Osteria Francescana, Modena *, 9/24/2025

Recently took a trip to Florence and Modena, with 4 days in Modena at Casa Maria Luigia. This will be a two-part review, first I'll do Osteria Francescana and then will follow-up with Francescana at CML in a separate post and I'll also talk a bit about CML in general there (we did both meals on back-to-back nights). Bear with me on my memory of the food – normally I like to post these within a day or two when things are fresh. Sadly, the day after we ate at CML, we got the news that our dog Stella had passed unexpectedly at our dog sitter's… obviously I wasn't in the mood to write fine dining reviews for a few weeks, but now I'm more ready to go…

1. Pane e Acqua – amuse of uni, gelee oysters and breadcrumbs (I think).

   1. Brodo in bloom, "the onion dreams of becoming caviar," pizza fritta, in the forest – amuses of broth a la tortellini in brodo, "onion" caviar, fried pizza, … and in the forest (shit I don't remember)
   2. "The farmer," cooked and fresh vegetables – mostly zucchini if I remember
   3. "Mare Nostrum" – our ocean – prawn and ?scallop I think
   4. "Where does this pasta e fagioli want to go?" – Pasta e fagipoli but with "beans" of pasta
   5. (Oops I almost dropped) "La Genovese" – Spin on pasta Genovese. The smeared sauce was not a creative liberty… that was a service lapse (more on that later)
   6. "Jazz Duck: Improvisation on the duck" – Duck multiple ways including smoked, seared, and duck broth
   7. Bread course
   8. "Fast Bees, slow honey" – pre-dessert honey sorbet
   9. "Under the Sicilian Sun" – Sweet and savory Sicilian tart with lemon and capers
   10. "Oops I dropped the lemon tart" – Not part of the tasting but ordered it separately as my parents weren't able to try it the next night at CML – needs no introduction
   11. "Gelati" petits fours
   12. Stella – has nothing to do with the meal but she was the best girl and r/finedining should know who she was.

So. The anticipation on this meal was roughly a 11/10. I first discovered Massimo and OF when Chef's Table premiered 10 years ago. Due to various life things, I hadn't been able to make my pilgrimage until now and so was just over the moon to have the chance to spend a few days at CML and eat at OF. Booked 6 months to the day in advance. It is a beautiful little jewel box of a restaurant along a very quiet street in the old, historic center of Modena.

First – the food. Everything was fantastic. Highlights included the Jazz Duck, bread course, and the amuses (brodo in bloom, etc.). The duck in particular was magnificent with a depth of flavor, especially in the broth, that was one of the best things I ate the whole trip. Other highlights included the bread course and the amuses. If there was a weak dish of them all, it was the Genovese. Flavors were a little muddled and flabby. Overall, it was an excellent meal. But… did it have the same magic that I've experienced at other 3-stars? Not really. It was delicious and there were some creative/technical tours de force (mare nostrum for example had a "plastic waste" which was basically some sort of translucent sheet of wheat that took several days to make and was a commentary on ocean waste which I appreciate), but the technical acumen I felt didn't fully translate into something that became profoundly delicious. But all in all, an excellent meal. I could have been a lot more positive overall if the service was amazing, but…

The service. I'll start with the highlight. That was, of course, Massimo. He was there working the restaurant. He is probably one of the most genuine, down-to-earth chefs I have met, especially for being as famous as he is. He spent a lot of time at every table and brought fantastic energy to the whole restaurant (more on that in my CML review).

However, that's where the highlight ended. Service was, quite simply, not up to the level I would expect at a 3-star Michelin. There was a LONG wait for a captain to talk to our table after we got seated. We were in a small, separate dining room with only 1 other table, and we were waiting so long, I actually thought they forgot about us. After that, pacing was fine. Service overall was friendly and well intentioned but not well organized. The biggest lapse was that more than once, they set down the next course when either myself or someone else at the table was in the bathroom. That… just shouldn't happen at a restaurant like this. They also as you can see nearly dropped my Genovese dish and caused the sauce to go sliding all over the plate. Just – seemed sloppy. Also, this may be a personal thing, but their menu (both degustation and a la carte as well as wine list) were only available by QR code. IMO it really kills the mood of a dinner when everyone is scrolling through their phones trying to figure out the small print of an iPhone menu and the wine list was on some "reader" app that was an absolute nightmare to navigate.

Overall, I had such high expectations borne of a decade of waiting to eat here that it probably would be impossible for any restaurant to live up to that. This was objectively an excellent, creative menu that would be good anywhere. But, with a few service lapses and one or two courses that were less than remarkable, it didn't achieve the heights that I had hoped for.

Fortunately, my expectations were met. The next night. At CML. More to come there…