of pistachios [I was hoping Michelle would have make it and she adores pistachios]:

Chocolate plum-cake recipe:

1. 220 gr of white flour [7];
2. 180 gr of fair trade cane sugar; [4]
3. 150 gr of unsalted organic Tesco butter (melted) [6];
4. 120 gr of 70% Waitrose continental dark chocolate (melted); [5]
5. 80 gr of pistachios (garnishment) [9]
6. 80 gr of dried cranberries (optional) [8b];
7. 50 gr of cocoa powder; [3]
8. 3 medium organic eggs [1]
9. 1 tsp baking powder; [2]
10. 1 tbs of baking soda; [2b]
11. 1 apple [8].

[in brakets you can find the procedure steps]

5. Claire's final dish-composition: Claire is an eclectic character: journalist, PR, student, brilliant conversator. Her hair are short as in the roaring '20ies, her eyes as blue as the skies over the Alps one instant before sunrise, her attitude toward life is that of a lioness. She is picking up from the world all the most brilliant flowers, those that allow her soul to blossom in replay. She is so cultivated that when she steps inside a museum, the museum pays the ticket.

The composition was very personal:
there was the aubergine mille feuilles,
a little bun called Parmigianino
(because the main ingredient is Parmigiano),
a courgette roll, some hand-fried crisps,
a stuffed mushroom and
a slice of Felino salami (check on Waitrose)
http://www.waitrose.com/shop/ProductView-10317-10001-83981-Waitrose+Felino+salami

The purple napkin comes from IKEA.

Back to Italy (6) – The Italian touch: aperitivo

Beyond expression lies the first hand impression of reality. The real is somehow hidden under this curtain of individual perception: hence, all the game is played between expression and retelling on one side, impression and emotion on the other. These two groups then collide inside the basket of memory. Or it is better to say, this is the way I feel our understanding works. The consideration I am about to articulate is then about the magic hidden beneath the Italian touch.

The Italian touch web-magazine: http://www.theitaliantouch.com/it/Home

How may one define this peculiar style, which springs out from our way of presenting things? Is it part of our Italian culture or it is something that might be adopted? Are there some embarrassing side effects? Normally, this Italian style is linked to fashion and clothes, gardens design and cars, a certain taste for aesthetics and different rhythm of living (that we are partially losing). Monica Bellucci tries - with enormous success, I must confess – to ride the wave of Italian splendour: her sensuality looks directly back to fairytales and she is opulent and beautiful as few divas have been. Unfortunately, the exhibited splendor of women is often the symptom of the decline of the society in which they live.

Her beauty is not only voluptuous - as the malignant one may object - but I think she is taken the breath away  because of the contemporary presence of several forms of perfections ( in a climax body, posture, face and grace): all the attributes of ancient queens. This beauty is al responding to the Italian aesthetic canon and here is emphasized by a D&G black dress and she was appeared brighter because of the Cartier platinum and diamond necklace.

Sophie Marceau is possibly one of the most charming French actresses, it is impressive though how Monica Bellucci in her red Valentino appears so uniquely Italian: the dress reproduces and accentuates her siren shape, especially in Cannes near the seaside.

«Being sexy is in an Italian woman’s DNA» 
- One of Monica Bellucci's famous quote...but I am
always suspicious of this easy stigmatization -

I think proper style is something deeply rooted in our perspective of «how to appear in front of others (which will finally judge…)», a sort of non-written protocol partially based on fear. However, when this attitude is too contingent, it becomes a hideous stereotype and several Italians end up behaving as fashionista: not just for those accessorises they choose, but for the lifestyle and mindsets they resolve to adopt. An approach of this kind appears vulgar to my taste. Vulgar is etymologically what belongs to the people, that is to say something the mass does robotically, without neither realizing nor thinking about the consequences of homologation: when the people acts like a flock of sheep, it loses spontaneity and originality. This situation reminds me of René Magritte's surrealism: all modern men are like rain, the society we are living makes us similar and conformist, but every single drop, as soon as it falls, is lost forever.

René Magritte, Pluie d'hommes (It's raining men), 1953,
Menil Collection, Huston, TX.

Elegance is instead the skill of choosing for the best according to one’s taste, keeping intact that quality of distinction that makes each person unique, as, for instance, Gianni l’Avvocato (The lawyer) Agnelli - former head of the FIAT group (including Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa and Lancia) - has been for decades in Italy. It is possible to reproduce his way of dressing, yet it is more essential essential to understand his very attitude:

Gianni Agenlli, nicknamed l'Avvocato (1921-2003) in his late fifties: he was famous - among the other gossips - for his watch, a Patek Philippe, he usually wore over his cuff, a sign of distinction from the mainstream, but also because it seems he was allergic to metals, so involuntary he launched a fashion.

