Few things can reveal the identity of a place like its gastronomy. Analyzing the typical specialties, it is possible to trace the history, economy and culture of a territory. Salento is a place rich in gastronomic traditions and its particular position means that its products, both from the earth and the sea, have very marked and recognizable peculiarities.
Whoever chooses to offer cuisine in this place cannot ignore all this and it is in this direction that Cala dei Balcani offers its particular and respectful reinterpretation of tradition, winking at contamination with modern cuisine, which in truth is never excessive. Salento and its traditional cuisine represent the quintessence of the Mediterranean, characterized by the use of typical products that contribute to the creation of dishes of minimal simplicity and extraordinary taste.
At Cala dei Balcani the quality of the raw materials counts, the fish is always daily fresh, the vegetables and the dairy products coming from the ancient Salento farms, processed with care and skill, are the soul of their culinary experience. Their cuisine is a love story between the palate and the heart from which a refined menu is born, made up of tasty and excellent dishes. A journey through the flavors of nature in a space that contains and celebrates passion and history.
The menu and the proposals also change based on the seasons and the creativity of the chef who offers his ideas with impeccable care and style. There is in cuisine the use of the most varied spontaneous plants that summarize the fragrances of the territory, selected meats bathed in fine wines, including local ones, typical baked products such as “friselle” and “pucce”. Not to be overlooked is the use made of quality fish, from Mediterranean red prawns to octopus, the undisputed protagonist of a thousand reviews. It is with the specific reference to this fish product that we present a dish, a manifesto of the cooking concept that Cala dei Balcani has made its own: quality of raw materials, simple flavors, care and style.
“Octopus curls on a double consistency of podolia caciocavallo cheese and crusty bread sails” is a dish full of soft Mediterranean visions.
In the transparency of the shadows, a parterre of ingredients resolves itself into alchemies with refined sensibilities, evocations of a time made of sea flavors and land suggestions. Every single detail lands in this dish where the crunchy roundness of the octopus meets the flavor of the podolia caciocavallo cheese fondue. Crunchy layers of wheat bread, the green of the chives and the persistence of the tomato represent the architrave of a suspended Mediterranean vision, the perspective point from which to preserve tradition.
