The Bank
You don't choose. You entrust yourself.
A table where you stop choosing
There are tables where people no longer look at the menu. They ask the kitchen to decide, and they sit down and wait.
That is how Il Banco is born: not a mixed starter, but a small mutual gamble — the kitchen putting itself on the line, and those who sit down placing their trust in it.
Four fixed dishes, three that change every day according to what the sea has brought.
Gillardeau
In Marennes-Oléron, on the French Atlantic coast, the same family has been farming these oysters for four generations. Each specimen grows for over four years, going through more than sixty hand-crafted operations — cleaning, turning, grading — before it is ready.
On the shell, a small laser-branded “G” distinguishes every Gillardeau from any other oyster: it is the signature of the person who bred, harvested and selected it one by one.
In the kitchen there are those who have never liked oysters. But these they do — they say, without beating about the bush.
Three fixed points
The rest of the Banco is changing. These three are staying — because certain things, when they work, shouldn't be messed with.
Marinated amberjack with citrus fruit
Twelve hours in orange, lemon and lime zest, with equal parts salt and sugar. Then it rests, dries, is blast-chilled — and only the next day does it reach the table, thin as a veil.
It is accompanied by a marinated fennel salad, which tempers the sweetness of the fish and the acidity of the marinade.
Red tuna tartare
The yolk rests in soy sauce for a whole night, until it becomes dense, almost like a cream. It is broken over hand-chopped tuna, binding them together.
Alongside, a fennel, celery and carrot salad — crunchy, to balance the softness.
Prawn and monkfish main course
Three types of peppers, mild jalapeños from a local farm, coriander, red onion, yellow and red tomatoes. Freshly marinated, on the same day, in two parts lime and one part vinegar.
Fish remains the star — present, strong, recognisable beneath every flavour.
The rest is decided by the sea
Three proposals from the Counter change every day — depending on what arrived that morning, depending on what the kitchen has decided to tell.
Whoever sits at the Bench does not know everything in advance. It is part of the pact.
Dear guest, if you have food allergies and/or intolerances, please feel free to ask for information about our food and drinks. We are trained to advise you in the best possible way.
