Algida ice cream, coffee drunk in swimming costumes, bottles of fresh water. The Clandestino Susci Bar by Moreno Cedroni is one of the most photographed restaurants in Italy and one of the most evocative. It’s the place to eat "susci all'italiana" and a place that hands down deserves a Michelin star for its cuisine, but which remains first and foremost a beach bar, on a public beach.
Public Beach
Portonovo Bay, along the Conero in the Marche region, is the beach for the locals from Ancona, who arrive by motorbike with a towel under their arm, their tupperware filled with rice salad and fight for a place in the shade below the Clandestino Bar, which as well as being a kiosk, comes complete with public areas and the salvation of parasols and sun loungers.
This wonderful social, gastronomic, and entrepreneurial experiment is now 20 years old. Many years have passed since Manu Chao's song Clandestino was the summer catchphrase. It was July 10th, 2000 and Clandestino opened its doors to its first guests. It was the dawn of the new millennium and so much has changed since then (so that it would stay the same).
The Clandestino has become a symbol of the best of Italy, a gourmet destination for international customers, and invariably mentioned in the top recommended restaurants most spectacular to eat in. It has marked the "transformation" of the now famous dish sushi, which has become in the hands of chef Moreno Cedroni, susci. The seafood sandwich was created here (yes those found everywhere now) and to book you have to move well in advance. It’s not for this reason however that the Clandestino has become, like many other similar places, a stranger to its land, elitist and increasingly inaccessible to its historic customers and local residents. It hasn’t become an illegal immigrant but has remained a proud citizen.
Clandestino’s secret
The secret is in being able to live different lives, from the morning with gourmet breakfasts (12€), to lunch on the beach with the legendary shrimp hot dogs, sandwich with albacore tuna or with cod (12€ with side dish). The aperitif is equally popular, drink + tapas for 10€, like mortadella and champagne. The crowded daytime beach gradually empties as the sun sets, young girls in swimming costumes buying croissants now give way to gentlemen in shirts who find themselves at dinner alone, in silence, suspended over the sea with the horizon changing colors, turning from blue to pink, then orange, in a display of illuminations that goes beyond the normal concept of romance.
Magical dinner
At dinner you can, but don’t have to, try a complete taster menu of different courses, but I wouldn't dare suggest calling it the Bistro of the Madonnina del Pescatore, a two Michelin star restuarant in nearby Senigallia, where it all began. At lunch the formula is that of a bistro, but at dinner the cuisine follows their own line dedicated to seafood and has seen history and literature intertwine through the imaginary myths of fairy tales with those that really existed in the fifties.
In 2020, susci is divine, aka inspired by the Gods of ancient Greece. The grouse like Zeus, Monte Conero like on Monte Olimpo, play with the myths of Dionysus or Aphrodite for a remarkable dinner that starts with a mead ice popsicle, myrtle liqueur, mastic resin, evaporated vermouth and chinotto and moves onto a scallop, elderberry purée, quinoa, burnt parsley. Fine dining in its purest sense, with so many raw ingredients for a “susci all'italiana" that was created to talk to us, or rather to talk to even Moreno's mother (as he writes in one of his many books), gastronomically comprehensible to all; in the years when raw fish was still looked upon with suspicion. Without lemon, oil, or soya with which to drown the taste, but with a continuous study of every type of flesh, texture, fat and matching it in a Mediterranean way is key. You enjoy your dinner without racking your brains too much, yet still remain fascinated by the dishes more than by the panorama, and when it’s time for dessert you are immersed in darkness where all you can hear is the undercurrent of the waves. The kitchen? It’s very small, that of a kiosk on the beach with two micro- environments where the magic takes place. Massimo Franzin together with a skilled young team dressed in white, smiling like few others, who manage to interpret a professional but super relaxed and impromptu service.
It all seems easy now, but it took two decades, a coastal storm, maintenance work and a lot of perseverance to get here. It's not a new opening, there’s no big news after all and you just end up talking about how beautiful the place is or listen to information "already known".The food would be equally amazing even if eaten in front of a white wall, places like these however are few, maybe none, in truth. It takes 10 minutes to serve a fried and lightly cooked Ricciola, but it took 20 years of experience to make it.