Cuisine: Italian
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.
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| Da Vittorio Ristorante @ Brusaporto, Bergamo, Italy |
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| charming restaurant house |
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| 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.
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| beautiful, elegant, and cosy dining room |
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| windows looking into the kitchen |
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| 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.
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| amuse bouche of Hammer Jack |
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| tray of fun: bread sticks |
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| treasure box of Italian diamond (Alexandro) |
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| 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.
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| Sottosopra (upside-down) |
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| Tuna Tartare with Fig Carpaccio and Pistachio |
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| Langoustine with Crunchy Truffle and Pumpkin-Ginger Ice-cream |
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| Seared Scallop with Ribes, Toasted Almond, and Porcini |
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| 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.
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| Classic Egg Pasta with White Truffle |
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| Gnoccho, Truffle, and Parmesan |
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| Paccheri alla Vittorio Creamed with Grana Padano Cheese |
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| 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.
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| Cod with Cream of Yellow Tomato |
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| 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.
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| Panettone (gorgeously yummy) |
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| Cream of Avocado, Yoghurt Ice-cream, Macadamia, and Horseradish |
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| 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.
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| the modest kitchen |
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| excellent wine cellar |
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| 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
