Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Da Vittorio, Bergamo, Italy (3 Michelin stars)

Man was this place to die for! That was some sublime seafood. I ordered the seafood tasting which had some of the best, freshest seafood I have ever tasted. Everything was cooked perfectly. See, the difficulty in cooking seafood is getting it at the perfect temperature. Too rare, and the flavours don't come out. Too cooked, and it becomes tough, rubbery and dry. This place had their seafood cooking perfected all around. Unfortunately, some of the photos did not turn out very well. I did not want to use the flash since it might disturb people who are eating, it lights up the entire room. We all know how annoying that is, when you just want to enjoy a meal and have lights flashing all around.

This is the restaurant. Quite elegant, almost French.


The next two photos are images of the Amuse Bouche. The one below is a parmeggiano regiano ball. It's deep fried, with a creamy, semi liquid centre. The 2nd image is a slice of banana topped with a cinammon ice cream. There was also a crispy component to it that tasted like bruleed sugar.




This dish was a bit of a mystery to me because of the texture. It's scampi, and it's damn good scampi too. Served with a cream sauce and a variety of caviars. See, the texture of the scampi was almost raw, but the flavour of it was very present. It was seemed like the perfect middle between raw and cooked. But wasn't just cooked medium, it was also too cooked to be rare. My guess is this had to be cooked sous vide to get these results. Very low temperature to avoid overcooking, just enough to bring out the flavour, not too high to actually "cook" it.


Another extremely interesting dish. Cod espuma, cod broth and bits of cod. See, the bits weren't the flesh of the fish. They were the best parts, which are mostly found in the face. Parts like the cheek, lips and other bits that have that tender, melt-in-your-mouth OH SO GOOD texture.


Aahhh, main course. Variety of deep fried seafood. To a Torontonian whos been to many chinese restaurants, this somewhat looks like Cantonese chow mein. At least, that was the first impression I got. Obviously the flavours are completely different. Each seafood was allowed to shine, the flavour of each piece was exquisite and unique. It wasn't just jumbled up flavours that has that generic seafood taste. No, the langoustine tasted like wonderful langoustine, the calamari was distinctly calamari, and so on. I believe this dish is a great example of how a dish does not have to undergo complicated processes to be delicious. Just simple, but perfect technique. As Thomas Keller would say, "It's all about finesse".


On to desert. Tiers of various cookies. The first photo makes me wish I was better versed in the realm of baking. Soon! Needless to say, they were amazing. On the 2nd photo, the one that really caught me is that green semi circle. It's pistachio cream, but extremely light. It had a butter tart on the bottom and a crispy component as well, most likely candied pistachios. Very delicious.




I have to say, the presentation and general feel of the restaurant, from the ambience to the food seemed French. However, when you taste the flavours, it was undeniably Italian. I'd love to go back.

3 comments:

  1. You h ave been to LAMELOISE in Chagny, Bourgogne, France, also a 2 michelin star restaurant.

    Which one is better?

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  2. Sorry, LAMELOISE is a 3 michelin star restaurant.

    So can you give me your comment as to which of these 2 restaurant is better from your experience.

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  3. That is quite a tough question. Ambience was quite similar so I will comment on the food and service. Food, I would be inclined to say that Da Vittorio is better. Those seafood courses were just absolutely sublime. As for service, Lameloise was significantly better. It was like seamless clockwork of a Patek Philippe watch, water alwas filled, bread always present. But this is not to say that Da Vittorio service was lacking. If I had to put it into numbers:

    Vitorrio: service 8.5, food 8.8
    Lameloise: Service 9, food 8.5

    Not a big difference at all. My 10 in terms of food is held by El Celler de can Roca, followed by a 9.5 from Alinea, Chicago.

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