Rating: 15/20
Where: Verona, Italy
When: Dinner for 2 on 4 December 2024
Cost per Person: Tasting menu 185-195 Euro, Wine pairing 100-160 Euro
Accolades: 3 Michelin Stars
Why: Creative Italian cuisine with many novel dishes

Verona might be best known as the setting of “Romeo and Juliet” or for the opera festival that is held here every summer in an ancient Roman amphitheater. But very recently, it also became the proud home of a three-Michelin-starred restaurant. “Casa Perbellini - 12 Apostoli” is located in the middle of Verona’s downtown, easily walkable via the cobblestoned streets.

Let’s unpack the restaurant’s unusually long name: its chef is Giancarlo Perbellini, who moved his eponymous restaurant to its current location in September 2023. This “new” space had previously been occupied - for many decades, in fact - by a restaurant called “12 Apostoli”. It had been a local culinary institution and proving ground for many local culinary talents - including chef Perbellini himself. In that sense, this move was a homecoming of sorts.

Entering the restaurant, it was easy to spot the building’s historic artifacts, such as the frescoed ceilings or the pen collection from previous famous guests. But there were also modern touches: tables, light fixtures, floors and (most importantly) the kitchen were all new. There were two regular dining rooms, and it was also possible to dine at a table inside the kitchen that seated up to 12 guests (presumably a nod to the restaurant's name). During our visit, the restaurant was hosting a party of 22 that took up the entirety of one of the two dining rooms. Only three other tables (including ours) were seated that night. On the one hand, it's impressive that the kitchen was able to serve 22 people at the same time - a number that many three-star kitchens would struggle with. On the other hand, being stretched thin might be an explanation for some of the issues that we saw during our meal.

There were three tasting menus to choose from, and the whole table had to agree on one of them. One option was a “modern” menu, another menu featured more classical dishes, and the third menu was vegan, gluten-free and ten Euro cheaper than the other two. We went with the first option, with pescatarian restrictions being accommodated by taking dishes from the classic menu. Dietary restrictions were not allowed at the kitchen table, however, which was a major reason why we didn't book it. More choices: it was possible to add more dishes to the menu - a risotto and a pasta for 75 Euro each, a dessert for 25 Euro, and an optional cheese course. Thankfully, we were allowed to defer this “do we want more food” decision until after the savory part of the meal was over, when we had a better idea of how filling the meal was. As it turns out, it wasn’t that bad - we could have managed another course or two -, but we decided to pace ourselves, since more large dinners were looming during the following days.

Two wine pairings were on offer, only differing in length: either 100 Euro for 3 glasses or 160 Euro for 5 glasses of wine. The wines were generally pretty good, but there were a few oddities, for example a sweet Riesling was matched with a savory course early on, and a couple of wines were served much too cold, for example a white Burgundy at refrigerator temperatures (not wine fridge, but food fridge, mind you). As is not uncommon, the wine pairing started only after the appetizers, so ordering an aperitif is a reasonable idea.

Before we even saw the printed menu, we were served our first two bites (naturally vegan and gluten-free to be compatible with all three menus). A chickpea cracker was topped with hummus and burnt onion powder. The hummus was fine, and the cracker had a soft crunch, almost sandy in texture 16. What was described as a “beignet” with a lovage emulsion was really a very crunchy cracker - not really the texture you'd expect from a beignet. There was a passing herbal taste, but the emulsion dissipated pretty quickly upon eating 14.

After we decided on a menu, a larger set of amuse bouches appeared. A pink sphere contained a (liquid) cocktail made from rosolio liquor, aperol, orange juice, sambuca and lemon juice. This bite was quite sweet thanks to the white chocolate used for the outer shell 15. A wheel-shaped fritter came with a cheesy filling and was dusted with tomato powder. It tasted very deep-fried, giving it a rustic feel. The tomato flavor was quite prominent 16.

A “sandwich” had a wasabi mayonnaise between two pieces of nori. Quite nice: a crispy bite with a slight taste of seaweed and a spicy wasabi aftertaste 17. A little biscuit was filled with a pepper cream and topped with a pomegranate seed - apparently this was a play on a local confection. The texture of the cookie was sandy, similar to the chickpea cracker earlier. Surprisingly, the overall taste was sweet rather than peppery 16. A little tarte was filled with with basil, rhubarb and beets. This also had a sandy crunch, this time paired with a light fruity note 16.

A dried pepper was filled with tomatoes and a Parmesan cream. This bite tasted mostly of tomatoes, and wasn't spicy at all - contrary to what one might expect seeing the pepper 14. Finally, two kinds of bread: one was flaky-looking, made with lots of butter and topped with maldon salt. Oddly, while buttery, this bread wasn't very crunchy - it just looked flaky. I wonder whether it would have been better served warm rather than at room temperature 13. Breadsticks were fine, but not particularly distinctive 13.

A third bread was served tableside by one of the chefs: a pan-fried focaccia, made with whole-wheat flour, type 0 flour and some pieces of potatoes. It was served with a cream made from a cow milk cheese. The outside of the bread had a light crunch, but it wasn't too flavorful 14.

