When I was planning our trip to Italy, one of the first things I knew for sure was that our route had to include a meal at Ai Cacciatori in Cavasso Nuovo. We had eaten at this trattoria in 2015 and it was absolutely wonderful.

The owner Danêl is amazing. Like I wrote in 2015, he makes you feel like you are the most important guest he has ever had in his restaurant. He remembered me, even though I had eaten there only once and it was six years ago. (There are not that many Italian-speaking male Dutch couples passing by, but still.) I recognized him as well, although he had lost about half his weight since our previous visit!

The menu was almost identical to our previous visit. Although it would have been nice to taste some of those dishes again, I decided to choose dishes that I had not tried before.

The amuse bouche was the same: pickled local onion (Cavasso Nuovo is famous for its onions) with ricotta on bread.

The house wine, a local Refosco, is really good. It is very friendly and matches well with almost all the dishes on the menu, but it does have character (and is not ‘lemonade’).

As antipasto I had duck prosciutto with lettuce, apple, and orange zest. The prosciutto had great flavor.

Due to the sunlight filtered through the curtains, the conditions for taking photos were terrible. But trust me, these pappardelle with pheasant sugo were delicious. The pheasant was tender and juicy, and the sugo very flavorful.

The partridge had been covered with prosciutto and roasted in the oven. It was tender and very flavorful…

…and served with a side of bell peppers and fried potato.

As dolce I chose Sachertorte, which was delicious: moist and with a deep chocolate flavor.

It is fully justified that Ai Cacciatori has held three gamberi from Gambero Rosso for years, as one of the best trattorie in all of Italy. The food is delicious and the service is great, and all for a very reasonable price. We will certainly be back!