The FIAT group Alfa, Lancia, Ferrari, Maserati, 500 Abarth, Fiat, and now Chrysler and Dodge.

Gianni Agnelli's Patek Philippe World Time ref. 1415 HU Timepiece:

http://www.fratellowatches.com/gianni-agnelli-and-his-patek-philippe-world-time-ref1415hu-weve-found-one-for-sale/ 

Such a principle of measure in style applies to food as well: indispensable, unconventional, self-sufficient is the best adjective-trinty to delimitate the practice I am going to treat. This time I wish to take into account a relatively tiny aspect of the Italian touch etiquette, the so-called APERITIVO, a dynamic concept, easier to enjoy, more difficult to explain. It is more that beer and crisps at six-ish in the afternoon. It is a slow introduction to dinner and sometimes a true replacement. It combines the passion for wine tasting or light cocktails. It matches elaborated food that at the same time does not need a long-term preparation. It’s a custom that started from Veneto - the region of Venice, Verona and Padua - but now evolved, nourished by all the tributary specialities of each Italian town. Quite often the APERITIVO is linked to a cocktail called SPRITZ:

Recipe (basic version):  1/3 prosecco; 1/3 aperol; 1/3 ice or chilly sparking water; a slice of orange

Spritz with finger food tarts.

Here in Edinburgh, you can find a remarkable Prosecco (around 6.99£) quite paradoxically at Lidl (in Nicholson Street 60, EH8 9DT). My opinion is that Lidl has to be chosen uniquely for a smart line of products called Deluxe, which is praiseworthy, and precisely for the Prosecco of Conegliano Valdobbiadene, with the natural cork:

YET, if you wish to feel something made by professional catering people, Divino enoteca (or wine bar) is the finest in town (5 Merchant street, Edinburgh): they actually cultivate an ambitious and simple project, that of becoming the best wine-house in the UK. 

Divine for the name and for the experience

Divino is not just a physical place but a conceptual one, pretty much metaphysical. It is like stepping inside a space-machine that flings you to another dimension, in this case Italy: so, nothing as worrying as Stargate, one of the films that shaped my childhood:

A classic of the '90s (1994) that - as an 11 years old kid -
I appreciated a lot: the Divino effect is similar,
with less civilization clash, admittedly.

The term appetizing doesn’t cover the entire semantic range of stuzzicante: stuzzicare, in Italian, it also stays for to tease and poke but in a good acceptation. It is then also appealing and stimulating. It is a progressive form of the verb and the food that is appetizing for somebody is a sort of allure that keeps enriching its appeal. In the rules-of-attraction-of-food, I am then speaking of a well-crafted finger food that asks continuously for second helpings:

An assortment of delis (Parma ham, Salame Napoli), cheese (Pecorino & Gorgonzola) and antipasti (grilled courgettes and aubergines). I have to thank Roberta Carloni for these two amazing shots.

White wine (probably Ribolla) with some dark ravioli and risotto

It is a myth that food has to be incredibly elaborated: what is actually admirable is the thought below the dish, in other words how the preparation fits the moment. This way of approaching food has to be pondered carefully: to make an example, I was completely mesmerized by a picture of a friend of mine. He is called Gino, he has somehow espoused a sort of cynical approach to life and several of his jokes are caustic (often misunderstood), BUT under this shocking surface there is a gourmet, a kind friend and a true artist. Gino is benefits of a natural refined intelligence, and he's also THE drummer of a cover band called Falp, whose music is particularly entertaining and very well played. The name derives from the initial letters of the band components' names. This band appeared curious to my eyes because, like in The Paul Street boys, everyone is an unquestionable leader and there are no simple soldiers.

Gino having same "delicious" hand-kneaded bread with Sicilian extra-virgin oil:
as simple as you can imagine.
I was impressed by incredible wine effect captured by
his lovely girlfriend Loredana, whose kindness
allowed me to post this pic. I attempt a further recognition,
the whine is an Inzolia (a famous Sicilian wine company),
but it is only a blusterer's guess.

Yet, going back to the picture, which is a casual shot, which says more of who took it, rather than on the subject himself. I was captured by the perfect combination of simplicity and style, a sort of display of excellent taste, moderation and capability of enjoying the cosy moments of life: a young man, possibly a latin-lover, eating some bread with a tear of extra-virgin olive oil, shares the scene with two flutes of golden white wine. Loredana, the photographer, gave a romantic and intriguing angle to the scene! One is pushed to ask: who's the other mysterious drinker? Let's only reveal that the beauty she is able to capture is dramatically close to that impressed on the features of her visage. All the rest is pure magic and poetry: the white day-light in the street, the beaming effect of the beverage a sort of liquid Sun, the open shirt that matches the dish rim and the distant windows, and that peculiar spirit that merely a relaxed Aperitivo is able to convey...an Aperitivo enriched by the charm of affection.

