Zucca - Modern Italian

We live near Bermondsey Street, near London bridge. The street's culinary scene has been dominated for a number of years by Village East and the Garrison Pub. I don't rate either personally, but they are always packed. I was once charged £8.50 for two (!) pieces of ravioli in Village East and was served up a sweet onion relish made with salt instead of sugar in the Garrison. I duly wretched. Unforgivable. The chef clearly didn't taste it. Staff are rude and brash. Go if you like this kind of thing. Bla. Both venues do pack style however, but in equal measure to their lack the substance.

These two local sleeping giants should be scared as there is a new kind on the block. One oozing style and serving up top, modern, fresh delicious, fairly priced Italian food. Welcome Zucca.

Zucca is run by the same guy who runs Maltings cafe. I won't tell you how great Maltings is, how fresh the food is, how tasty and simple it is, how unpretentious and great value for money it is. I won't do this because then everyone will be going there and then it will be horribly busy. Please wipe that from your mind.

Zucca describes itself as "a new restaurant serving modern Italian food". An apt description. We went for lunch one Saturday.

A nice warm welcome, very professional and attentive staff. We were quickly seated and offered 3 types of freshly cut bread and a good quality, peppery extra virgin olive oil:



Starters are all very reasonably priced, about £4.00 each. We had pigeon crostini with spec. Rich Pigeon, almost like a pate, salty spec and crusty bread. Yum

Italian ham with Pecorino. Good quality ham an' cheese.

For main I had the halibut with borlotti beans (£12.75). Perfectly cooked fish with a salty crispy top and fresh borlotti beans which were cooked with rosemary and drizzled with a light olive oil. A dollop of parsley rich salsa verde gave the necessary acidity to balance.



We also had the grilled squid with rocket. At last, a local restaurant serving my favourite fish without it being deep fried with tartar sauce! The squid was slashed and charred on a griddle. Soft and tender, drizzled with olive oil and a good squeeze of lemon juice. Superb. A very healthy portion too. I loved the combination of the peppery rocket with this. It went perfectly well with my accompanying glass of chilled Chardonnay.



I am not a huge dessert guy, especially at lunch, but this place impressed me so much I literally didn't want it to end. We ploughed on.

The chocolate espresso cake was surprisingly light but still with the desired gooeyness in the centre. No complaints.



We also had the cheese board. The Dolcelatte was great and went very well with the accompanying earthy beetroot relish and sweet raisin bread. The goat's cheese was nice too, but the other two were a bit bland. I am picking holes though and this was the only critical point I had about the entire meal.





I asked the waitress to recommend a dessert wine to accompany the cheese. She recommended something I have not had before, Moscato D'Asti. A sweet, slightly fizzy Italian wine served in a Champagne flute. Delicious. We ordered another glass and got tipsy.

This place is an absolute gem, a perfect lunch. I hope it stays this good when the crowds inevitably come. The food is unpretentious, delicious and reasonably priced. I also believe the menu changes on a daily basis. Local restaurants be scared. The bar has been raised.

Monster Munch Rating: 90%

Zucca
184 Bermondsey Street
London
SE1 3TQ

0207 378 6809
www.zuccalondon.com