Retire Early Lifestyle
Retirement; like your parents, but way cooler

In 1991 Billy and Akaisha Kaderli retired at the age of 38. Now, into their 4th decade of this financially independent lifestyle, they invite you to take advantage of their wisdom and experience.

Soul Kitchen (Cave) Restaurant

Matera, Italy

Billy and Akaisha Kaderli

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As you know, Billy and I are Foodies. Billy being a trained French Chef and our having owned a restaurant in California for a decade, we mix our version of "Cuisine Travel" into being on the road.

Walking distance from our apartment and the cliff view of The Sassi is Soul Kitchen, touted as one of Matera's most elegant restaurants.

On their website, Soul Kitchen advertises "pure taste, pure emotion, joy and soul in the kitchen."

Owned by two brothers, Mimmo and Pietro, between them they have 40 years of experience in the restaurant sector.

Let's take a look.

The front entrance of Soul Kitchen

The Historical section of Matera emphasizes caves and cave living.

Many of the businesses here are renovated caves (The Sassi is filled with examples of this) and even our own apartment has been renovated from a cave that used to house animals.

Not far from where we are staying and down some steep steps you'll find the front entrance of Soul Kitchen.

It's sort of a "hidden gem" but I think the word is out.

We were the first to arrive - the place hadn't even turned over their "OPEN" sign yet. But it didn't take long and the place was packed.

This day there were tour groups and couples.

Surely, word of mouth has done well for them.

Soul Kitchen Cave Restaurant

This is a lovely place.

Yes, it is a renovated cave but the lines, the lighting, and the colors of the decor all speak class.

We are basically looking from our table back to the front door.

The open kitchen is on the right next to the front door.

Right below us, and out of sight, is another dining room.

Appetizer and first course menu

We didn't know what kind of food  to expect, but found out it was what we might find at Brasserie Lip in Paris; Satisfying, full of flavor, country-style food.

Courses are made from local ingredients, meats, mushrooms and vegetables. Fava beans are big in this area of Italy, and we saw many items on menus that featured turnip greens.

Second course menu

Here a selection of beef, pork and lamb are offered.

Beef Tagliata is seared seasoned beef cooked medium rare and served over Arugula with cherry tomatoes and olive oil. Crusty bread accompanies it.

We have had Saltimbocca before, but not with lemon cream and pistachio - so that sounded interesting.

"Cutturiddi" lamb stew is a lighter version of a stew with the liquid being mostly broth, not thick as what many Americans might be used to.

The Dessert menu

And don't forget dessert!

Being in Italy, we were curious about trying a Semifreddo.

Lucia, a daughter of one of the brothers, recommended something else instead - but I am getting ahead of myself here.

Our waitress, Lucia

Lucia - the daughter of one of the brothers named Mimmo, -  pours us some house wine. She was quite knowledgeable about the menu and when we asked what she recommended, she didn't hesitate to let us know.

Meanwhile, Billy gave her his Chef de Cuisine business card which she showed to her Father, who was running the cash register today.

Everything after that went smooth as pie.

From the top of the stairs looking down

This is the third dining room and a wine tasting room is on the bottom floor. Notice that the wine cellar can be sealed off with the deep red wrought iron gate.

During high season, holidays and with tour groups, these rooms easily fill up.

Chef appetizer

We ordered our meal, and our wine was poured. Then promptly appearing on our table was a quick appetizer of ricotta cheese mixed with tomato and pastry-bagged on a crisp toast.

Cavatelli with sausage

Lucia recommended the Cavatelli with sausage and mushrooms.

Cavatelli in Italian means "little hollows". This pasta has a small indentation in the center which traps the sauce and since they are like a small dumpling, they add a textural contrast to this dish.

This is a very typical rustic meal.

The restaurant starts to fill up

Here you see this level of the restaurant filling up with tourists and locals.

When we ate here a second time, this area was packed with a tour group.

Fortunately, we are tucked away in this little corner and have some privacy while enjoying our meal.

Grilled vegetables

We also ordered a side of fire-grilled vegetables - yellow pepper, zucchini and eggplant.

Even without a sauce these vegetables were juicy and flavorful.

Lamb stew with turnip greens

This lamb stew was outstanding.

The stew broth was quite tasty and the meat fell off the bones. The use of turnip greens is something I never would have considered, but this area of Italy uses them frequently. We ended up becoming familiar with them in soups, quiches, pastas and stews.

There were  no complaints from us, and the savory lamb was gratifying.

Caramelized crusco pepper is on panna cotta.

For dessert, Billy wanted to order a semifreddo, but Lucia was adamant for us not to.

“Not for you. You must have the Panna Cotta with the orange syrup" she said.

Um, ok...

SHE WAS RIGHT.

This was one of THE best desserts we have had in a long while.

At presentation, Lucia served the orange syrup over it.

This dessert was served warm, completely melt-in-your-mouth delicious with crispy crusco pepper on top. Truly, it was heaven in a bite.

We moaned so much with the pleasure of it that the table next to us wanted to know what it was so they could order the same.

It was JUST OUTSTANDING.

The bill for two of us

This is our bill for our first meal at Soul Kitchen.

A cover charge (in lieu of tipping) is $3Euros per person. The liter of Prosecco wine was a neat $11Euros, and the lamb stew was $14.

All of this, plus the fabulous dessert came to $61.50Euros, less than $67USD.

Potato raviolis

Our first meal at Soul Kitchen impressed us so much, we decided to go back.

This time we had potato raviolis stuffed with mozzarella cheese, pesto and roasted tomato sauce.

This was truly outstanding and we had never had raviolis made with potato flour before. So this was completely new for us. 

Beef medallions

With meals such as this, we share the plates.

Billy also ordered the beef medallions with porchini mushrooms which was both tasty and tender.

Again the panna cotta!

And again, the panna cotta with the crusci peppers.

We didn't have anything like this for the rest of our trip in Italy as this was done so perfectly.

The bill for 2 people

Here is our bill for the two of us, coming in at $53.50Euros or about $58USD.

The chef

In Southern Italy and in Sicily as well, there are many African immigrants gainfully employed.

While we did not meet Pietro - the brother of Mimmo - we met this African man who was our chef that day.

So skilled, so pleasant.

Would we recommend Soul Kitchen?

Absolutely!

__________

Soul Kitchen Ristorante

Restaurant via Casalnuovo, 27 - Matera t

http://www.ristorantesoulkitchen.it/soul-kitchen.html

Hours: Monday - Sunday Lunch Dinner Thursday Closed

Phone (+39) 0835.311568

Whatsapp (+39) 329.9331094 (+39) 368.3282232

Email:  info@ristorantesoulkitchen.it 

Retire Early Lifestyle appeals to a different kind of person – the person who prizes their independence, values their time, and who doesn’t want to mindlessly follow the crowd.

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