Private chef in Friuli Venezia Giulia for an unforgettable experience

Sebastian Richter

2024-11-05

★ 5.0/5

"Our private chef dinner in Trieste was a masterful exploration of the region's Mitteleuropean-meets-Mediterranean soul. Chef Claudia arrived at our apartment overlooking Piazza Unità d'Italia with a basket of ingredients that told the story of Friuli's crossroads identity: San Daniele prosciutto sliced so thin it was almost translucent, Montasio cheese in three different ages, and fresh whole scampi from the Adriatic. She began with frico — that glorious crispy cheese wafer made from aged Montasio — served alongside polenta and a smear of creamy lard infused with herbs. The primo was cjarsons, the Carnic mountain ravioli filled with a sweet-savoury mix of smoked ricotta, raisins, cinnamon, and herbs, drizzled with melted butter and aged ricotta affumicata. The main course was a whole roasted branzino from the Gulf of Trieste served with boreto, a traditional fish preparation with garlic and white polenta. Dessert was a gubana, the spectacular spiral-shaped cake from the Natisone Valleys filled with walnuts, grappa-soaked raisins, pine nuts, and chocolate. Paired with a Friulano from Collio and a Picolit dessert wine, this was an evening that revealed why Friuli is Italy's most underrated food region."

Catherine Ashworth

2024-08-18

★ 4.5/5

"We spent a week in Grado, the sunny lagoon town, and our private chef evening was the highlight. Chef Marco brought the freshest Adriatic seafood I have ever tasted — razor clams, spider crab, and moeche (soft-shell crabs) that are a lagoon speciality available only during brief seasonal windows. He prepared boreto alla graisana, Grado's signature fish soup made with monkfish, vinegar, and garlic, served over white polenta in the traditional way. Before that came a delicate crudo platter of scampi and sea bass carpaccio dressed with nothing more than local olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. The secondo was grilled whole orata stuffed with wild fennel and herbs from the lagoon marshes. Marco paired everything with wines from the Collio and Isonzo appellations — a Ribolla Gialla and a Sauvignon that were crisp and mineral and perfect with the seafood. A meal that captured the essence of Grado's lagoon culture."

Hiroshi Nakamura

2025-02-22

★ 5.0/5

"We booked a private chef at our agriturismo near Udine in the heart of Friuli's wine country, and it was a transformative experience. Chef Anna designed a menu that traced the region from the Carnic Alps to the Adriatic plain. The antipasto was a generous tagliere featuring San Daniele prosciutto DOP — aged 18 months, sweet and delicate — alongside cubes of Montasio DOP at three stages of ageing, pickled vegetables, and her homemade frico croccante. The primo was a rich jota, the Triestine bean-and-sauerkraut soup that reflects the region's Slavic influences, hearty and deeply satisfying on a cool February evening. For the main course she prepared musetto con brovada — a traditional Friulian pork sausage served with fermented turnips that had been preserved in grape marc, creating an unforgettable sweet-sour contrast. Dessert was strucolo de pomi, an apple strudel that showed the Austrian influence on Friulian baking, served warm with cream. The wine flight — Tocai Friulano, Malvasia Istriana, and a rare Picolit — was extraordinary."