In a prime position overlooking the Oasis pool, the Forte Gourmet restaurant is a wonderful place to rediscover the finest traditional Italian cuisine. Chef Rocco Iannone skillfully blends tradition and modernity using fresh ingredients of the highest quality. Demonstrating his respect for nature and raw ingredients, the chef has created a menu of traditional Italian dishes and light classics that positively bloom with flavour.
A firm believer in natural, unsophisticated cuisine, Rocco Iannone is the owner-chef of Pappacarbone on Italy‘s Amalfi coast. He keeps a close eye on the traceability of his ingredients, going to fishermen, fish mongers, farmers or his garden each day to select the best he can find at each place. His menu changes daily accordingly.
At the Forte Gourmet restaurant, Rocco Iannone applies the same principles, as he passionately explains:
“My name is Rocco Iannone, Of course, it’s all about cooking… but most importantly it’s about choosing. It’s about technique… but more importantly respecting your ingredients. Globalisation is taking over and it’s more and more difficult for us to find our way, but I like to focus on simplicity. We never choose things by chance. Think for a minute about nature, its complexity and its great power to surprise us. The sea, the land, colours, flavours, aromas, authenticity. All of these go into making a dish. It’s the start and end of a journey around our emotions, the history of a people. Watching nature come to life at dawn, and watching the fishermen return to port at nightfall.
For me cooking is about searching, wanting, breathing. It does us good to dedicate some time to ourselves. Make yourselves comfortable. Whatever the secret of happiness is, it’s up to each of us to understand it. Sometimes a lifetime isn’t long enough. Perhaps it’s in our children’s eyes, in a kind gesture by a friend or a parent. Cooking is all of this. It’s a whole approach to life. Generosity, hard work, humility but not humiliation, ignoring the latest fads and trends. All that’s left for us to do is rediscover the moments of our childhood. Finding ourselves again. Touching a freshly-picked apple, breathing in the perfume of dew-soaked basil, waiting for the right time to press olives. Patience, a dose of courage and a pinch of salt.”
Not surprisingly, local fresh fish and vegetables are key ingredients of Rocco Iannone’s menu at our Forte Gourmet restaurant. The menu changes daily.
Open for dinner from mid July to the end of August. Subject to a supplement for all hotel guests. Reservations required. Forte Gourmet restaurant reserve the right to open, close and modify restaurants during the season without prior notice.