The Falp band playing Beatle's A Ticket to ride, worth listening

Back to Italy (5) - Simplified Quiche Lorraine with vegetables and brie (Botticelli Gifts & the Round table)

Sometimes, the mental associations play unexpected links, which are actually difficult to understand. For some reasons when I think to a quiche Lorraine I immediately project the image of the Arthurian knights:

I would warmly suggest to read Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval

Circular preparations (such as pizzas, cakes and pies) are somewhat addressing that corner of my intellect that stores all the memories related to sharing food: the perfect shape of a pizza, for instance, grants equal slices: the regular number of the portions mirrors the equilibrium of the circle.

This picture comes form another interesting blog, Ciao Italia,
helpful for those who wish to learn some Italian:
http://italiaitaliano.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/ecco-la-ricetta-della-pizza-margherita.html

Sharing food then is more than a simple act of allowing other people to benefit of what is yours. Sharing food (or making a food-gift) is something deeper: there is feeding in it of course, but especially taking care. As when you water a plant you do not ask for a reward, you merely feel to do it, because it gives you pleasure, the reward is melt inside the action. You do not make food then to entertain or to be complimented for: these two aspects clearly enflame the ego, but only are a surface of the whole problem. On this point, unfortunately, I am often misunderstood. A real gift should never expect reciprocity: it should be a gesture of kindness that you feel spontaneously driven out of your heart, unconditionally and totally.

Sandro Botticelli: another association with the quiche Lorraine
is the Louvre,  perhaps for the sound,
and in the Louvre there is this Botticelli’s fresco:
Venus and the Graces offer a gift to a maiden,about 1486.

According to my personal etiquette: who often shows up to parties with empty hands (or just with too symbolic items) spoils the inner idea of donation (unless he has a very good excuse!) The gift is an offer of our time, which is irreplaceable, a time that won’t ever come back again. Who doesn't free his time for others is possibly a person too retreated in himself/herself: therefore he/she sees others as functional tools. On the contrary, the use of Time - our precious source - is an honour: it is a mean somehow to substitute us with something tangible and eatable. This "something" brings inside the body calories, as a tender embrace does. In the moment in which the entity is offered, the action of offering retires, as a sunset that leaves the memory of its splendour.

Scott Peck was an eminent psychiatrist who died in 2005,
the link he draws between time and life, possibly derives
from Heidegger. His major book, written in 1978, is called
The Road less Travelled:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Road-Less-Travelled-Arrow-New-Age/dp/0099727404/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351291416&sr=8-1

So, let’s finally come to the simplified quiche. This recipe melts together a French tradition and that of the Italian torta salata. I sincerely prefer the pastry of the quiche, but I feel the filling tends to be too heavy, because of the abundance of cream. At the barbecue, this quiche became the perfect appetizer, to control the rising appetite. As often happens, the famished and voracious friends groped the quiche to the last breadcrumb, a ransack that is also a compliment. Nonetheless, I was left with a rescued tiny bit, which gave me at least the pleasure a final personal opinion: Antony, for instance, behaved like a mountain lion aware of its strength, as Homer would phrase it. The quiche was, especially for me, an excuse to prepare something smart for Michelle, who’s often looked down during these carnivorous events. Isabel & John (who brought an amazing seed bread) and Kathy (who's also a refined chef) showed a great interest in the preparation and this post is meant to pass them the legacy of the recipe.

Ingredients: half a red organic pepper, 3 Scottish potatoes, 1/2 Italian courgette and 1/2 French Camembert.	Slice or chop your ingredients, add salt, pepper, and extra-virgin olive oil, toss.
Dust some rosemary and dice the Camembert on top. Pour on top a drop of whole organic milk (10-20 ml).	Bake in the oven until brown at about 200 °C, gassmark 8.

One triple word: appetizing, rich, and piebald.

