I seem to have been getting area envy lately - on the weekend it was
Broadway Market, this week it's Bermondsey Street. The other half and I went to visit "the Steves" who were house-sitting a cool, warehousey style pad just off Bermondsey St and had suggested dinner at
Zucca. I had been wanting to go to Zucca for ages and was ravenous by the time we sat down for our 8.30 sitting so was in just the right frame of mind to enjoy this rather special Italian restaurant in a rather special street. I wrote before Christmas about the changing nature of
Bermondsey and nowhere sums it up more than the eponymous street at its heart. Cool cafes, bars and restaurants jostle for space and the fact that
Zucca was packed and buzzing on a chilly Tuesday night in January says it all. I started with home-cured bresaola, rocket and parmesan (actually if I'm honest I started as always by hoovering most of the bread basket) which was a perfect salty, savoury plate with the almost startlingly brightly coloured air cured salted beef at its heart. I was in a pasta mood (it was carbs-a-go-go last night I tell ya) so had the rigatoni with roasted pumpkin and ricotta as a main, which was hearty and comforting. We really didn't need dessert but we all ordered it - the table was divided, two went for affogato which came with three large scoops of dark yellow vanilla ice-cream (which was too much but hey it all got eaten) and the other two (including me) went for pana cotta with rhubarb. The panna cotta was amazing - flecked with vanilla it was incredibly rich but the soft, sour rhubarb was the perfect accompaniment to take the edge off the almost overpowering creaminess. Again it was a huge serve and I probably shouldn't have scoffed it all but my "finish what's on your plate" upbringing, combined with my greed, took over so I polished the whole thing off. It was sublime. A pretty decent esperesso capped off what was a fantastic meal. I have lots more spots ear-marked to come back and try on Bermondsey St so stay tuned.
I seem to have been getting area envy lately - on the weekend it was Broadway Market, this week it's Bermondsey Street. The other half and I went to visit "the Steves" who were house-sitting a cool, warehousey style pad just off Bermondsey St and had suggested dinner at Zucca. I had been wanting to go to Zucca for ages and was ravenous by the time we sat down for our 8.30 sitting so was in just the right frame of mind to enjoy this rather special Italian restaurant in a rather special street. I wrote before Christmas about the changing nature of Bermondsey and nowhere sums it up more than the eponymous street at its heart. Cool cafes, bars and restaurants jostle for space and the fact that Zucca was packed and buzzing on a chilly Tuesday night in January says it all. I started with home-cured bresaola, rocket and parmesan (actually if I'm honest I started as always by hoovering most of the bread basket) which was a perfect salty, savoury plate with the almost startlingly brightly coloured air cured salted beef at its heart. I was in a pasta mood (it was carbs-a-go-go last night I tell ya) so had the rigatoni with roasted pumpkin and ricotta as a main, which was hearty and comforting. We really didn't need dessert but we all ordered it - the table was divided, two went for affogato which came with three large scoops of dark yellow vanilla ice-cream (which was too much but hey it all got eaten) and the other two (including me) went for pana cotta with rhubarb. The panna cotta was amazing - flecked with vanilla it was incredibly rich but the soft, sour rhubarb was the perfect accompaniment to take the edge off the almost overpowering creaminess. Again it was a huge serve and I probably shouldn't have scoffed it all but my "finish what's on your plate" upbringing, combined with my greed, took over so I polished the whole thing off. It was sublime. A pretty decent esperesso capped off what was a fantastic meal. I have lots more spots ear-marked to come back and try on Bermondsey St so stay tuned.
Lucky me just living 3 minutes away from Zucca :). The only problem is that you can hardly ever go there spontaneously, if you don't book far in advance you don't get a table. BUt that's a luxury problem isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI am so jealous of you being a Bermondsey local. I have heard it's hard to book - luckily our friends were well organised!
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