Trattoria Caminetto D’Oro (Italian) – Bologna, Italy (8/10)
Jan 4th, 2008 by admin
Caminetto D’Oro (or Golden Hearth – the restaurant has translated the name into various languages as part of their logo), is another place that made it to my shortlist of six for our eating trip in Bologna, which ended a few days ago. Having read some interesting reviews online, I made the booking a month ago. The family-run trattoria has been around since 1927, and owned by the Carati family since 1980. The website is stylish with black and white photos, but it’s all in Italian, and the menu has to be downloaded as a zip file, making it too difficult (for me at least) to access beforehand.
You have to ring the doorbell to be buzzed in. The restaurant isn’t large, with two dining rooms, one slightly bigger than the other, where the fireplace is located. We were seated in the first, more intimate one – eight tables for two, with banquette seating on either side of the room. The style is modern and somewhat minimalist. It was eerily quiet when we arrived at 8pm. In fact in our dining room, there were only tourists – American, Japanese and possibly Dutch – until after 8.30, when the Italians arrived and the atmosphere livened up considerably. Initially though, everyone was speaking in muted tones, as it was a small room, and it felt slightly too formal, with classical music playing quietly in the background.
The service was charming though. We had two waiters, one of whom spoke good English to the Americans, although he only spoke in Italian with my husband, who would then translate everything back into English for me! The other waiter was a young Japanese guy and very efficient (incidentally one of the sous chefs is also Japanese).
An amuse-bouche of fried fish soon arrived. We couldn’t quite identify all the ingredients, although we detected a hint of mandarin or orange, but it was luke warm. The three types of bread were nice and fresh though (one has minute specks of ham in it, so vegetarians, be warned).
What we ordered:
The simple menu was in both Italian and English (I’ve copied the English translations literally for the purposes of this review). For primo piatto, vegetarian husband chose the ravioli di ricotta di capra con passatina di spinaci (ravioli goat ricotta cheese with spinach puree) (14 Euros). As I hadn’t tried one of Bologna’s specialities yet, I ordered the tortellini in brodo (tortellini soup, chicken and beef traditional broth) (14 Euros). Tortellini are supposedly based on the shape of a woman’s navel!
For secondo piatto, he had tortino di cardi e ricotta e crepe con verdure (small cardoons and ricotta pie and crepe with vegetables) (18.50 Euros), as this was the only vegetarian option. I had more choices – baked guinea fowl, lamb, pork loin, a sea bass special and bistecca all Fiorentina (grilled T-bone steak for 2) (60 Euros per kg). The couple next to us ordered this, and it was served still sizzling on a hot griddle with chips. It was an enormous steak, but they managed to consume the entire steak, leaving only the fatty edges behind. In the end, I plumped for the polpetta di chianina all griglia con carciofi e uova di quaglia (grilled beef meat-balls with artichokes and quail eggs) (22 Euros).
The portion of tortellini was gigantic. The broth was light, clear and full of subtle flavours, while the tortellini were nicely al dente (a little too much so for me). I really struggled to finish it, but didn’t want to appear rude by leaving anything behind. Husband enjoyed his ravioli tremendously, but the portion was very small compared to mine, as was his mini pie and similarly sized crepe. My polpetta was nicely presented, with grilled artichokes and sliced potato underneath it. Two fried quail eggs sat on top of the giant meat-ball. I was instructed to season it with some salt, milled celery seeds and some olive oil. Everything was incredibly tasty, but because I was stuffed after the tortellini, the sight of the rare meat inside the polpetta put me off it, and I couldn’t finish my meal (a rare occurrence for me).
I think the problem was that I wasn’t actually hungry in the first place, having had a huge lunch at Ristorante Diana, while my husband was grumpy because he was still starving after his two courses, both miniscule in comparison with mine. So while he was feeling unsatisfied, I felt full to the point where I thought I would pass out from the effort of eating.
Then it was time for pudding. The ice cream served with aged traditional balsamic vinegar (10 Euros) did sound tempting, but in the end, we chose the panna cotta con frutta di stagione (panna cotta with seasonal fruit) (7 Euros) to share. This was delicious, with a base of chestnut puree, although the pomegranate seeds were too hard and didn’t blend well with the rest of the pudding. Pudding was followed by a plate of home-made biscuits on the house, some of which were filled with fresh fig, which cheered my husband up a little, and made a good accompaniment to have with an espresso.
The Sangiovese that we had was also very good – two glasses of a reserve that they had open (as opposed to ‘house’) – with a nice aroma and peppery, with a hint of blackberry (4.50 Euros per glass).
The verdict?
All in all, we had mixed feelings about Caminetto. I was too full, while the husband was too hungry. The bill came to 95.50 Euros without service. Caminetto serves classic Bolognese food with a modern twist, in terms of the ingredients used and the presentation. Had I been truly hungry, I would have enjoyed it far more. As for vegetarian options, the portion sizes should really be the same size as the meat options, otherwise vegetarians are always going to be left feeling dissatisfied. So, to sum up, do go to Caminetto for some creative cuisine, as it’s certainly not your average trattoria by any stretch of the imagination. But be prepared if you or your companion are vegetarian!
