How you eat at Sentiero, the restaurant Elba Island was missing

Jul 6 2025, 13:11

He brings experience from Celler de Can Roca, Noma, and Mugaritz. She is a pastry chef with a degree in oenology. Together, they are the couple behind the recently opened restaurant Sentiero in Marina di Campo. Here’s what the dining experience is like

by Simone Andrea Rossi

He is Juan Carlos Reyes Moreno, Andalusian, with a background that includes El Celler de Can Roca, ABaC, Noma, and Mugaritz; she is Ambra Campodonico, Elban, with a degree in oenology and top-tier pastry training from Cast Alimenti in Brescia and under the wing of Iginio Massari. They met in the kitchen of ABaC in Barcelona, fell in love, and decided to open their own restaurant. Initially, the plan was to open in Málaga, but as things got complicated, they decided on Elba Island, where Ambra was born and raised.

The Sentiero Restaurant in Marina di Campo

And here they are in Marina di Campo, in the park of Hotel dei Coralli, in a space entirely their own, furnished with elegant and highly personal pieces created in Spain. The offering is structured around two tasting menus (one of which is vegetarian), to be selected at the time of booking for the sake of thoughtful sustainability, both priced at €95.

It’s a structured and coherent sensory journey, weaving together marine references and Mediterranean vegetal notes, deeply rooted in the Elban territory and tinged with Andalusian influence. The experience begins with a liquid welcome – Gin sulle dune (gin on the dunes), an extract of sea fennel, Mediterranean herbs and lemon served with a clam sphere – delivered soon after being seated at the table, providing a perfect introduction to what follows.
Each dish is conceived as a narrative step in an intimate and creative gastronomic story, personally presented at the table by Ambra and Juan Carlos.

Ajoblanco de Mar

What you eat at Sentiero

Six small snacks elegantly introduce the Sentiero kitchen style (from tomato and strawberry gazpacho with basil oil to a mini chickpea “turtle” with heritage grain mustard…), fully revealing its freshness and technical finesse in one of the three starters: Ajoblanco de Mar with almond, Elban pink prawn, cherries, sea grapes, wild rocket, and fig leaf oil.
When it comes to the first course, Juan Carlos naturally embraces pasta, infusing it with Andalusian ideas and aromas: Cappelletti Andalusia are filled with cod and served with kimchi foam and pimentón. Then there’s the King of the Sea, Elban snapper with celeriac cream, salted hazelnut praline, osmotised beetroot spring onion and fried fish scales.
Ambra’s desserts deserve a chapter of their own, with Dolce Mareggiata (Sweet Storm Surge), inspired by a beach after a tempest that left behind stones and shells, setting the stage for Sentiero Arrives on the Moon – a mousse of fermented lime and Ethiopian pepper, white tea caramel, intense vanilla meringue, and a little gin-lemon star (as tasty as it is beautiful).
The service is attentive and thoughtful. The wine cellar is still young but already shows promise (you can still find the right bottle). Who knows how long they’ll remain in the hotel currently “hosting” them.