Bussia is one among my favourite eating places in Amsterdam. I had not been for some time, as a consequence of Covid and since it’s so well-liked that you simply often have to make a reservation a number of weeks upfront. The restaurant qualifies itself as “trendy Italian nice eating”, and that could be a excellent description. The menu construction is Italian (antipasti, primo, secondo, dolce; click on right here for a proof), the strategies and recipes are all in Italian type, they make the whole lot from scratch from contemporary components, and the wine checklist is totally Italian. However they use loads of native components from the Netherlands and also you gained’t discover Italian classics on the menu like vitello tonnato or spaghetti alla carbonara. There’s a tasting menu of 5 programs (one chilly antipasto, one scorching antipasto, alternative of two primi, alternative of two secondi, dolce) for 65 euros, with 50 euros for a wine pairing (or 57 euros with an improve to a glass of (younger) Barolo with the secondo). Additionally it is attainable to order à la carte, however we opted for the degustazione.
The primary wine was a Soave by Suavia, one of many lead producers of the realm. It was a sublime Soave with a light-weight contact of the everyday ‘volcanic’ minerality.
It was an excellent pairing for the salad of artichokes, celeriac, carrots, and blueberries. This isn’t as simple as it might sound, as artichokes might be tough to pair with.
The subsequent wine was labeled as a rosato, however may simply classify as a blanc de noirs (white wine manufactured from blue grapes by avoiding pores and skin maceration). It was a wine produced from Nerello Mascalese from the Etna, and really flavorful.
It was an excellent pairing for a half quail, grilled on the Large Inexperienced Egg, with roasted parsnip, lentils and a vadouvan sauce. The quail was tender and juicy and it labored very nicely with the lentils and parsnip.
The third wine was a nicely balanced Valpolicella, properly fruity and never too acidic (as could occur with Valpolicella).
It was an excellent pairing with ravioli full of braised lamb in a sauce that was marketed as a butter and morel sauce, however the lemon zest and parsley have been the primary flavors (and I may hardly make out the morels). Because of the lemon zest, I feel a white wine would even have labored very nicely. In reality my pal (who will not be a fan of crimson wine) had a Trebbiano Spoletino that was made with chilly pores and skin contact, which he mentioned labored very nicely.
The wine for the primary course was a Timorasso from the Colli Tortonesi, an nearly forgotten however now once more well-known grape selection from that space. It was a typical Timorasso: complicated and balanced, with fairly a little bit of physique for a white wine.
This was an excellent pairing for an excellent dish: hake with a fermented sunchoke sauce, sunchoke puree, sunchoke gratin, Dutch shrimp, and parsnip chips. The fish was completely cooked and succulent. The mix of fish, sunchokes, and shrimp along with the wine was wonderful. This dish with wine pairing is well worthy of at the very least 2 Michelin stars.
The ultimate wine was an excellent Moscato d’Asti. A bit predictable maybe, but it surely was a superb pairing for the dessert:
A strawberry and rhubarb tartlet with rooibos meringue and ‘hangop’ (drained yogurt) sorbet.
I’ve been eating at Bussia for a very long time, and it’s wonderful how constant the standard is of meals, wine (pairings), and repair. It’s merely all the time glorious. I’ve solely written one evaluate on this weblog earlier than, which was precisely 10 years in the past. What I wrote then in regards to the high quality continues to be true right this moment. In case you are in Amsterdam, Bussia is strongly beneficial.