Here are three variants for the pastry:

I	II	III
200 gr spelt plain flour 100 gr unsalted organic butter 70 ml of ice cold water a pinch of Maldon salt	200 gr plain white flour 90 gr unsalted organic butter 1 small organic egg 10 ml of organic whole milk a pinch of salt	225 gr of white flour 100 gr unsalted organic butter 40 ml of whole organic milk a pinch of smoked Maldon salt

I am in debt with Pasta, amore e...fantasia! for the proportions of the first of these variations, although in the original recipe the flour wasn’t spelt flour: 

http://stobenecomesto.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/pasta-amore-e-fantasia.html?spref=fb

Back to Italy (4) – Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Why not to start from a video, I casually came across? Nothing special really, light pop I daresay, but I loved the video-clip idea of these group - the Deep blue something. They are catered in the Fifth Avenue by spruced up waiters, who arrange the table and bring the meal in a fancy style. It is hilarious how these four breezy musicians ridicule the snooty demeanour of the waiters, who in the end partake at this joke: the song is jovial and bitter at the same time, about a couple falling apart, divided by different lives. Breakfast at Tiffany’s seems to be the only true shared memory, which remains.

Deep blue something, Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Breakfast at Tiffany’s has become the epitome of irresistible Grace, even if the film, in the end, is narrating the story of an escort. The first time I saw it, I did not even catch this level of reading. I never read the book and I blame myself for this fault, apologizing with Truman Capote’s spirit himself. The film is a masterpiece and contributed to shape the conscience of an epoch, inspiring the style of womanhood until nowadays. Do we have to suspend for this reason our opinion? Not at all! The film, in fact, is about the conciliation of impossible states of mind and the Deep blue something apparently got this message as well.

Audrey Hepburn in a sort of homage to the White rim concept,
developed in this blog

The opening of Breakfast at Tiffany’s: it takes a minute to watch and a century to be forgotten

Short documentary on the film made 40 years after:

Yet, strictly speaking of food, I found really intriguing the opening scene: Mrs Holly Golightly steps off from a cab and admires the Tiffany’s shop window, biting a pastry and drinking a take away coffee: this was HER BREAKFAST, solitary, alone, quick. The whole film may be concluded after these two initial minutes. In 1961 - when the film came out - Europe probably regarded the scene as something terribly American, distant visually and conceptually: nowadays, if you think of Starbuck’s and McDonald’s - busy people carrying steaming caloric stuff - everything appears under a different light, or better a different go-lightly…an easier way of living, consuming life, increasing the time rushing, clustering up walking, phoning and eating with extreme nonchalance. Is this what we really aim for?

Where our rushy life-style brought us

Subsequently, I found really sad the imagine of a ravishing posh lady in her early thirties - wearing pearls and a perfectly tailored evening dress, at the first beams of the day, in an almost desert urban landscape – sipping an industrial beverage. Junk food and fast food shouldn’t be demonised, this is obvious, a blind attitude toward them instead is: eating badly damages the body and affects every-day life, makes people mentally slower, dependant on excessive calories, less open to something new, and more exposed to diseases such as diabetes. I wish to develop this topic in another post though, so for the moment I’ll just say these people – relating too much on chains convenience - also lose the pleasure of appreciating high cuisine and natural ingredients. The piteous state of their bodies then prevents them to enjoy other piquant aspects of social life. If you know what I mean! Clearly Audrey Hepburn didn’t indulge on an irresponsible alimentary regime. So, I wish to take a cue from Audrey’s style in order to emphasise the moment of sudden revelation I had in front of an experience: some irreplaceable éclairs.

Silent dance of harmonic tastes

This patisserie called Caramella [Candy] di Gino Fabbri is possibly my favourite. It won an award in 2010 as the best patisserie in Italy, and its standard is still worthy its fame. The only inconvenience is that it attracts too many people, so the best thing to do is to behave somehow like a dandy: fixing a breakfast-trip around 11 am is just brilliant and then everything appears reasonable. You have to drive a bit in the countryside that encloses Bologna.

http://www.ginofabbri.com/LE_COLLEZIONI.html

This place sells chocolate and jams, whose quality is superb, although my attention and my interest are always called out by this fantastic éclairs: a roman army of pastries that make your mouth an annex of the Heavens. It is just a pity (and a nonsense) to go there alone, it is a cafe meant to be shared-and-shared-alike with friends, only the best ones, of course. I went there with Moraine - the pocket lady - cause her size his only balanced by her likeability. Her hair are curly as those of a Greek maiden and her generosity is that of an ancient goddess: she treated me for breakfast (a generosity I won’t forget easily!) and the warm waft of September - under white gazebos of linen – made our conversation even more enjoyable. 

Moraine has basically the same hair of this
gorgeous model

Each pastry has a shortbread case, a vessel of taste: each of them varies according to the filling and you cannot stop…crème Chantilly, chocolate crème, ricotta with pistachios, raspberry jam and mascarpone dusted in cocoa powder, rice cake, cream puffs. And the coffee is, ça va sans dire, Illy.

The wise and attentive selection

of ingredients, makes this place

worthier than a jewellery boutique,

being the prices almost the same