Restaurant: Aquila d’Oro

Place: Dosso del Liro, Italy

When visiting the Lake of Como the owner of the Agritturismo where we stayed recommended us to eat in the village nearby. So one evening we decided to go there and give it a try. Dosso del Liro is a small mountain village northern from Lago di Como. It was around 7-8 in the evening as we arrived there. From outside it doesn’t look special, they have a nice terrace though with a great view. You can park on the side of the road and they also have some places near the restaurant. The restaurant is owned by a family in the village.

Once you get inside the restaurant is alive. There is a bar and another room with tables – it’s not a big restaurant – it can accommodate around 20-30 guests. You have to make a reservation in advance as the restaurant is loved by the locals.

The decorations are very interesting; not intruding with good taste and quite modern.

The food is very authentic to the area and very well cooked. We ordered appetizers with cheese and meat but made the mistake to order one for each of us. The portions were too big; 1-2 would have sufficed. Everything was very tasty; the cheese at the end served on the stone was heavenly.

But we still ordered the main dish: some ordered pasta, others rabbit or lamb with polenta. All the dishes were good. We also had a bottle of red wine which was good quality rich dry wine. We liked the atmosphere at the restaurant. The personnel was also open and tried to help us with the dishes. The wine they recommended us was  a great choice.

The only problem that we had was with the ‘coperto’. At some restaurants in Italy they charge you a tax of 1-2 euros per person, but here was 5 euros. We found it a bit too much compared with the average. Otherwise the food quality and wine were excellent.

We would like to come back once more and try some other local products. But we would definitely order the cheese on the stone again … The location is also worth coming back, not far from the lake but so close to the mountains. A place where you feel happy and part of the nature, where people still keep their traditional products and habits … the summer will bring us back here soon …