We find several one-bit holidays to Italy in the chic, loving Aroma.

The church sets out in the southern Italian coastal town, with the sun high above and the sea blue in the distance. So what does a person eat on such a perfectly languid, scorching hot Sunday? An invigorating bittersweet spritz with a nibble after church or the passeggiata† A pizza with friends at a plastic table by the fountain. A small pasta with bread, oil and a glass of wine behind cool, thick walls. A buttery pastry or a cone of gelato al limone so sour it will bring tears to your eyes – it will melt over your fingers in front of you. When the shadows have fallen over the streets and the real heat has passed, we dive into the restaurant by the harbor.

I’m usually not a fan of ostentatious conceptual cooking, of deconstructions and classics ‘with a twist’ – let alone the knack that star businesses have of making ‘upgrades’ out of simple, delicious things that come on their own (without gold leaf or yuzu). were simply delicious enough. But the snacks in the menu inspired by that ‘idea of ​​a perfect Sunday’ that chef Pasquale Carfora presents to us at restaurant Aroma are in many cases so convincing that we suddenly understand again what the fun was of such referencing tricks – or maybe I’m just really looking forward to vacation.

The amuse-bouche with flavors of pizza di scarola (with endive, pine nuts, anchovies, mozzarella and small rounds of crispy dough) transports us straight to Naples. The bitter one-bite Campari spritz (we get excellent sausage-filled, deep-fried olive all’ascolane and homemade chips) makes us sit up in our chairs. And a dessert appetizer of half-melted lemon ice cream, chunks of raw lemon and a sugar cookie makes us almost feel the copper babble, even though it’s a rainy evening in May.

Aroma is an ambitious, chic restaurant with commensurate prices, in a place that seems to demand it for granted. The snow-white building at the foot of the Vaassen church previously housed De Leest for almost eighteen years. Jacob-Jan Boerma and Kim Veldman closed the doors of their three-star restaurant at the end of 2019. Jan Leune, a Dutchman who became rich by breeding tomato varieties and who has lived in the coastal town of Terracina between Rome and Naples since the 1980s, bought it a year and a half ago. His half-Italian daughter Elisa and her husband, the aforementioned chef Pasquale, have since held sway in what they call ‘Italian fine dining†

Vegetarian

Apart from some wall decoration, little has changed in the interior – it still has that generic serene, expensive Michelin star atmosphere. You can choose à la carte (antipasti, primi and secondi piatti and dolce) as a varying five- or six-course menu. We indicated in advance that we wanted to eat vegetarian once and were a bit shocked when we saw that there was not a single vegetarian dish on the menu, but our concerns turned out to be unfounded. There is also a fried olive with vegetarian filling on the table, as the starting point of a parallel vegetable menu that is so rarely lovingly and carefully put together that the carnivore is almost jealous. The (largely of course Italian) wine list deserves a little more attention; that is a bit of a mess, although there are also some interesting bottles, probably imported by Father Leune himself. The pricing is out of whack, with bottles being offered here and there for up to six times the purchase price.

We are so curious about the appetizer with gambero rosso and ricotta that we ask if we can replace one vegetable menu with it – since we no longer pretend to be vegetarians but just often like to eat no meat or fish for an evening, there is suddenly room for such a small side step now and then. This intensely sweet-tasting red deep-sea shrimp is served with a vinaigrette of orange and bisque, great fresh buffalo ricotta, bottarga (dried fish roe) and all kinds of fresh plants and herbs that we just saw the chef pick from the garden. My table companion’s starter combines a Dutch and an Italian classic: perfectly cooked white asparagus served with prosciutto di Bassiana, raw ham from the Lepini Mountains below Rome, and super fresh buffalo mozzarella. It works, because all three ingredients are also of very good quality. The asparagus are cooked in the ham stock, which gives them a subtle savoryness.

Umami amusement park

Fresh focaccia is now also on the table – high, yeasty, full of good olive oil. And the second course is just as impressive: almost impossibly tender, low-temperature-cooked squid stuffed with sausage meat and the barbecued tentacles, then lacquered black with the ink. It comes with mashed potatoes and a lukewarm salad of fresh peas (and a somewhat perfunctory-looking ice cream) and roasted pork rinds. Both the barbecue and pork flavors are subtly present without overpowering the sweetness of squid and pea – it’s really well done. The vegetarian alternative is based on the well-known antipasto zucchine alla scappese† marinated zucchini ribbons with mint and vinegar† Carfora fills a sweet, round zucchini with marinated ricotta and serves it just after cooking with a crispy breadcrumb crust, with soft zucchini puree and some roasted almonds. It’s smashingly simple and just right.

Then there are ravioli, for me with carrot, spicy pecorino and dusty saffron: beautifully balanced. My table mate gets them filled with Neapolitan ragù of sausage meat, spareribs and chaps, concentrated tomato sauce and old parmesan. More than the oft-mentioned ‘umami bomb’, this looks like a complete umami theme park, where the irresistible savory makes you spin and shake in every possible way and then take you home with a giant plush glutamate bear and a pleasant high and sticky from the msg. send.

Risotto

Then risotto di mare, cooked in a chalky shellfish and crustacean broth, filled with lobster, prawns and a piece of swordfish. The rusty brown sauce is almost crunchy concentrated and also a bit fat, but the cooking of the rice is perfect, as is the portioning: six fine bites. The risotto with pecorino and double-shelled broad beans is also very good, although we already encountered that cheese cream in the previous course. The main course of back of lamb with sweetbreads, morels, aubergine and mushrooms seems a bit cumbersome – the skin of the lamb is also not well baked and even slightly burnt. The vegetarian main course is a perfectly poached egg with mushrooms, parmesan cream and a sauce refreshed with citrus: not super original, but very skilfully done.

After our perfectly melted ice cream comes dessert, inspired by the Neapolitan ricotta cake called pastiera. Two warm cubes of luxurious and very lightly curly, warm baked ricotta, a foam of ricotta and good vanilla ice cream. The chef comes to the table with a nebulizer, which he uses to spray ‘an infusion of orange blossom and buttery pastry’ – across the table ‘to finish the experience’.

I’m just about to think ‘somewhat annoying’, but after the nebulization I’m already in line at the pasticceria.

One bite holiday!