The Magnificent Ristorante Il Buco
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Il Buco is a mixture of elegance, ease and exquisiteness.
A Michelin Star is awarded for outstanding cooking. After eating at Ristorante Il Buco in Sorrento, it is easy to understand exactly why it obtained such high recognition. There are about 2,100 restaurants worldwide with one Michelin Star, about 400 with two stars and 100 with three stars.
We were lucky enough to not only eat at one of the best restaurants in Campania but also meet the owner and head chef Peppe Aversa and the rest of the amazing staff. Aversa considers two essential characteristics of a restaurant: quality and hospitality.
Il Buco opened in 1997, obtained its Michelin Star in 2004 and has retained it ever since.
In a group from the Sant’Anna Institute, our time at Il Buco started with a talk from Aversa. What we thought would be merely a talk about cooking and earning a Michelin star, turned into a bigger discussion about life and culture.
“Talking is food in my family,” he said when reminiscing about where his passion for cooking originated.
To Aversa, food is an experience that far surpasses our taste buds. “The table is a great place to re start the pleasure of talking together,” he said. Pepe talked about the disconnect of human contact at the table and in general, especially because of … well you guessed it, phones. By 2022 it is no surprise to anyone to hear that phones have decreased the face to face contact that humans experience daily. Sitting down and sharing a long, drawn-out, high-quality meal, especially in a restaurant like Il Buco, is the perfect way to do this.
He also taught us a lesson about consistency of quality. He said it is important when earning a Michelin Star that the food is not made different when being considered for the honor. If the food is only good when it is being observed, then the restaurant is not truly Michelin Star worthy. He related this back to how we live our own lives, especially with social media. He touched on how you can’t only put your best self forward when other people are watching in life.
Aversa wasn’t always a chef. For 11 years, Aversa worked in a bar located in Sorrento, and he traveled around the world on a merchant ship which helped him build his character di lui and what he calls ‘database.’ He said if you have a full database, then you are traveling, and if you don’t have a database, then you’re empty. Aversa values his database of him and his restaurant’s success of him represents that. At 61-years-old, he continues to stick to his family’s roots of sharing, talking and experiencing together.
Almost hidden in a downhill alley, at first glance, Il Buco is more captivating than the cuisine. The indoor and outdoor décor represents the life and traditions of the region. You can tell everything was specially picked and placed. It’s a mixture of elegance, ease and exquisiteness. Aversa said he loves to make a restaurant home-like and a place where everyone can feel pleasure in staying together.
So, what does it take to earn a Michelin Star?
- Quality of products
2. Mastery of flavor and cooking techniques
3. The personality of the chef represented in the dining experience
4. Harmony of the flavors
5. Consistency between inspectors’ visits
One of the most focused of the five criteria, like we talked about before, is consistency at Il Buco. Aversa said making something different is a big mistake. Inspectors will take turns revisiting a restaurant two to three times a year. “Quality is a system. Quality is every day.” The restaurant’s ‘I trust you menu’ is an area for a little change and an opportunity to make a new dish while sticking to its roots.
Of course, the main question one might want to know about a visit to Il Buco, how was the food? The very short answer: fantastic. Our group was served, a small grain salad topped with calamari, pasta with three types of tomato and a type of sponge cake with rum and summer fruits. All of this was paired with a fun assortment of bread and a glass of white wine.
Every ingredient tasted fresh and each dish seasoned and cooked to perfection.
Even though we just had a small taste of what the restaurant had to offer, it left us eager to come back and try more of their menu items.
If you are planning a trip to the peninsula anytime soon, be sure to make a reservation at Il Buco and be prepared for one of the best meals of your life.