Da Vittorio Ristorante @ Brusaporto, Bergamo, Italy

Cuisine: Italian

Map: Da Vittorio Ristorante @ Brusaporto, Bergamo, Italy

Price: EUR125 per person (what we paid for)

Visited: 16 October 2014

Food: 10/10

Atmosphere: 10/10

Value for money: 9/10

Services: 10/10
Scale: [1=poor ---- 5=average/standard ---- 10=outstanding/exceptional]

Out of the restaurants that we visited in Italy back in October 2014, Da Vittorio Ristorante at Brusaporto, Bergamo is without doubt the most impressive. It is probably at the top of my personal favourite choice overall. Da Vittorio is in fact a lovely and beautiful hotel in Brusaporto and the restaurant is a part of the property. Driving from Bergamo you would reach the hotel within half an hour and it would take you around 1 hour driving from Milan. The place is run by Cerea family in which the two brothers, Enrico and Roberto, take charge as the head chefs.

Da Vittorio Ristorante @ Brusaporto, Bergamo, Italy

charming restaurant house

a small lovely pond within the premises

Apart from the beautiful property, the restaurant itself is as well equally strikingly wonderful. The restaurant is elegant and charming with facade facing down the hill. There is also an outdoor area where you may relax and enjoy a couple of drinks. As we strolled through the menu, there were three choices of tasting menu for lunch: lunch menu, truffle menu, and fish & crustaceans menu (the tradition of Vittorio). As it was during white truffle season, truffle may also be added to certain courses at some extra charge. Wine list is something that is incredible here too. The cellar comprises around 15,000 bottles. Surely you can find all sort of wine there. The list is interesting and they do come at modest marked up only. Thus, this is sure a place for wine lovers.

beautiful, elegant, and cosy dining room

windows looking into the kitchen

al fresco area

At the time of our visit, the lunch course was EUR70. As Deadly Bunny would like to have white truffle (having seen the treasure box of white truffle and it was irresistible) in some of her courses too, the restaurant did not hesitate at all to adjust the menu to match her demand; a really kind service from the team indeed. The meal began with a small bite of Hammer Jack, mozzarella (if I was not wrong), and tomato which was fresh and excellent. The in-house modest bread range was as well delicious which came in bread sticks, brioche, white bread, olive and based bread. They were nice on their own but dipping in olive oil was equally great. For this meal, the suggested wine by the sommelier (Giorgio if I was not mistaken) was Cervaro della Sala 2012 in which I have posted earlier this week. It was sure a great recommendation and I was not disappointed at all.

amuse bouche of Hammer Jack

tray of fun: bread sticks

treasure box of Italian diamond (Alexandro)

Cervaro della Sala 2012 (EUR45)

The first of the four lunch course for Deadly Bunny was Sottosopra (upside-down) (10/10), which was the combination of grapes, cream of potato, potato crisp, and truffle (from bottom to top). This was a stunningly impressive dish. Light but creamy potato was smooth, delicate, and delicious. The aroma of truffle balanced well with sweet grapes. During our starters, Da Vittorio also showed us with Seared Scallop with Ribes, Toasted Almond, and Porcini (10/10). I gotta say that this was prepared to perfection. Creamy but light sauce balanced so well with sour touch of ribes. Love it.

For me, I chose to have selection of fish starters which came in 3 parts and comprised of Tuna Tartare with Fig Carpaccio and Pistachio (9/10), Langoustine with Crunchy Truffle and Pumpkin-Ginger Ice-cream (10/10), and Polenta, Meringue, and Grated Fish (9/10). The tuna tartare started off with light and fresh touch. Fig carpaccio was round and sweet and played along nicely with horseradish. Crunchy pistachio added another dimension to texture. For langoustine, it was fresh and high in quality. Da Vittorio seemed to play along with sweet and hot combination, i.e. sweetness from pumpkin and hot notes from ginger. This dish was as well beautifully presented. Lastly, the polenta with grated fish was a wonderful creation with aroma of spices and garlic whilst meringue was the sweet part. The fish itself was fresh and kind of creamy together with polenta.

Sottosopra (upside-down)

Tuna Tartare with Fig Carpaccio and Pistachio

Langoustine with Crunchy Truffle and Pumpkin-Ginger Ice-cream

Seared Scallop with Ribes, Toasted Almond, and Porcini

Polenta, Meringue, and Grated Fish

For pasta course, the truffle one was divided into Classic Egg Pasta with White Truffle (10/10) and Gnoccho, Truffle, and Parmesan (10/10). Good God!!!! These two dishes were so classic, elegant, and yummy. The quality of white truffle was really tremendous. The soft egg pasta with white truffle needs no mentioning surely. So popular and so classic but so well-made. I don't mind having this dish only in a large portion for the whole meal. Gnoccho was equally great. It was stuffed with parmesan. Truffle perfume revealed agressively. Love the kind of soft / chewy texture of gnoccho and stuffed cheese.