Have a look at the summary of our trip and other restaurant recommendations in Where To Eat In Bologna…
10 – Perfection, 9.5 – Sensational, 9 – Outstanding, 8.5 – Superb,
8 – Excellent, 7.5 – Very Good, 7 - Good, 6.5 - Above Average, 6 – Average
All the Italy restaurant reviews on World Foodie Guide
Contact Details:
Trattoria Caminetto D’Oro
Via De’ Falegnami, 4
40121 Bologna
Italy
Tel: + 39 (0)51 263 494
info@caminettodoro.it
www.caminettodoro.it
Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide
First of all, thank you so much for your wonderful blog.
I just finished a meal at this restaurant about an hour ago and I wish I had the same praise as you. I don’t normally leave negative feedback for anything but this one really took the cake and I wouldn’t want anyone else to experience the same thing.
The short version is that the service was possibly the worst I’ve ever experienced and the food was solid but overpriced.
A bit about me, I’m from San Francisco, and I’m a very tolerant person and I’ve been around the block more than a few times having traveled extensively throughout europe and asia both via backpack in hostels and on company expense. I’m chinese american and my wife is japanese american. Both born and raised in the US, and both no stranger to a 3 hour dining experience.
So we made a reservation at 8PM and showed up on time. We were the 2nd couple to be seated in the same back room and we were seated right next to them. The first couple had menus and had not made up their minds yet. Over the next 5-8 minutes a waiter came to take their order and then offered them a wine list. He disappeared to enter their order and then brought their wine. We finished our decisions and had our menus closed by the time their wine was poured.
We expected the waiter to come to us next but instead we waited patiently for about 20 minutes while the room (and the rest of the restaurant) filled up (with tourists, German, US, and some Italians) The waiter proceeded to take everyone else’s order but ours. Finally a different waiter came and abruptly took our order. I had to ask for the wine list and when it came it was shoved into my hands upside down almost as an afterthought as he was looking away when he did it. At this point I felt like walking out. I have had some bad service in my time but this felt like they literally did not want us in their restaurant.
Food took forever to come, probably because our order was put in behind everyone else’s in the restaurant. The amuse bouche was a slice of mortadella wrapped around a semi soggy breadstick. The pasta finally arrived and it was pretty good but I’ve had equal or better back in SF. It took them forever to clear our plates, and then we proceeded to wait another 25 minutes for our next course. The couple next to us had time to finish their second course, order desert and coffee, finish it all, have a chat and pay and leave all before our second course of 1 meatball (the same one pictured above) arrived at our table. When it finally arrived, we cut it in half to share and it was lukewarm/cold. The potatoes at the bottom of the plate were cold, the quail egg on top was lukewarm because it had a blanket of onions over it.
Now I’ve only ever sent food back 2 other times in my life, once for a $20 burger that I ordered rare and it came cremated, another for a cod dish that if I had finished, probably would have made a reappearance that evening. My wife and I decided to send this one back. The first waiter came by and when I told him “this is cold, fredo” he said, “oh, I’m sorry…. in Italy, we don’t usually cook it that way”. I was confused, and assumed that he meant serving food cold. 10 minutes later he brought back the same meatball halves propped up against each other, now almost blackened on the same bed of cold potatoes.
Now I don’t know about how they do it out in your neck of the woods but I could not help to take this as an insult. If you ran a kitchen, would you try and reheat a cut meatball and then serve it back to your customers (am I over reacting?) When I waved him over to ask him if this was something that he would eat, he asked us “where are you from?”. I was consciously trying not to make a scene because that’s not my style. My wife on the other hand got a bit heated and proceeded to explain to him that we were from San Francisco and that we were very disappointed because we had reserved this table weeks ago and were looking forward to a wonderful meal. His only response was “I’m sorry but in Italy we do not mind if the food is cold”. He simply didn’t care. I tried to see if he meant rare vs. cold, and he definitely knew the difference. I told him, “rare is great, but the potatoes and the outside of the meatball was cold”. He shrugged, then I asked him why our neighboring table was able to finish their meal before we got our second course, and he said, “I guess they were in a rush”. That was the last straw. Everyone else’s food in the room came out piping hot, especially the steaks that the German party of 6 had across the room. We asked him to take it back and got our check and left. As we were leaving, we saw a picture of what I can only assume was the family that owns the restaurant. Our waiter was prominently displayed in the photo.
Lesson learned to follow your instincts. I should have walked out in the beginning and enjoyed a better meal elsewhere. I hope that no one has a similar experience at this restaurant or any other. There are too many meals to enjoy at wonderful restaurants in this magical city of Bologna to waste on restaurants where you are not 100% comfortable and happy.
Thanks again for your wonderful blog and letting me vent.
steve
steve – so sorry to hear about your terrible experience! How frustrating and what a response from the staff. We had very good service. I wonder what happened to the staff/management since. I hope it didn’t ruin your overall experience of Bologna, which is one of my favourite foodie places to visit!
Helen Yuet Ling