Osteria Lo Spugnone In Castiglione d'orcia

04/08/2024: Locale con vista panoramica sulle colline di Montacino cucina ricercata e carta dei vini enciclopedica con qualche eccellente proposta al calice. Porzioni forse un pò mignon, ma prezzi corretti. Ottimo.

31/07/2024: Here you’ll read ( only on your iPhone … grrrr..) a refreshingly modern menu soundly based on traditional Italian produce & recipes..sometimes with a few twists- many superfluous, but sort of “pleasant” For example my fresh-made Pappadelle Carbonara had a pair of just so-so prawns plonked on top upping the price of the otherwise ‘around €16 ‘ dish to €22 ! But those dreary crustaceans added nothing in reality to the otherwise pretty standard classic. I began with a raw, finely diced tuna dish of consummate essential quality that was rather marred due to a messy base of violently-drizzled & sweetened ( yuk) sauce’ unnecessarily robbing the stunning fish - gently mounded on top - of its essential & quite outstanding character. Others opted for liver pate to start, finding it arriving on plate as just two small double-spooned portions aside a significant pile of toast! A bit odd that & slightly disappointing, they reported. Lousy coffee - something for which there’s zero excuse- rather took the edge of an otherwise most pleasant luncheon where we’d particularly enjoyed the waiter’s finely-judged two bottle wine selections …the truly delicious recommendations being presented in very fine wine glasses perfectly suited to each bottle we’d confirmed upon his response to our taste I nclinations. Uneven, but with outstanding wine advice/ service, this luncheon ended up being a tad overpriced for what I seemed like the kitchen trying to be ‘modern’, without either the need for that aspiration nor the true skills to bring it off with assured success every time. A qualified recommendation only.