Luce….
Luce is the name of the restaurant, which shows that the owner has a sense of irony. The place has a particularly high ceiling with ribbed arches, a fancy place with a few tables. In spite of the name ‘luce’ meaning light, the place is not very lightful, but anyway it only serves dinner so it doesn’t matter. It’s on the “fine dining” side of restaurants. and expensive for Perugia- We have been there some months ago and left nearly hungry. Let’s say it immediately, portions were decent this time and we were satisfied after the meal.
This restaurant is clearly influenced by Chinese cooking. Last time we went there, Nixy tasted Sichuan pepper in one dish, and this time she found fermented citrus peels in the kebab dish.
We ordered
- Kebab di Capriolo
- galantina di pollo
- lingua di bue
- Risotto von lepre chestnurs
- Piccione
- Baccala
- 1 Dessert
2 bicchieri di spumante metodo classico and a bottle of Savagnin from the French Jura. Wine and aperitivo accounted vor 60 € of the bill, 150 for the food. More comments on Price/quality relations later.
The dishes with the highest rating (5) were the Kebab, the Risotto and the Piccione. It was daring to combine a nearly raw served Deer with vongole, but it succeded in combining the forest and sea flavours well supported by the Savagnin. The risotto was perfect, single grains united by the sauce and with the exciting fight between the severness of the hare and the sweetness of the chestnuts. The piccione was done as I think Piccione should be done, separating it into 3 dishes, the breast, the shanks and the rest. The “Alchemist” in Montefalco does it the same. All other Umbrian Restaurants cook the poor bird entirely and to dryness. The breast has to be nearly raw, the shanks well cooked and from the rest you can prepare a sausage or a little meatball. And so it was done to my delight. €23 is nearly cheap for such a pigeon feast.
The ox tongue was good and got a 4 classification, but I can do this at home still better
The Baccalà and the Galantina received only 3 points. The galantina was so thin that we had to scrape it from the plate, making it impossible to really judge the taste. The Baccalà was surely good, but 23 € for a simple piece of codfish?
Nixy enjoyed the dessert.
The atmosphere is nice, friendly and informal. Is it worth the money? Our “fine dining” choice in Perugia stays the “Officina”, which is at least 30% cheaper than “Luce” providing the same level of dining experience.