The first course of the tasting menu was a salad, incongruously paired with a (much too sweet) German Kabinett Riesling. The green salad was topped with extra virgin olive oil, a cream of artichokes, marinated artichokes, shaved frozen feta cheese, and a warm zabaione made with chives. The salad was fresh and crunchy, but together with most of the other ingredients it served mainly as texture. The taste came predominately from the zabaione, which was salty, creamy and a bit acidic. No actual chives were seen in the sauce, only a green hue. An ok dish, but hardly revelatory 14.

Next, we were treated to the chef's signature dish, the only course shared among the two non-vegan menus. A sandwich made from sesame wafers was filled with a sea bass tartare, fresh cheese, chives and seasoned with lime and lemon juices. It was served with a spoon full of licorice “juice”. We were instructed to eat the dish with the spoon, in order to add the licorice flavor to the sandwich. (For this dish, the paired sweet Riesling made much more sense, it matched the sweet licorice syrup.) I'm not a big fan of licorice, but here it was actually a good addition. By themselves, the lightly crunchy wafers and the tartare were a bit dry and didn't have much taste. But the licorice lifted the dish up and gave it more complexity. In the end, though, this rated more as “interesting” rather than “delicious” in my book. Maybe I just didn't get what the dish was trying to accomplish 16.

Lobster from Normandy was served with ricotta, pistachios, lemon juice, a coral bisque and a broth made from pigeons and ginger. The lobster was a bit overcooked and chewy, but otherwise tasted pretty good with the herbs in the broth. The broth was ok; I wasn't able to make out either a ginger or a pigeon taste 15. With the lobster course came some more bread: a baguette and a sourdough bread accompanied by a butter from Normandy. The bread had a good crunch and a neutral taste - good for sopping up sauces 16.

The next dish was a warm spaghetti “salad”, served with roasted scallops, a sorrel sauce, a shrimp emulsion, nutmeg and brown butter. The pasta was very al dente, the scallops nicely cooked and well seasoned and the sauce quite flavorful. However, when everything was mixed together, all of these flavors and textures got a bit lost, and the dominating impression was of the pasta 16.

The main course was a vermouth-glazed duck topped with bits of limes and grapes. It was served with a sunchoke puree topped with black truffles. The duck was overcooked; it was well done to the point of being quite dry, and the limes on top were extremely acidic - too much so, in my opinion. They made a harsh contrast to the rest of the dish. The sunchoke puree was fine, but was served only at room temperature 13. The pescatarian replacement for the duck came from the classic menu. A roasted sole was served with a reduction of black cabbage, a dried black cabbage extract, cannellini beans and lemon juice. The fish was also overcooked, and didn't have much taste by itself, but it went well with the flavorful herbal sauce. The beans were a bit al dente with a distinctive bite. Much better than the duck 17.

The last dish of the tasting menu consisted of a single bite. A small piece of pork belly was topped with mint, Dijon mustard, some foie gras and a bit of balsamic vinegar. A rustic, heavy, savory bite. The first taste impression was of the foie gras, which then transitioned to the pork belly 15. The pescatarian (or vegetarian) replacement was a single gnocco served with tomato water, a pesto sauce and cheese. Very potato-y, quite heavy and dry - I generally prefer more airy gnocchi 15.

A palate cleanser consisted of a rhubarb foam, mint granita and a cedar meringue. This sounded good in theory: coldness from the granita, sweetness from the meringue and some fruit and acidity from the rhubarb. But in practice, the dish was served a bit too cold, and was altogether not that distinctive, without any clearly delineated flavors 14.

The main dessert was based on persimmons, which were topped with a vanilla cream, chestnuts, Greek yogurt, lemon, chocolate ganache and caramel. Most notable about this dessert was its lack of sweetness. One of the most savory desserts that I've had recently, although maybe not by design - the persimmon in particular seemed quite unripe 13.

Finally, a selection of petit fours. A white cup contained pears topped by a passion fruit cream. A good combination: tart passion fruit and sweet pears. I wished that there had been more passion fruit than pear, but my dining companion wished the reverse, so I guess this was a good compromise 15. A gold-colored Gianduja praline was sweet with a wonderfully nutty taste 17. A little Saint Honoré cake had some sweet cream, a good crunch and some nutty flavors 15. A cracker shell filled with chocolate and raspberries was very tart and barely sweet 13. Finally, a “Sacher Torte” was a mini chocolate cake topped with cream, glazed with chocolate and topped with an apricot gel. Also not that sweet 14.

Usually there isn't much to say about the service at a three-star restaurant except that it's wonderful. In this case though, it felt a bit unpolished and impersonal. The strongest reactions we got out of our server was whenever we weren’t familiar with an ingredient or preparation, which made her look visibly surprised. It would have been better to take it as a teaching moment, rather than marveling about the cluelessness of one's guests... Not actively unfriendly, but definitely not warm either. To be fair, the chef himself was much more approachable when we met him after dinner.

Overall: Unfortunately, this dinner was a bit disappointing. On the positive side, many dishes were very creative - this was not your classical Italian cuisine. Rather than riffing on traditional dishes, the chef came up with pretty novel ideas. But tastewise, flavors were often a bit muddled and not clearly delineated. And there were some technical issues - the overcooked fish and duck, for example - and the somewhat impersonal service. Still a decent dinner, but - at least on this day - not really what one would expect from a three-star restaurant 15.