Review: Ristorante Lido 84*: One of the World’s Best Restaurants

Lido 84’s Fluctuations demonstrates its earned 1 Michelin star and sits on the World 50 Best list (albeit between 50-100, for now).

I could wax lyrical about the technical accomplishment and contrasts. A bouncy, roasted sea bass with honey mustard and iron-rich, peppery spinach leaf. A dish that follows a supple, roasted cuttlefish purring with smoke tucked under a moss-stained pasta blanket. A contrasting trail of cuttlefish ink and verdant rocket oil, as if this cephalopod beached on Lake Garda’s shores deciding Lido 84 was a noble place to expire. I am inclined to agree. There is a throughline from an earlier oyster course on charred green-tinted sourdough with an unmistakable charred whisper.


Ristorante Lido 84’s roasted seabass with honey mustard and spinach; cuttlefish with ink and rocket oil


Ristorante Lido 84’s oyster drapped over charred bread giving a lovely smokey after taste

The through-line mostly flows. A minor quibble is that butter lettuce course pelted with toasted polenta, parsley and an orzo-like pasta is, dare I say, a literal contemporary pasta salad. Light but it interrupts the seafood courses. The lettuce course is the one I could do without.


Ristorante Lido 84’s butter lettuce with toasted polenta and pasta

Still, Lido 84’s menu is imaginative and delights. The cacio e pepe en vessie draws tableside drama as our chef tumbles rigatoni inside a pig’s bladder filled with pecorino cheese, salt and black pepper. Romans carried food in a pig’s bladder travelling between states inspiring a contemporary adaptation. The rigatoni is pre-al dente, resilient and, sure, I would like more black pepper, but this cacio e pepe satisfies as only cheesy pasta knows how.

A sticky braised beef cheeks shreds into soft gutsy, rib-sticking threads with sheer willpower. The mashed potato ratte defy physics; so soft, Mrs EatGoSee begrudgingly comments it is better than my own homemade Joël Robuchon pomme purée. Damn you, Riccardo! This is all I have going for me in this marriage.


Ristorante Lido 84’s cacio e pepe is cooked inside a pig’s bladder poached over boiling water; amuse bouche of fried courgette flower with tapioca


Ristorante Lido 84’s braised beef cheek served with their delicious pomme puree

We finish our meal dredging sticky fruit ladened pastry through canary yellow zabaglione sitting in share silence watching ducks bob around Lake Garda. Fellow diners roar off in a Riva Aquarama as we wave them off.

Would I Return to Lido 84?

I romanticised my next trip to Lido 84 with Giancarlo Camanini barely moments after settling the bill. There is a thrumming drumbeat that calls you back. There is tradition but with a sense that this is the future of contemporary Italian cooking. Lido 84 skates to where the puck will be like Steve Jobs would say. I long to return to Lido 84

Who Should Come to Lido 84?

Seafood enthusiasts, Michelin star collectors, Italian food lovers. Those who enjoy modern contemporary food and any alfresco dining fans.


Ristorante Lido 84’s foamy, light zabaglione


Ristorante Lido 84’s wine pairing adds some cost but well worth it to sample some impressive Italian wines; Lake Garda makes for a beautiful back drop


Ristorante Lido 84’s impresses in its attention to detail. You sense years of meticulous trial and error drawing inspiration from its environs.


Ristorante Lido 84’s dessert courses at which point sheer greed caused me to presevere.