{"id":14841,"date":"2011-02-27T16:55:00","date_gmt":"2011-02-27T16:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/noexpert.co.uk\/?p=14841"},"modified":"2024-08-22T15:18:14","modified_gmt":"2024-08-22T14:18:14","slug":"zucca-cucina-povera-byob","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/?p=14841","title":{"rendered":"Zucca &#8211; Cucina povera &#038; BYOB : Bellissimo (Closed)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"Zucca\" href=\"http:\/\/www.zuccalondon.com\/\" target=\"_self\">Zucca<\/a> has a very reasonable \u00a310 corkage fee when you bring your own bottle.\u00a0 Corkage fees can be excessive. Here is a useful list, to give you a rough idea of the typical charges:-<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"BYOB list\" href=\"http:\/\/gourmettraveller.wordpress.com\/2010\/01\/07\/london-bring-your-own-restaurant-list\/\">Gourmet Traveller &#8211; BYO Restaurant list<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It&#8217;s not as good a deal as the one advertized by the <a title=\"Kitchen W8\" href=\"..\/..\/?p=14632\">Kitchen W8<\/a> (free corkage on a Sunday evening), but for a Saturday night a \u00a310 corkage fee is not too bad.\u00a0 Especially in a restaurant with such a great reputation for food.<\/p>\n<p>So armed with a rather nice bottle of Amerone (<a title=\"Masi Costasera Amerone\" href=\"http:\/\/www.snooth.com\/wine\/masi-costa-sera-amarone-2003\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Masi Costasera Classico Amerone 2003<\/a>), we headed off to <a title=\"Zucca\" href=\"http:\/\/www.zuccalondon.com\/\" target=\"_self\">Zucca<\/a> (Bermonsey&#8217;s answer to <a title=\"The River Cafe\" href=\"http:\/\/www.rivercafe.co.uk\/rc_page.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The River Cafe<\/a>), to choose some cucina povera to go with it.<\/p>\n<p>It is almost a year now since my last visit, shortly after the Restaurant opened, and to say Zucca has been successful in that intervening period would be something of an understatement. It&#8217;s had rave reviews, is buzzing most nights and is firmly recognised as a &#8220;Foodies&#8221; destination restaurant.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-14841 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/tn_IMGP3009.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/tn_IMGP3009-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/tn_IMGP3022.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/tn_IMGP3022-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/tn_IMGP3014.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/tn_IMGP3014-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/tn_IMGP3020.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/tn_IMGP3020-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/tn_IMGP3019.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/tn_IMGP3019-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/tn_IMGP3017.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/tn_IMGP3017-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/tn_IMGP3023.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/tn_IMGP3023-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/tn_IMGP3025.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/tn_IMGP3025-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/tn_IMGP3026.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/tn_IMGP3026-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>The highlights for me had to be the pasta dishes.\u00a0 The beautiful fennel and lemon flavoured tagliatelle was so refreshing and the veal and parmesan ravioli was delicious\u00a0 &#8211; why did I just order a starter size portion!\u00a0 The pasta was just in a different class from the very ordinary and much more expensive pasta dish I had at <a title=\"Apsleys\" href=\"..\/..\/?p=14049\">Apsleys.<\/a> The <a title=\"Brunet\" href=\"http:\/\/cheese.about.com\/od\/cheeseofitaly\/p\/brunet.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Brunet<\/a> and Speck (goats cheese wrapped in ham) was also very good.<\/p>\n<p>The only downside to bringing your own wine without knowing the menu in advance,\u00a0 is that you are a bit restricted in your food choices.\u00a0 We avoided the more interesting fish dishes which would not have worked with the Amerone and ordered the slow cooked pork in milk and the veal chop instead.\u00a0 One thing that had not changed since my last visit was the limited selection of side orders.\u00a0 My veal chop, lovely though it was,\u00a0 would have really suited me better if accompanied by some potatoes rather that the spinach I barely touched.<\/p>\n<p>We finished with the cheese course and a very nice piece of light and moist orange cake.<\/p>\n<p>The service is not particularly polished. The staff were all very pleasant, but\u00a0 not quite attentive enough to comfortably handle the two hour turn around on the table. That and our waitress must have missed watching <a title=\"Michel Roux's Service\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/b00xk47x\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Michel Roux&#8217;s Service <\/a> \ud83d\ude09 pouring as she did a full measure of wine, rather that just enough to check that the wine was OK, something that is especially important in BYOB situations.<\/p>\n<p>Zucca is not perfect, but they certainly know how to cook.<\/p>\n<p>After dinner we headed down to <a title=\"Most Cafe Bar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mostcafebar.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Most Cafe bar<\/a> under Tower bridge, it was busy and getting served at the overcrowded bar looked impossible (why do under staffed bars insist on doing cocktails?), so instead we made our way to the more laid back <a title=\"Draft House\" href=\"http:\/\/www.drafthouse.co.uk\/drafthouse\/towerBridge.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Draft House Pub<\/a>. Instant friendly service and a free table. It has a good reputation for its food as well, so definitely worth a return visit to try that, see <a title=\"The Draft House - Cheese and Buscuits post\" href=\"http:\/\/cheesenbiscuits.blogspot.com\/2010\/09\/draft-house-tower-bridge-bermondsey.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cheese and Biscuits review<\/a> for details.<\/p>\n<p>Marks out of 10 for Zucca<\/p>\n<p>Food 6.3<\/p>\n<p>Service 4.9<\/p>\n<p>Ambience 6.0<\/p>\n<p>UPDATE : Zucca has closed.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Top page - Noexpert.co.uk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\">Return to top page<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Zucca has a very reasonable \u00a310 corkage fee when you bring your own bottle.\u00a0 Corkage fees can be excessive. Here is a useful list, to give you a rough idea of the typical charges:- Gourmet Traveller &#8211; BYO Restaurant list It&#8217;s not as good a deal as the one advertized by the Kitchen W8 (free &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/?p=14841\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Zucca &#8211; Cucina povera &#038; BYOB : Bellissimo (Closed)&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8],"tags":[458,521,508,501,510,509,396,321],"class_list":["post-14841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-london","category-uk","tag-apsleys","tag-closed-restaurants","tag-draft-house","tag-kitchen-w8","tag-michel-rouxs-service","tag-most-cafe-bar","tag-river-cafe","tag-zucca"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14841"}],"version-history":[{"count":199,"href":"https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32158,"href":"https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14841\/revisions\/32158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}