According to the Roman historian Suetonius, the emperor Augustus had a sumptuous villa built here from which he overlooked a superb view of the faraglioni of Capri. Today, in place of the Augustan residence, in this magical place of incomparable beauty, slightly secluded from the hectic social life of the famous square of Capri, stands Punta Tragara, a refined five-star luxury hotel where the American generals Clark and Eisenhower and the British premier Churchill met to decide the fate of the Second World War.
The great Swiss naturalized French urban architect, painter and designer, Le Corbusier, one of the most influential figures in the history of contemporary architecture, remembered together with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Gropius and Alvar Aalto as a master of the Modern Movement, one of the fathers of contemporary urban planning defined it "a villa without architects … an emanation of the rock, a child of the island, a plant phenomenon, almost an architectural lichen, raised on the side of Capri” and such was his admiration for this villa that he would redesign the smallest details in his notebooks, which were a source of inspiration for his future works in France.
The Carmela restaurant once stood in the same place, at whose tables tourists flocked to taste its renowned ravioli with marjoram from Pizzo Lungo, rabbit with peas and soup with wild herbs.
Today instead of the restaurant there is a refined starred restaurant of the excellence of Mediterranean cuisine the Monzù led by chef Luigi Lionetti, Caprese Doc, Born in 1984, Luigi Lionetti, a passed as a footballer, it was a promise of Chieti in his youth. However, due to an injury, he had to hang up his boots while deciding to make a 360-degree change in his life. Since he was attending the hotel school in Pescara he decided to return to Capri where it ended up in the kitchens of a characteristic restaurant among the lemon trees, "Da Paolino", a bit secluded, in whose shadow even Tom Cruise, Mimi Rogers, John Belushi, George Hamilton have sought moments of tasty local gastronomy.
Il big jump however, it takes place on the Sorrento coast in the mythical way Torre del Saracino where Gennaro Esposito reigned and reigns, the great two-star chef who was awarded the Michelin Chef Mentor Award 2020 for having "educated" generations of chefs with his style of cooking whose "results are the offspring of a mental order that foresees, yes, creativity, but which translates into rigor and discipline, all well dosed like the ingredients of a large dish".
Between Esposito and Lionetti was born a great partnership, the great chef keeps him by his side even on numerous foreign trips, until Lionetti believes that the time has come to take flight alone and he returns to his native Capri to "Le Monzù" where he becomes the first Capri chef to win a Michelin star. His philosophy is the synthesis of his experiences: “My cuisine – he says – comes from the territory, my true source of inspiration. My passwords? Tradition and innovation. Traditional dishes that don't come from cookbooks but from the suggestions I've gathered in the field, going to eat in old trattorias and talking to elderly housewives.”
And here is his proposal: Red prawn bon bon, Nocellara green olive soup, almond and candied lemon, in which the lemons of his native Capri form the basis of a recipe in which the almonds dilute and at the same time enhance the flavor of the sea , prawns and the Nocellara olive with a firm and crunchy pulp and a slightly bitter taste that brings an intensely Mediterranean taste
The recipe: Red prawn bon bon, Nocellara green olive soup, almond and candied lemon
Ingredients for 4 people:
•200 g of cleaned red prawns
•40 g of peeled white almond blended with sparkling water
•10 g of candied lemon
•80 g of shelled green olives
•80 g of tomato water
•15 g of confit tomato pulp
•extra virgin olive oil
Preparation:
Form the soup by blending the olives in the tomato water. Blanch the lemon peels 3 times and add the sugar to the juice of 5 lemons, reduce and blend. Put the almonds to infuse overnight in sparkling water and blend, thus obtaining an almond cream.
Shell the prawns and season with salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil, lemon peel. Form small bon bons wrapped in film.
Composition of the dish:
Arrange the prawns on the olive soup with the candied lemon and almond purée on top. Finish it all off with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Monzu restaurant
Via Tragara, 57
80073 Capri NA
Phone: 081 090 1201
