Between the sea of the Costa Smeralda and the granites of Gallura, in the middle of the lush Arzachena countryside, Salvatore Camedda has rediscovered his Sardinia . Cascioni Eco Retreat has entrusted the chef, originally from Cabras, with the management of the Ulìa restaurant and the entire gastronomic offering of the resort between Arzachena and Porto Cervo.
And he is enthusiastic about it. «I had already worked with the owners of Cascioni, Bonaria and Luca Filigheddu, in another structure, in Villa del Golfo, and when we spoke again I decided to return from Lausanne, where I was working, to try this new adventure, which is giving me great satisfaction», explains Camedda. «In a month and a half we created the menu, which is very identifying: each dish tells a story, and looking at Sardinia from afar, as happened to me in these years, helped. From the outside you can understand that we have everything, and that this everything deserves to be enhanced».
In Gallura, where he had already won a Michelin star, Camedda found the ideal habitat for authentic and essential Sardinian cuisine.
His proposal features dishes such as Gnocchi in Campidano, Suckling Pig and Buttons with black garlic, Sardinian flower and double myrtle broth, and Spaghettone with marsh herb pesto, almonds and bottarga which recall his area, that of Cabras.
Great attention is paid to bread and fresh pasta prepared with Senatore Cappelli and Tricu Cossu (“Corsican wheat”) wheat flours, a variety typical of this part of the island, both grown on the Cascioni estate, which extends for 18 hectares with three thousand olive trees, a vineyard, several orchards and beehives, a large vegetable garden, a herb garden and a farm from which the ingredients of the gastronomic proposal come.
Alongside Camedda, in managing the dining room, is the restaurant manager and sommelier Giacomo Serreli , with whom he shares a long and fruitful collaboration and who has personally curated a wine list that is a tribute to the small Sardinian wineries, to Gallura with its Vermentino and to lesser-known areas of the island, such as Mandrolisai and Mamoiada.