Restaurante Agli Amici en Udine, 2 estrellas Michelin: la reseña

Godia is a small hamlet just outside Udine: the town square is clean and proud of its four-year-old renovation, while the Antica Osteria al Gallo welcomes diners with a warm welcome. Godia's fame is due to two things: its potatoes (Kennabec variety, successfully cultivated since the 1950s), which are the subject of a well-attended annual festival, and its restaurant, Agli Amici, which has held two Michelin stars since 2013.

It's neither idle nor ironic to suggest a connection between the two elements: not only because—trivially—the vegetable is admirably showcased on the menu of the restaurant, but also because the thread that ties the humble tuber to the gastronomic Olympus is the perfect synthesis, as well as the symbol, of how growth cultivated with care, in a reasoned and thoughtful way, can translate into resounding success.

The story

The history of Agli Amici is first and foremost that of the Scarello family, and while today Emanuele and his sister Michela are recognized as a benchmark nationally and internationally, the roots of this success lie in the legacy left by previous generations, particularly their parents. Founded in 1887 as a tobacconist, after World War II the establishment first became a trattoria. Then, thanks to Tino Scarello in the dining room and especially his wife Ivonne Bodigoi in the kitchen, it began to take on a more refined character (also thanks to studies in France).

The 1990s marked important changes: Emanuele and Michela took over the restaurant, and the cuisine evolved, exploring and experimenting with both flavors and technique. The first Michelin star arrived in 2000, the second in 2013, in addition to countless other accolades. Today, Agli Amici has transcended regional and national borders. In June 2021, the restaurant opened in Rovinj, an Istrian tourist destination, in the space between the Grand Park Hotel Rovinj and the Marina, overlooking the sea. Three months after opening, the first Michelin star arrived, followed by the second in 2024 (currently the only one in Croatia). In April 2023, Agli Amici also opened in a lagoon version: “Agli Amici Dopolavoro” is the restaurant within the JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa on Isola delle Rose, Venice, awarded a Michelin star last November.

The environment

The transition from a small provincial town setting to a grand gastronomic stage occurs as soon as you step inside. Passing through a curtain, you find yourself immersed in what could aptly be described as the restaurant's foyer: a blue room with a full moon as a backdrop, geometric armchairs, an open bar, a gleaming slicer, and mobile, modular serving stands. This is the space designated for aperitifs (the menu includes cocktails, prestigious labels, and amuse-bouche) for those who wish to enjoy them, allowing guests to gradually build up to the table, slowly embracing the Scarello style of hospitality, characterized by measured tones, attentive service, aesthetic refinement, functionality, and simplicity.

It's actually a space that until a few years ago was occupied by a bistro, which was then closed and repurposed for better use. The dining room foreshadows what you'll be tasting at the table, establishing an overall coherence between form and content, where aesthetics are never an end in themselves. Warm tones play with materials, furnishings, and colors, including gold, earthy hues, browns, and neutrals, complemented by lighting, fixtures, and references to Friulian tradition.

It all takes place in a pair of rooms with tables adequately spaced to allow guests to enjoy the food and conviviality, and for those in charge of service to do so comfortably, allocating the necessary time to each table. While the signature style is that of Michela Scarello, whose dining room management is marked by great expertise as well as extensive wine expertise, it's also true that the rest of the staff doesn't just carry out the task, but carries it out having well interpreted and embraced the house style.

The menu and the dishes

There are two tasting menus, one for €175 and the other, a vegetarian one, for €165. You can also choose à la carte, with a selection of signature dishes, classics that have shaped the restaurant's history, including gnocchi with Godia potatoes. The menu unfolds through dishes that blend mountain and sea, ultimately serving a contemporary take on Friuli, which in Scarello's hands—one might say finally—has the capacity to reveal itself in all its full maturity.

Scarello's notoriously reserved nature, his awareness and pride of being marginalized, are literally overturned in his dishes and thrust into the spotlight. The ingredient, be it meat, fish, vegetables, or herbs, is placed center stage and enhanced through meticulous technique and aesthetic care that easily overcomes the risk of being an end in itself, becoming instead a means: a means of enjoyment that allows guests, regardless of their cultural and gastronomic expertise, to appreciate each dish. Everything is measured: the attention to local, roots, and memory, as well as the cosmopolitan outlook, creativity, and skillful interplay of flavors, consistencies, and textures.

It's evident in the elegant scallop, served with mead-flavored beurre blanc, escarole toast, and saor, and in the amberjack, invigorated by yucca petals and hibiscus. It's most appreciated in the calamari cacciarolo, perhaps the dish of all time, where everything from the fish and borlotti beans to the yuzu and 'nduja, even the seductive beauty, comes together. The bread tortelli skillfully resolve the apparent contradiction between the peasant roots (chicken broth) and the exquisiteness of the mantis shrimp, while the rabbit finds a different raison d'être accompanied by fig molasses, chocolate, and aromatic basil leaves. Often, the ingredients are paired with variations of the same ingredients (liquid, playful, repurposed), demonstrating the versatility and mastery of the dish.

The desserts only seem to fit into the sweet-not-sweet category: in reality, both the yogurt with lemon verbena, celeriac, and Jerusalem artichoke, and especially the play with seaweed, lagoon herbs, sea buckthorn, and almonds, demonstrate that closing doesn't necessarily need to be a punishing experience, much less a way to show off real or imagined creativity. In any case, the small pastries manage to cap it all off admirably.