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Grotto Piccolo Vigneto and Sapori in Libertà food festival

luganoblogproject — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:26:39 +0000

Oooooh…, on the way to the Grotto Piccolo Vigneto, I was so excited! Not only because (I like eating! and) it was my first time in a Ticinese grotto, but also because I had just found out that in Lugano from the 3rd to the 25th of March there is a food festival and that the grotto participates to it with a special and cheaper menu! The Food Festival “Sapori in libertà” is a nice opportunity to taste the real traditional food, all homemade, and only with fresh ingredients coming from local providers!

The menu

In Grotto Piccolo Vigneto there is a huge variety of dishes but we chose to order this special menu and it has been well worthwhile! We immediately felt in love with the first dish: ravioli with butter and sage, stuffed with fresh cheese and herbs. But since ravioli are usually served in small portions, I strongly recommend you to eat them very slowly! Then we wolfed the second dish down: Luganese sausage with cannellini beans, polenta rustica and roasted potatoes. This is really typical from Lugano, as the name suggest, and I swear I have never eaten a better polenta!

The best polenta ever!

The all meal was of course served with the house red wine, a pleasant Merlot, produced with the grapes of the little vineyard, in Italian “piccolo vigneto”, which gives the name to the Grotto itself!

The sweetest things!

And here we come to the desserts…me and my two friends decided to take three different ones: the first one was from the special menu, a bread cake with nuts ice cream – delicious; the second one was a grape and grappa sorbet – good and very alcoholic; and the third one was a chocolate cake stuffed with hot chocolate cream – just a miracle!
For the next time I will go to have dinner or lunch there I have many other dishes to taste, but one above all the others, the speciality of the grotto: pork spare ribs baked 1 hour long and served with an onion sauce!
…Gnammmmm…!

Did I make your mouths water?

Valeria

Grotto Piccolo Vigneto - an adventure

luganoblogproject — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 19:32:15 +0000

„Grotto – what is that?!“ was my first reaction by hearing the word. Now I know better, because I’ve visited one!
On a lovely Thursday evening we visited the Grotto Piccolo Vigneto at Monte Brè near to Lugano. Already going to a grotto is an adventure – the real grotti aren’t usually in the cities, so you first have to make a small „trip“ by car or some other transportation to get there. We took a bus from Lugano and also walked a bit up the hill, but we were very satisfied with that, because of an absolute confidence that this walking would help us lose some calories before the dinner…

The higher we got, the better view we had on the amazing city lights of Lugano in the darkness of the evening and as we reached the grotto the colorful lights of the garden hit the nail on the head – we could sense the feeling on our skins to sit there in the summer and enjoy the warm summer breeze.
The moment we got inside we were welcomed by the owner who guided us to the table and introduced the special menu traditionally written on a blackboard.

We were of course not the only guests, but the owner somehow always achieved to be present around all the tables, talking to people and making sure they are having a good time. He also explained us that their concept is to be more like a grotto-restaurant with more decorations and a little bit higher prices rather than a typical rural grotto which usually is cheaper and opens only during summer.

While waiting for the next course we enjoyed the view of Lugano and the tasty house-Merlot accompanied by the pleasant buzz of other people speaking.
Anyway, we agreed that it would be nice to visit this grotto again – in the summer – when it has for sure a totally different touch. But until then – follow our blog, because we still have some grotti to discover and we are here to tell you all about them!

Author: Liis Männamaa

With the VIP at Grotto Piccolo Vigneto

luganoblogproject — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 15:59:36 +0000

When our group finally arrived at the Grotto Piccolo Vigneto, I was totally overwhelmed by all the new delighting impressions – starting from an amazing location high up the Monte Brè with a great view over Lugano and the cosy atmosphere when entering the grotto with all the small lights! The friendly welcome by the patrona of the place, Ivana Randini, made the arriving even better and I started to feel really comfortable at this place. From the first second we entered the grotto, I’ve got the impression that the staff really cared about us and that they always took their time to grasp our demands.

Inside the Grotto Piccolo Vigneto

We discovered that already before us some famous people were enjoying the Piccolo Vigneto – Pictures near to the entrance showed Micheline Calmy-Rey (member of the Federal Council) and Kofi Annan (Secretary-General UN 97-06) in the very same grotto – what a surprise!

Kofi Annan and his wife at Grotto Piccolo Vigneto

The son of the patrona, Cristiano Randini, introduced us to the menu in his cheerful mood and was really into explaining all about the food festival ‘sapori in libertà’ which they were participating at the moment. I appreciated it a lot to be so well informed in a personal way and liked the place even more. For me it was astonishing that he looked after his guests with such an interest without being inefficient, while usually a waiter just says what he has to say and runs to the next table to serve.

Cristiano and Ivana Randini + two grotto addicts

Like most of the Grotto’s, the Piccolo Vigneto is a family business – William Randini with his wife Ivana, their son Cristiona and his wife Paola are running the grotto only with the additional help of a cook. Since 11 years the Randini’s manage the Grotto Piccolo Vigneto, before they were in charge of the nearby Grotto Centrale. William Randini is a well-known man in Lugano, as he worked for many years in the local hotel sector and teaches at the local hoteliers school. Therefore, Cristiano explained, most of their guests are related with the local hotels, the university and the hoteliers school. With the knowledge of the background of this charming grotto, it made me feel really related to the place and the Randini’s. Overall it was for me an authentic and friendly place, where I always would go back, if not the necessary money would be missing!!

Grotto Piccolo Vigneto

Via Roccolo 19, Albonago (Lugano)

Author: Annina Menzi