Ahime

 Hipster Italian joint in Bologna

Sourdough with juniper butter

Located behind the famous Mercato delle Erbe market in Bologna, Ahime is a restaurant like no other. The restaurant is dark in colour with a counter dining space facing the kitchen. It serves small plates and doesn't follow the traditional order with starter, pasta, and main. Your order comes from the kitchen as it is ready, almost like a tapas restaurant. This place won't look out of place in Shoreditch. The food is creative and has unusual ingredient combinations, with a high degree of focus on vegetables. To make life easy for me, I opted for the tasting menu which gives the kitchen the freedom to cook up as they like.

Raddish with lard

Pumpkin pasta, whisky, honey and lemon

Mushrooms, onion with duck gravy

The mushroom and onion dish: The classic combo came with a softly sweet, and savory taste, but the addition of duck sauce turned this dish into a meaty treat as the mushrooms almost became like beef in flavour. The dish that got me thinking was the pumpkin ravioli, it had a really interesting sweet yet savory taste, along with a really bold sweet and sour tone. I found it was one of those dishes that has too much going on, as I found the pumpkin itself has enough sweetness, so the addition of honey is not needed. The amberjack was lightly cooked like a piece of tuna steak. The belly part was rich and well-seasoned, and the fennel oil was the perfect finishing touch.

Egg, almond, sesame and cauliflower

Amberjack and fennel

Pear, coconut and white chocolate

With an edgy and experimental take on cooking, there is always a risk that some flavour might be a bit too strange for some. That is the case for me for some dishes. Having said that, I did enjoy some clever combinations too. I also got to give credit to the house-made sourdough bread, it was really outstanding to a point, I would rate it as one of the best sourdough bread I have encountered in the world. Good enough that I do not need any butter or olive oil. Strangely enough, the bread was the best part of the meal.

Food 3.5/5

What I paid: 
£75 with wine

Average cost without drinks and services:
£50

Via S. Gervasio, 6e, 40121 Bologna BO, Italy

https://www.ahime.it/