For the two generations since the Aga Khan built it, the Cervo hotel has been a mainstay for Costa Smeralda’s well-heeled set who adore its colonial Spanish revival vibe and, especially, in-house restaurant, Il Pescatore.
The latter – designed by Jacques Couelle as the port’s first fine dining restaurant – has just emerged from long-delayed face-lift courtesy of London-based studio Blacksheep, alongside a new moniker, Quattropasi al Pescatore.
The brief may have been the classically vague ‘contemporary luxury’, but the result is a lighthearted, yet slick, take on a rustic fisherman’s adobe where a roof of roughly hewn bleached logs and planks rests on sinuous white washed walls, terracotta tiles, raw stone surfaces, and rattan pendant lamps. Very cleverly, Blacksheep diffuses the harshness of the exterior light into the space through recessed wall-wells.
The kitchen, meanwhile, is admirably served by executive chef Antonio Mellino who serves a warmly satisfying Sardinian menu dominated by seafood accented by fresh herbs, bottarga and saffron. Two concessions are made to carnivores by way of veal and lamp chops, but for the rest, Tonelli disarms with amberjack tartar, lobster spaghetti, and pasta stuffed with fish and scampi.§
