02/02/2025: The Cantina del Macellaio is always a guarantee: the food is very good, the environment is perfect for conversing and sharing, the staff are kind and knowledgeable, the raw materials (and not just the meat) are of excellent quality.
The biggest problem is that I can never photograph the dishes: the atmosphere invites conversation, the courses alternate - and end - before I manage to remember to take out my phone and create a gallery of images. So I'm going from memory.
Starting with wine. There are many choices from the best Calabrian and non-Calabrian wineries, but if you love red don't miss the house one: a pure Cirò, served loose in half-litre or liter jugs. A red that has an edge.
Then the appetizers. Calabrian cuisine has endless offers of starters, apart from the usual platters of cured meats, sausages and zero-mile cheeses or so. And so you can't avoid tasting the hot appetizers, from aubergine parmigiana to meatballs, aubergines and meatballs, as well as arancini, croquettes and vegetable flans. On the first courses it's just a matter of taste, but the stronnatura (a typical pasta, similar to wholemeal tonnarelli, for those who have never tried it) reigns supreme. His death (of the stinging) is with anchovies and breadcrumbs, but the variations are infinite.
And then the seconds. Top quality meat, in every cut and every possible type of cooking: from sliced meat (with rocket and parmesan) to fillet, from rolls to baked suckling pig, through Angus and any other "butcher" desire.
Sweets to finish (if you still have room in your stomach) and typical bitters that are added to the usual ones.
The price more than adequate for the quality and quantity of the ingredients.
30/01/2025: This is far-fetched. 4 is ok, but I expect a certain level from restaurants. The staff should know the language and be helpful and give advice. That's what's missing here. Perhaps this is so, and due to the lack of language there is a barrier that is difficult to overcome.
As for the kitchen, I haven't had a culinary adventure.