Zucca – a significant addition to Bermondsey’s burgeoning foodie scene

The Evening Standard and Time Out reviewers really rated Zucca, a new Italian in Bermondsey – see Review of the Reviews

We tried it for Sunday lunch.

It is a modern take on a good Italian Trattoria, in that it is informal and makes no attempt to “tart up” the presentation of the dishes. Which are made from fresh ingredients and beautifully cooked.

For starters I had the Zucca Friters (Pumpkin in batter) and my companion had the Speck (juniper flavored ham) and Pigeon Crostini, both very nice but we had to make use of the olive oil provided with the bread to enhance them. Some pesto or a dip of some sort would have been ideal with my Friters.

There was small selection of  main courses, basically meat/fish with some greens, so if you want pasta you need to order as a separate course.  I ordered Pigeon, it was superb, tasty and moist – actually better than the Pigeon I had in Cibrèo in Florence which is a real compliment.

I would have liked to have tried the Amaretto tart for dessert but they had ran out, so we made do with some home made ice cream.

The wine list included several options by the glass and a range of reasonably priced bottles.

The marketing for Alfies a near neighbour to Zucca, describes Alfies as “a significant addition to Bermondsey’s burgeoning foodie scene”.  That description did not fit Alfies, but does most definately describe Zucca.

Marks out of 10

Food 6.3

Service 5

Ambience 5.9

UPDATE : Zucca has closed.

Cibrèo – Is there a translator in the house?

Cibrèo is a very cosmopolitan venue – we had a Chinese couple on the left of us and some Russians on the right.

The staff are geared up to handle multilingual customers, they have to be, as Cibrèo has no formal menu. Instead the waiters will list and describe the food on offer.  I had pigeon which the waiter carved and then presented to me a massive “so called” pigeon bone. It was actually a glorified bread stick, but this just reflects the fun approach that is typical of Cibrèo.

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The size the Pidgeon would need to be to match the bone, this one is at Pisa Airport, beware!.
The size the Pigeon would need to be to match the bone, this one is at Pisa Airport, beware!.

Marks out of 10

Food 7

Service 7.5

Ambience 8

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