Inkiostro

Menus are served to the whole table. Tables of four or more guests are offered only the tasting menus. Two people on the middle menu with pairings spend €490 before water and coffee.

Smaller tables can order from the carta, where dishes cost €50 to €95. On the current menu: cold spaghetto with cucumber kimchi, shiso and tofu at €50; the button pasta with eel and caviar at €70; pigeon with Fourme d'Ambert, sesame and black truffle at €75; Cornigliese lamb with aubergine and black garlic at €75; and blue lobster with Mantuan pumpkin at €95. Cheeses are €35, desserts €26–€28.

Three à la carte courses can match the €155 menu, so for most couples the tasting menu is the better deal.

Morello's résumé, as the restaurant publishes it, is mostly German. In Berlin he worked at Fischers Fritz in the Regent Hotel and at the Adlon, both two-star kitchens at the time, and was second chef at Essenza. He spent a year with Paul Bocuse at Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or, cooked alongside Christian Bau, Thomas Bühner and Joachim Wissler, and was second chef at DaVinci under Daniel Pape, which held a star from 2017 to 2019. That background shows in the precision and in the northern-European plating, more than in any Emilian habit.

The cellar lists more than 900 labels and about 150 spirits, according to the restaurant. The Michelin inspectors single out the bread: sourdough baked in cast iron with a hard crust. Ask for local Malvasia or Lambrusco if you want the pairing to taste of Parma.

Inkiostro is for diners who collect starred meals and like Japanese technique. It is not a showcase of culatello and anolini. For a fine-dining meal built around Parma products, Antica Corte Pallavicina's €150 culatello menu is the closer fit. For classics in a smart room in town, Parizzi now runs a €55 territory menu. You will need a taxi: Via San Leonardo is 4.4 km by road from Piazza Garibaldi.