The 5 Sense - Mouth
THE RIGHT TASTES
Suggestions by 2 famous gourmetsSometimes you must take important decisions, decisions which will condition your life and your waist line! Here are two typical situations.
Group dinner: for a big and rowdy group.
Objective: plenty of good food, which can satisfy people who are hard to please. Budget: moderate.
First date: for dinner, or just for a glass of wine.
Objective: making a good impression without spending too much, as you have to pay for two..
Che fare? In these cases Turin people rely on "Torino Sette"or refer to Slow Food, to its website, guides and magazine.
We asked two experts to tell us about the vices and virtues of a gourmet city: Cosimo Torlo and Bruno Boveri.
THE WANDERING GOURMET
Cosimo Torlo, who is a journalist expert in food and wine, started his career in Rome working for "L'Unità"; since 1998 he has been writing for "Torino Sette", where he runs the column "Il Ghiottone Errante" (The Wandering Gourmet). He has reviewed more than 500 places in Turin:big and small restaurants and pizza houses.
How is it possible to become...a wandering gourmet?
I started driven by my love of good food. I was helped by some experienced friends, like Aldo Conterno, a great wine producer from Monforte d'Alba who I met in 1990.
Since then I've been roaming round places recommended to me by friend or on the owners' invitations.
You need mainly a network of friends to stay up-to-date with the new places. Journalism is above all a service.
What do you think about the recent trend of 'happy hours'?
I'm very critical about it if the aperitif is an alternative to dinner: it's a habit which doesn't increment the food culture of youths. The 'happy hour' places are replacing pizza houses, which have had to rai their prices.
But eating a pizza is healthier than all the stuff you can have with your aperitif; it also lacks in hygiene: just think about all those trays which are touched by everyone...
Is it better to whet your appetite with a glass of wine?
In Turin there are high quality wine bars and wine shops, both in the city centre and on the outskirts.
If you want to buy wine I'd suggest "La casa del Barolo" in via Andrea Doria, or "Piana" in via Garibaldi and "Damarco" in piazza della Repubblica.
If you want to drink good wine and whet your appetite without spending too much why not go to "Sorì" in via Matteo Pescatore and "I tre galli" in the Quadrilatero area. Anyway I think that more restaurants should promote wine by measure: matching different wines to different courses is important, this is possible and cheaper if you drink wine by the glass.
What are restaurants like in Turin?
p What are restaurants like in Turin? There are medium high quality restaurants, such as "Vintage" in piazza Solferino, "Barrique" in corso Dante, "Combal 0" in Rivoli, "Barbaroux" and "AB+" in the Quadrilatero.
Unfortunately the Turin area lacks in the love of high level restaurants and this is often grown-up people's responsibility: they prefer to take their children to a pizzeria rather than to a restaurant.
They think restaurants are too expensive, but an aperitif and a pizza cost much more if you compare the food quality.
What's Turin gourmet souvenir?
Chocolate.
What's a place not to be missed by a tourist?
"Il Cambio", for its cuisine and its historical importance, especially now that piazza Carignano has been restored.