IL Buco, Sorrento, Italy – Signore Rossario & Chef Peppe’s creations

The food adventure at II Buco happened by chance but I like to think we were meant to experience the food and hospitality of Signore Rossario. We were on our way back to our hotel and we noticed this thorough fare / alley way / alcove that was clearly being used by pedestrians but at the bottom was a restaurant. We could not get a reservation for Neal’s birthday so we decided to come today instead. Interestingly, the outside sitting area was one side of the alley way with the tables arranged along the slope of the stairs and there was enough privacy for the diners. I really liked it – quirky as it was picturesque. There is just something about being outside in the late afternoon / evening as the sun is setting, having a meal in these Sorrento streets!

I am beginning to wonder if booklet menu’s a thing in Sorrento? At Don Alfonso the menu was a massive booklet and same with II Buco.  The menu had so many dishes, in addition to the taster menu. The taster menu were 2 kinds, one called ‘Land and Territory’ which was 6 courses paired with wine. However, there was the ‘I trust you’ menu and it states “…a tasting of different creations chosen by chef Peppe, interpreting his emotions and your preferences, A menu that changes and evolves with you… I don’t think I need to mention which option we went for, but just in case you are a new reader, (welcome!) We chose the ‘I trust you’ because we are food adventurers! It was 8 courses paired with wine. 

The meal started with bread (I don’t think I need to say anymore on what Italians do with bread) but I do have to mention the bread basket. It was a wooden box with 3 compartments that opened like a set of drawers and in each of these was a kind of bread! Yep, Italians do not play when it comes to bread. Amuse bouche consisted of 2 courses and again, the crockery was fire. The plate was a textured, it literally was a woven glass plate. You read right, woven like a woven basket people! Details y’all, D E T A I L S! I like to think it made the amuse bouche taste better, we do tend to eat with our eyes as well as our mouths no? plus, it was accompanied by DUBL Greco Brut, a sparkling wine which pimped it up even more.

Our starter was a stew like no other. It looked nothing like the traditional stew. It was a stewed pork – a cube of black pork stew with honey, chilli pepper, vegetables and fried polenta. The flavours were more intense with the Franz Haas Pinot Nero Rose. I love me some Rose wine!

For our pasta, we had 2 types. I reckon having 2 pasta dishes is the norm for an Italian meal. I say this because we had two pasta dishes in Don Alfonso as well. To be honest, who is counting eh? On the plus side, there are steps and elevated ground in Sorrento, Lord knows I will be hitting these steps and getting my cardio in not just tomorrow but the rest of the holiday.

Right, back to Chef Pepe’s creations. Our first pasta course was linguine with lemon scented scorpion fish on roe and sun dried tomato sauce. Let me say this, sun dried tomato sauce in Italy is not the same as sun dried tomato sauce anywhere. Even though it was just a dollop of sauce, it was packed with flavour. Even though we had Sirch Chardonay, dry wine, it did not take away from flavour in any way. Instead, the taste of the Scorpion fish was intensified Our other pasta was tagliolino with laticuada lamb on pumpkin sauce and caciotta cheese accompanied with Mario Schiopetto rare white wine blend. 

When it comes to fish, the usual or shall I say the expected beverage to go with this would be white wine, yes? Chef Pepe begs to differ. My man served his fish with Pinot noir! I mean I was like whaaat? Hold up!  The fillet of fish was served with courgettes, purple potato lemon jelly and pause…. Let me say this again, potato lemon J E L L Y and cheese latte sauce. It literally was a case of ‘does what it says on the tin’. The potato jelly was well, purple and a jelly. The pinot noir was Monticol 2015. For someone who is not too keen on red wine, I like the pinot noir grape and this wine was just right. Aged for 12 months, 50% in a barrel and partly in barriques, had black berry undertones and tasted delicate on the palette, it was the wine for the fish, Periodt! Chef Pepe’s sommelier got this wine pairing on Lock folks.

With our beef, we had La Massa Toscana which is the typical red wine for meat dish; plum, cedar wood aroma and rich cherry flavour.

Interestingly we had our cheese selection before the pudding. The pudding though? We didn’t have one but 3 types of pudding! The first was creamy lemon dessert with a froth of limoncello and it was lemony, we are in the lemon territory lol! Having said that, the pantellaria passito liquorroso aka sweet Italian wine, was the perfect ‘balancer’ to the lemony taste of this pudding. The floral, flagrant and intense flavours of earthy tones (honey) fruit notes (apriot and apple) was just BOMB! It was great with the other puddings as well – wild strawberry tart with foam of warm meringue, orange sauce and limoncello ice cream! Sigh!

Chef Pepe, a round of applause for your sir! Your food is fantastic and trusting you was the right decision! Bravo!

Saluti

Ndidi

P.s a massive s/o to Signore Rossario, head waiter with the best personality and host with the most! His enthusiasm and passion were palpable! He made this experience even more special for birthday boy and myself and I am grateful!