As for me, the dish was Paccheri alla Vittorio Creamed with Grana Padano Cheese (10/10). I promise it would be rare and really difficult to find any pomodoro pasta at the equal level to this one at Da Vittorio. The texture of paccheri was surely cooked perfectly. The sauce was rich and highly perfumed. A touch of chilli also added hot feeling to overall picture. The dish was prepared at table side by Rosella Cerea (the youngest of Cerea family) herself. To me, this is the dish to remember for this place.

Classic Egg Pasta with White Truffle

Gnoccho, Truffle, and Parmesan

Paccheri alla Vittorio Creamed with Grana Padano Cheese

table side preparation

For main course, Cod with Cream of Yellow Tomato (10/10) was the first one. This represented freshness of the sea with refreshing of the land. The cream was smooth, fresh, tangy, and yes tomato. Flavours seemed to follow in layers, one after another. There were also ice herbs hidden in sauce. Cod was doubtlessly well cooked. Then it was Grilled Turbot, Caviar, and Orange Sauce (9/10) for the second one. This was totally opposite of cod. It was more on the power side if I have to put in word. Texture was low in fattiness as in usual turbot but still soft enough. Orange sauce paired with turbot well alongside sweet carrot and grilled onion. Nice dish it was but still prefer cod.

Cod with Cream of Yellow Tomato

Grilled Turbot, Caviar, and Orange Sauce

To end the course, Da Vittorio brought us through some sweet adventure. It started with soft and fluffy Panettone (10/10). Then it was followed by Cream of Avocado, Yoghurt Ice-cream, Macadamia, and Horseradish (10/10).  The outstanding point of this dessert was freshness. The texture was absolutely smooth for both cream of avocado and yoghurt ice-cream. Macadamia coated with caramel was the crunchy dimension. Apart from being delicious, this small dessert did its job so well in sweeping away remaining taste from previous savoury dishes. It did not end at this point. Some petit fours were then brought along with a trolley of kids' wonderland which fully of various types of candy. Pick your favourite to enjoy.

Panettone (gorgeously yummy)

Cream of Avocado, Yoghurt Ice-cream, Macadamia, and Horseradish

trolley of sweety candies

I have to really say that the service at Da Vittorio could be an unrivalled one. Staffs are so so so friendly and helpful. After the meal, they did not even mind showing us the kitchen where the wonderful meal had been prepared. Then showing us their wine cellar: loads of wine there I promise. Well, this restaurant, Da Vittorio, has already won our heart by now and is sure one of the best restaurant in Italy (at least for us). Really look forward to returning there. Highly recommended.

the modest kitchen

excellent wine cellar

more wines

Da Vittorio Ristorante @ Brusaporto, Bergamo, Italy
17 Via Cantalupa
Brusaporto 24060
Bergamo
Italy

Open Hours: daily except Wednesday noon from 12:30pm for lunch and 07:00pm for dinner

Tel: +39 035 681 024
Web: http://www.davittorio.com/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Da-Vittorio-Ristorante/791102864264070

Osteria Francescana @ Modena, Italy

Cuisine: Italian (modern)

Map: Osteria Francescana @ Modena, Italy

Price: EUR145 per person (what we paid for)

Visited: 15 October 2014

Food: 9/10

Atmosphere: 6/10

Value for money: 2/10

Services: 7/10
Scale: [1=poor ---- 5=average/standard ---- 10=outstanding/exceptional]

Here is probably the most famous restaurant in the land of Azzurri, Osteria Francescana which is headed by Chef Massimo Bottura. The well-known fine dining destination does of course have price tag of many awards including 3 Michelin Stars and 3rd on The World's 50 Best Restaurants (2014). The place is located in the heart of old town of Modena, meaning if you are driving, do park your car just outside the old town and walk. You won't probably stand a chance to park near Osteria Francescana.

Osteria Francescana is just a small block of building painted in pink. In side, the venue is as well small. The interior is decorated in a more modern era style with some intrinsic (I would say) paints and photos hanging along each wall. I believe there are only 12 tables at this place which are divided into 4 separate rooms. Each room is like a box to me. Curtains are drawn. Light is kept at minimum but with kind of spot light on each table. I personally do not like the feeling of this place. It makes me feel like I am eating in a box.

