A spaghettone to die for in No. 16 of The World’s 50 Best: Restaurant Lido 84 (23. August 2025)
It’s quite a while ago since I’ve decided to pay the No. 16 of The World’s 50 Best a visit and finally it was time. It’s not entirely easy to get here as either you drive entirely by car or fly to Verona (which isn’t easy to get to either). In any case, the place is worth the travel. I decided to go for the “Nine-Course Tasting Menu ‘The History'” (EUR 160.00) with a “4-glasses Pompeian Red Wine Pairing” (EUR 55.00). Firstly, the name of the wine pairing is rather confusing since it’s not actually a Pompeian ‘red wine’ pairing, but a ‘Pompeian red’ wine pairing, which references to their red room. Frankly, talking about putting things in a confusing way, this is the perfect description.
The menu cover is quite lovely …
… since it has that playful component of the car driving away once you’re turning the page.
The amuse bouches were a great start into a marvelous dinner. The little tartlet was just mind-blowingly delicious! The “fennel, olives, lime broth” was quite refreshing too, and the “chick pea madeleine” was enjoyable too. My personal disappointment was the “fried sage leaf” since it didn’t really taste like anything but fried flavors. Lastly, the “amaranth leaf” was a nice ending of the amuse bouches.
The “grissini” were incredibly long and were served in whole – but they do not serve well for a ‘grissini sword fight’ really as they easily break in four. But they are delicious …
… and so was the sourdough bread.
The first official course of the menu was a “perch and cod tripe in tempura (trout eggs, citrus, honey)”, which was thus far interesting since the glaze of lime and honey really added a bit of something special to the bite. And the trout eggs on top created that feeling of ‘plop’ in your mouth, which was nice. The two different fishes inside the little dough ball were not too easy to taste, hence, it would have been interesting to try the ball with only one fish inside. Overall, the flavor combination was interesting, but the fact that the dish was fried quite heavily and, hence, a bit oily, made it a little less appealing than I believe it would have been with less surrounding fat.
I’m usually not a big fan of oysters, and frankly, I wasn’t this time either, however, the “oyster (bread, laurel, mugo pine vinegar)” was served in an interesting way and was rather flavor intense but not just raw, but basically a bit as a bruschetta. So, for an oyster, it was surprisingly nice.
One of my favorite dishes that evening were the “spaghettone, butter, brewer’s yeast (exposed at San Francisco MoMA)”, which was basically large spaghetti with butter and dried yeast. Sounds funny? Yes. Tastes funny? Yes, but no, it actually tasted superb and – frankly – that was a dish of which I could have eaten a whole bowl, or even two.
The next course in line was the “risotto, black garlic, red berries (dedicated to Stefano Bombardieri)”, which looked truly interesting and artistic. But besides the looks, the dish was actually lovely since it had a nice intensity with the black garlic but with that little bit of acidity and sweetness of the berries. So, really a dish to remember too.
Have you ever had ‘one pasta to dip’ only? Well, that’s what the “Pennoni Pasta (marinada green tomatoes, pistachios, double concentrated tomato)” was. You get a pennono, which is cooked perfectly al dente, and a sauce to dip it in. And it turned out to be quite delicious really. The only thing I was a bit surprised by is the fact that, despite the many dishes you eat by hand, you’re not provided with any ‘hand cleaning towel’ in the very beginning when you’re seated, which I find a bit odd.
The next course was “chard wrap (broccoli, green curry, combawa)”, which is somewhat comparable to a Swiss ‘capuns’, but of course very different. I must admit, the combination of the chard with the dried capers was an excellent one.
While I absolutely love sweetbread, I must say the “veal sweetbread (rum, honey, old style mustard)” wasn’t entirely my style. And much less because of the sweetbread itself – that was actually great – but rather because of the sauce it was served in.
Then there was the dish, which had driven the decision to come here – the “Rigatoni Cacio e Pepe en Vessie” (+ EUR 20.00 per person), which is an extra course you can pick to order, and of course, that was part of our menu. The idea is that the pasta is cooked in a pig blatter without any water but just with the steam, which builds. And the cheese and pepper are inserted directly from the beginning into the blatter, and all of it is cooked together for approximately 30 minutes. So, frankly, a superbly interesting version.
And then it’s served looking like a balloon …
… which is then popped …
… opened up …
… and served on your plate. It looks quite like regular pasta and of course, it’s pasta, but the texture of the pasta is so different from what you usually get. It’s somewhat more coarse and it’s somewhat more intense in flavor, so, really an interesting way to cook and ultimately eat pasta.
The next course was the “beef bavette (duck fat, gravy, lard, Nebbiolo fermented skins with testun cheese)”, which came with mashed potatoes, which were made basically of butter only. I mean, delicious, no question, but pure sin. The beef bavette was intense in flavor to an extent, which was almost a litte bit over the top.
Then it was already time for the sweets – and it started with a “tower of chocolate”, which is great if you’re into chocolate. Else, it’s a bit too intense.
Then there is another signature dish, the “Torta di Rose”, which is again depicted in the menu …
… and that “Torta di Rose” is actually not only looking largely like the dish in the drawing, but also tastes exquisite.
The last part of the dessert was “almond ice cream”, which was absolutely delicious and a little bite, which I found rather disappointing. But it was interesting to see how different tastes are – as it was also liked quite a bit.
Given it was already late and I had an hour-long drive in front of me, I had ordered the bill, but there was some more waiting time since it was time for “friandises”, which were cut into the right pieces at your table …
… and then put on your plate. And frankly, while the jelly was too sour for me, the thingy they cut at your table was lovely.
What I absolutely liked was the view from the restaurant onto Lake Garda – earlier before I had taken the picture, it was brighter, so it looked even nicer.
The place is also quite lovely from the inside, but obviously, given the good weather, everyone was sitting outside.
The staff is largely frinedly and does a good job. To be honest, though, there is room for improvement. The water glasses weren’t replenished on a frequent basis, which was a bit annoying for someone who definitely drinks a lot of water. Secondly, more than once the wines of the wine pairing were served only once the food had been there for a while (and was almost gone). And last but not least, there were moments where the responsible waiter was busy preparing the dishes, and then no other waiter showed up to help him serve the dishes. So, as good as the rest is, that was a bit of a downside to it.
In any case, I love that you can take a look into the kitchen and see how they are operating – because these operations clearly depict how good a job the kitchen does.
So, booking in advance in the Lido 84 is absolutely key. There were quite a few people who had just walked up to the restaurant and asked if there was availability – and they were just turned away. So, I must admit, I’ll remember the dishes for a while.
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Contact Details:
Restaurant Lido 84
Corso Giuseppe Zanardelli 196
25083 Gardone Riviera (I)
Tel.: +39 03 6 52 00 19
Homepage: https://www.ristorantelido84.com
About the Author: Sven
I started the blog in October 2009, while living in Milan which I definitely consider to be one of the food capitals of the world. I was in touch with food since my early childhood (as my father is a former chef). Whenever I can, I travel the world to discover new places, to meet people but mostly to try local dishes and to find hidden gems! If you know a place worth going, please drop a line to: info@thediningexperience.org.
Currently, I am a member of the following food-related associations: Chevalier @Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Zurich-Ville; Membre Gourmet Dégustateur @Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Dégustateurs [OMGD]; Gesellschafter @Goldener Fisch and Member @Slowfood Convivium Zurich City. 
