Surprised by the number of digestifs! An Italian restaurant in Meguro that feels like an authentic trattoria

Yesterday, for the first time in a while, I went to "Trattoria della Lanterna Magica," a popular Italian restaurant in Meguro, with some people from a client's company with whom I have a good relationship.

Actually, the first time I came here was about a month ago with a former colleague, and by coincidence, this was the restaurant the client chose as well. It was so delicious last time, and since I heard the location was Meguro and it would be Italian, I was hoping it would be this place, and I was right!

For our first drink, we ordered Franciacorta to toast, but I forgot to take a picture right from the start...

Now, for the food. First, we ordered
Panzanella . At this restaurant, they apparently prepare it by soaking slightly larger torn pieces of Tuscan bread in water after the order is placed, so you can enjoy the bread as chunks just like the other vegetables.

Next was puntarelle, an Italian vegetable that is usually long and thin.

This is how it's often served ↓

As introduced on the site above, it's often eaten as a salad, but apparently, in Southern Italy, it grows quite large, and they use the stems, stuff them with raisins and pine nuts, coat them in breadcrumbs, and bake them in the oven. I didn't know the name of this dish because the menu was in Italian, but the crispy texture and the perfect level of saltiness, accented by the pine nuts and raisins, went very well with the wine!

The sommelier chose a Chardonnay to go with the previous dish.

Next was thick spaghetti with clams, topped with bottarga powder. I think this is a dish from Sardinia or Sicily. The bottarga doubled the umami, and I polished it off in no time.

We had a Nero d'Avola from Sicily chosen to go with the next dish.

This is rigatoni with tomato sauce hidden under thinly sliced, deep-fried eggplant. It seems to be a Sicilian dish, and the combination of the crispy texture of the deep-fried eggplant and the chewy texture of the rigatoni pasta was exquisite and delicious.

The main course was sautéed flounder. The lemon-infused sauce and the side of spinach went extremely well with the tender, thick-cut flounder! It was so delicious that I think I could have eaten double the amount.

The wine paired with the flounder main course was a rosé made from Sangiovese.

Compared to drinking Sangiovese as a red, it feels quite a bit lighter as a rosé.
That said, it still retained the fruitiness of the Sangiovese and paired very well with the food!

I ordered the crema catalana for dessert.

And then, the surprising after-dinner drinks.
They arrived on a cart, but apparently, this was only a small portion of what they have.

When I asked for something like a Marsala, they brought out this many from the back, not even from the cart.

I chose this Barolo Chinato.
The sommelier explained various things to me, but there were so many that I couldn't keep track of which was which, so I looked it up later.

So, it's Barolo with medicinal herbs in it.
Since it's a dessert wine, the alcohol content isn't as high as other liqueurs, making it very easy to drink and perfect for after a meal.

Every dish brings out the flavor of the ingredients and is delicious. They were also popping open new bottles of wine by the glass one after another to pair with the food. It's easy to see why this is such a popular trattoria.

I definitely want to go back and eat there again.

◆ Official Restaurant Website

◆ Tabelog