Osteria Francescana @ Modena, Italy

commercial block like entrance

dinning room in a box

Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef!!!!

an art piece of world map

Indeed, the style of food here is modern Italian. There were 2 choices of tasting menus when we were there: Tradition in Evolution (EUR170) which comprised of 8 courses and Sensations (EUR195) which comprised of 12 menus. Well we are not one big eaters and a la carte would do just fine for us. In addition, the wine list is somewhat extensive but they are at some high marked up. Any choice of wine by glass is priced at EUR15 per glass and the wine pairing with tasting menus is rather expensive which are at EUR110 and EUR140 respectively.

To begin the meal, bread of multi grains sourdough with olive oil from Tuscany was served. It was fluffy and soft. Delicious it was. Amuse Bouche was then followed. It was called Memory of Mozzarella Sandwich (8/10). I was personally satisfy with this amuse bouche. The light pink mozzarella was light and fluffy like it had been beaten. There was parmesan flavour as another dimension. The along side crackers were crunchy bread with parmesan and truffle. This was highly aromatic. After amuse bouche had been served, the bread was then changed to a set of bread stick, white sourdough, and salted brioche (in the shape of croissant). The white sourdough was tougher than the previous multi grains. Salted brioche was also a tough type. The bread stick was delicious with cracking texture and olive oil scent.

bread 1

bread 2

Amuse Bouche of Mozzarella

parmesan with truffle crisps

We began our actual meal with Ravioli of Foie Gras, Leek and Truffle (9/10) and The Rice and The Sea: Risotto Prepared in a Filtered Fish Soup (8/10). The ravioli was very well made. The stuffing of foie gras was splendid with smooth and creamy texture which was in contrast with al dente texture of ravioli. The riesling and veal jus sauce was wonderful too. However, we found that the fragrance and taste overwhelmed other aromas like truffle and leek. As for the risotto, it was well prepared. Below the rice, there was carpaccio of prawn. The smooth foam on top was garlic and herbs. This was one good risotto dish. Nevertheless, in case the smell of sea breeze and fishy scent, I would say, are something you dislike, this won't be the dish for you as they were really strong. To accompany the dish, I had a glass of Glocal Farewell 2011(90/10) which was full and with golden colour. It possesses spring forest aroma, bitter spice, gasoline, and pineapple palate.

Ravioli of Foie Gras, Leek and Truffle (EUR50)

Glocal Farewell 2011

The Rice and The Sea: Risotto Prepared in a filtered Fish Soup (EUR50)

As for the main, the first one was called Beautiful, Psychedelic, Spin-painted Veal, not Flame Grilled (9/10). A brilliant work with so tender pieces of sous vide tenderloin veal wrapped with aromatic herbs (the black ring covered veal). It was decorated artistically with sauces. The beauty part was the aroma perfume with each bite. In addition, the grated horseradish brought the overall picture to balance. To me, this was a delicious dish but somewhat difficult to understand. On the other hand, Suckling Pig with Crispy Skin and Traditional Balsamic Vinegar from Modena (10/10) was a tremendously delicious dish. The suckling pig was sous vide as well and almost melt in the mouth tenderness. It came with 50 years aged balsamic (if I was not mistaken) which was thick and flavourful. Fennel cream was supremely smooth and the side spinach was enjoyable. The cracking skins with burnt aroma added the final touch to the dish. Alongside the dish, Valturio Marche Rosso 2008 (91/100), which is a Sangiovese based red wine, did give a good partnership. It was brightly dark in ruby shade. Red cherry and mulberry were the primary scents. Tobacco, leather, spices, oak were then followed. Big body with fine grains of dry tannins.

Though each dish here at Osteria Francescana was presented well and taste wonderfully in artistic style of Massimo Bottura. We felt that the lack of charming and elegant atmosphere did bring the overall picture down a lot. It just did not compliment each other between the taste of mouth feel and sight satisfaction. Pricing wise, it was definitely expensive, both food and wine. We would say it has very poor value for money, especially the wine which was priced at EUR15 per glass for low range wine by glass, though a good recommendation by Andrea, the sommelier. Well, there are many more fabulous restaurants out there in the world that would give impressive satisfaction and we are doubt that Osteria Francescana is a place to return to.

Beautiful, Psychedelic, Spin-painted veal, not Flame Grilled (EUR80)

Suckling Pig with Crispy Skin and Traditional Balsamic Vinegar from Modena (EUR60)

Valturio Marche Rosso 2008

Osteria Francescana @ Modena, Italy
22 Via Stella
Modena 41121
Italy

Open Hours: daily for lunch (from 12:30pm) and dinner (from 08:00pm) except Saturday lunch and Sunday all day

Tel: +39 059 223 912
Web: http://www.osteriafrancescana.it/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/MassimoBotturaOsteriaFrancescana