PUMPKIN SOUP!

Seta is a two-starred Michelin restaurant in Milan. The restaurant is located inside the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. With Chef Antonio Guida, only four months after the opening in 2015, Seta restaurant gained a Michelin star. In 2016, the second star has followed.

Ambiance

The decoration of the restaurant was plain and elegant. I went there for lunch and it was bright inside due to wide glass windows. A very convenient setting to take photos. I found the ceiling a bit too low. It would have been depressive if the room wasn’t bright. I also didn’t enjoy the fact that the room was divided into two parts. It felt like I was dining at a corridor. The room would be more spacious if there was no division. Jazz music playing in the background was lovely.

Taste

“Seta’s Way” was the tasting menu I ordered for the lunch. In the beginning, butter with seaweed and normal butter were served. I wasn’t impressed with the seaweed butter because I had a better one with stronger flavor at another restaurant.

I loved the start with mussels and rhubarb; that was a good appetizer. The first course was oysters with potatoes, “friggitello” peppers and champagne sauce. “Friggitello” is a sweet Italian chili pepper. The sauce was amazing. Especially the sour note was a perfect combination with the oysters, very light and fresh.

Next course was roasted blue lobster with “Loazzolo” zabaglione, white miso and matcha tea. Loazzolo is a two-year aged golden sweet yellow wine. Zabaglione is an Italian dessert, or sometimes a beverage, made with egg yolks, sugar, and sweet wine. In this case, it was used for the sauce underneath the lobster with the local wine; Loazzolo. The lobster was cooked perfectly. I got really excited when I heard the matcha tea as an ingredient. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to differentiate the taste as much as I was expecting.

The following course was the signature dish of this tasting menu. Rice with vegetables, “Maccagno” cheese and raspberry powder. This dish was again sour. I loved the taste of the rosemary, it was very distinguished with a strong aroma. The rice was cooked perfectly with the cheese. Maccagno cheese had a fruity flavor that went very well with the ingredients. Vegetable sauce underneath the rice was just epic. I felt like I could eat this dish every single day of my life.

Spaghetti with lobster, beetroot cream, crustacean carpaccio and lime was another show. On top of it, this was a sour dish too! I believe chef Antonio Guida is a fan of sour tastes. If you don’t like sour, you probably won’t be happy with this tasting menu. Having so many sour tastes one after another is a bold move. Especially if you are not giving prior notice to the guests. Both the lobster and the beetroot sauce was delicious. Spaghetti was a perfect “al dente”; slightly undercooked.

The next dish didn’t surprise me, being sour once more. Red wine glazed eel with foie gras and rosemary sauce was the original ingredients of the dish. Since I don’t eat foie gras, mine was replaced by potatoes instead. I definitely found this dish very delicious. Unfortunately, there was a bone in my fish that I didn’t notice. I wish they were more careful.

Fig fed chicken breast, cannellini beans, seaweed cream, fregola and whelks was a masterpiece. It was probably the best chicken I have eaten in my whole life. Taking a break from the sour taste was also good! The fregola underneath, which is a Sardinian couscous, was an impressive combination with the chicken.

Finishing the main courses, strawberry and grape sorbet with mascarpone cream and hazelnuts was a great refreshment. The dessert also seemed to be promising but the taste wasn’t mind-blowing. Liquorice parfait with crystallized Kentucky tobacco leaves, spiced pear and coffee cream was mediocre. I just had the taste of the coffee cream and nothing more.

Antonio Guida is an experienced chef who worked at many other restaurants before. You can definitely feel that by his bold “sour” move and well-established cooking skills. Since I love sour, I was satisfied with his choices for the tasting menu.

Creativity

Successful use of sour flavor at different dishes was creative. The presentation of the dishes wasn’t unique but they looked appealing.

Service

My tasting experiences usually take a long time because of the photos and notes that have to be taken for my reviews. For this reason, at the end of this tasting menu, we were the only ones left at the restaurant. The sad part was, the waiters left the restaurant too! I waited a long time to ask for the check and couldn’t find anyone.

The staff wasn’t very friendly. I wasn’t satisfied with the quality of the service. The overall experience would be much better with higher service quality.

Value

The wine list was broad, explanatory and reasonably priced with the sommelier being helpful for our wine choices. However, I wish there were half bottle wines too. I found the tasting menu highly priced with regards to the overall experience.