Our restaurant first opened in 2016 on the shores of Italy’s iconic Lake Como. Today, Chef Raffaele Lenzi oversees the kitchen, offering a modern cuisine with influences from around the world and Italy, crafted with only the highest quality ingredients. The restaurant itself is spectacular and guests are rewarded with views over Lake Como as they enjoy impeccably made pastas and local fish. Chef Lenzi has several years of training at Michelin-starred restaurants in London, New York, and Rome and has worked under award-winning chefs. Since 2017, Chef Lenzi worked at Il Sereno Al Lago, introducing delightful dishes and tasting menus to guests and the restaurant earned its first Michelin star in 2017.
Chef Lenzi’s Approach To The Menu
From the local fish and herbs harvested in the hotel’s on-site garden to the wine, cheese, and meat sourced from the nearby mountains of Valtellina and the risotto from Pianura Padana, Il Sereno Al Lago’s menu highlights the very best of Italy. Speaking to Chef Lenzi, he says that his approach to the menu is “very natural and spontaneous,” and he hopes to both surprise and delight guests through the use of various consistencies and contrasts. (For example, one contrasting dish features Savoy cabbage, Matcha tea, foie gras, and pear sorbet.) He also creates more classic dishes, like Veal Milanese. When asked about his favorite dish, Chef Lenzi has a hard time choosing. “To tell you the truth, I don’t have a favorite dish, but one dish I really like is the whole wheat rigatoni with molé sauce, and amberjack sashimi in ceviche,” he says. “I like it because there are so many gastronomic cultures in the same dish.”
Sourcing from local purveyors
Sourcing from local purveyors is very important to Chef Lenzi, as well. In fact, he’s been working on the hotel’s own herb garden for years. This is used in both the lunch and dinner dishes, as well as the cocktail menu. “We use lavaret butter and yogurt from Valtellina, an area very close to Lake Como,” he says. “We also use wild herbs, like nettle.” Vegetables and herbs are an intricate part of Chef Lenzi’s vision for the restaurant, and he recently debuted a seven-course vegetarian menu to appeal to the demand for more plant-based dishes. “I strongly believe in the value of the vegetable,” he says. “I believe it is the thing that completes the dish, even when it is served with meat and fish, so I wanted to dedicate a menu to it.”
The Perfect Wine Pairing
You simply can not visit Italy without tasting its world-famous wines. Il Sereno’s in-house sommelier will guide you through the perfect pairings for each tasting menu: Omaggio a la tradizione, Contrasti e contradizione, and Vegetali, tuberi and radici. From the vegetarian menu to classic Italian dishes, the cuisine perfectly marries modern, cosmopolitan and traditional flavors.
A Stunning Setting on Lake Como
Take advantage of the beautiful setting by dining al fresco overlooking Lake Como. Featuring rich, traditional Venetian Terrazzo and Travertine stone, as well as dramatic Moltrasio stone arches, the restaurant has views that perfectly frame the lake making it an idyllic setting to enjoy Chef Lenzi’s special creations. Allow the hotel to coordinate your dinner during your stay at beautiful Il Sereno.
St Barths: +590 590 298300
Italy: +39 031-5477-800
US Toll free: +1 888 5373736
Email: info@serenohotels.com
