Building on the success of Meriggio, Laura and Bastien Corinti opened Damigiana in 2018 near Les Halles, and more recently Metà e Metà in Montreuil. So, almost four years after its opening, is Damigiana still the Italian table that enchanted us in its early days? The answer is yes, more than ever.
Named after the wicker-covered glass or stoneware barrels used since antiquity to transport and preserve wine, oil and liqueurs (known as "dames-jeannes"), the Damigiana restaurant proudly displays its fine produce, good keels on the wall and colorful seasonal vegetables on the counter. It's a lively and tempting introduction to the restaurant's culinary discoveries.
Damigiana is anItalian restaurant that's different from the many restaurants in the capital that specialize in dishes from La Botte. Don't look here for traditional Neapolitan pizza or spaghetti alla carbonara. Damigiana offers much more than that: dishes that haven't crossed the borders of Italy, particularly the north of the country, and sometimes even Italian specialties that haven't crossed the boundaries of their own region, coming out of the still clear minds of local mamma.
Lunch at Damigiana is the assurance of a true voyage to the land of la dolce vita, with its unique flavors and well-sourced quality products, from small Italian producers. And all this inevitably makes its way onto our plates, to the delight of our gourmet palates in search of new discoveries.
Damigiana is a combination of dining cellar and bistronomic restaurant, and welcomes gourmets on two levels, with a seating area for around 30 on the first floor, and theenoteca and its open kitchen on the first floor. It's here that we take a seat and take a look at the menu and the daily slate, rather short but full of promise, which we examine in detail with a glass of Spritz (€8) in hand.
If you'd rather enjoy a glass of wine but don't know which vintage to choose, the Corinti siblings have come up with an ingenious question-and-answer placemat."Do you prefer walks in the forest or with your feet in the sand" or"are you more of a Stracciatella ice cream or a fruity, gourmet Fragola?" At the end of the game, you'll be given an animal corresponding to a specific wine.
To accompany these beverages and vintages, there's a menu that's renewed every season. For starters, let yourself be tempted by the unmissable 250-gram burrata di Andria (18€), served with a spinach pesto and sun-dried tomato crumble; or the veal tartar (12€), generously enhanced with parmesan, mint, caper leaves and shallot confit.
We continue with the tagliolini, accompanied by a pumpkin and amaretti sauce with a texture akin to that of a thick soup, a real treat, and with a very original dish whose recipe the owners inherited from their grandmother. Made with breadcrumbs, egg and parmesan, passatelli (17€) are served with a pesto of romanesco cabbage, Tuscan sausage and shavings of Torreggio, a cow's milk tome cheese. An unusual and comforting dish.
If you've got any room left, we'd urge you to try one of the house desserts. We succumbed to the airy tiramisu (8€) served in a cup and concealing the famous coffee-soaked sponge cake, and to the apple strudel (8€) served warm with custard; Damigiana draws its inspiration from beyond Italy's borders, from the Tyrol region of Austria.
As you've no doubt guessed, Damigiana has won us over with its creative, generous Italian cuisine, extremely well-sourced products and sometimes little-known recipes that simply make you want to come back for another transalpine trip.
And now we're back in the hot month of July to discover the brand-new tasting menu on offer at Damigiana. So, what's in store for this menu, which is served every evening for €50 per person? As is now customary at Damigiana, we're in for a real treat!
The 5-course menu includes an appetizer, an antipasti, a first course, a second course and a dessert, with the option of choosing between two courses at each stage. So it's easy for two people to enjoy the whole experience, choosing either the first or second course and sharing!
Wine and food pairings are also available, for an additional €15 per person for two glasses of wine throughout dinner. A wise choice, given the Maison's reputation for its carefully selected keels. The festivities begin as they should, with the creamy Burratina di Andria, peas and broad beans, basil pesto on one side; the refreshing tomato gazpacho, quartirolo lombardo, croutons on the other, with its large cubes of watermelon gorged with juice floating on the surface.
Then it's on to the primi piatti, with risotto with prosecco, creamy to perfection, seaweed, bottarga and delicate katsobushi petals that ripple elegantly, and a dish of squid with saffron and zucchini, full of flavor and color; then to the secondi piatti, a melt-in-the-mouth swordfish tataki, mussel and seaweed tartar and barley salad, and just-pinked quail fillets, piquillo cream, baby carrots with olives and vegetable spaghetti. It's good, it's beautiful, it's a blast!
A few chunks of peppery pecorino later, and we've arrived at the desserts: a devilishly naughty chocolate and white peach millefeuille, and a tiramisu revisited for added lightness. Once again, Damigiana surprises us and hits the nail on the head with this tasting menu, which reveals the inventiveness and originality of the dishes on offer at this Italian restaurant, which is definitely unlike any other.
Official website
damigiana-paris.com
