Bacco
35/1 Sukhumvit Soi 53
Bangkok 10110
Tel: 02 662 1538
Website

I had missed Sergio from his perch outside Basilico (Soi 33) where I often pop in for a quick evening feed. So I was pleased when I was told he had opened his own spot in Soi 53. It did not take me long to find myself outside the doors of this impressively sized restaurant and find myself being greeted by Sergio. I suppose it is that greeting that is the main loss that Basilico has suffered with Sergio's departure. Even when I first went there and had never met the man he always behaved as though he was pleased to see me. He is one of the better greeters around town with a slightly scruffy look, but always a broad smile. It says you are welcome and yes I am working hard to make your visit worthwhile!
Bacco is a large restaurant divided into two by the bar and pizza kitchen. The back area is somewhat quieter and it was this area that Sergio took me to. The decor is fairly basic but this is set off by some large colourful paintings that are naive - futuristic as well as a few bright modern copies of classics. It all produces that bright open look and feel that gives the typical Italian pizzeria feel to the place.
The wine list is very extensive and generally well priced, for this town, with several wines under a 1,000 Baht. As a result of this pricing I decided on slightly better wine and ordered a bottle of Gavi. I later had a Sicilian red at Sergio's recommendation.
I had no sooner picked up the stiff card menus than I was reminded of Basilico; this was, of course, set up by Sergio but there the similarity ended. I was particularly interested to see pizza variations in the form of panzerotti (4 options), piada (5), and cassoni (4). They are all slightly different and I did try a few which were first rate: a kind of pizza sandwich with nice warm bread. The great advantage is the dough is so thin in piada al crudo that the Parma ham tasted, and the unlikely stracchino e ruccola (cheese and rocket) really worked well, which I doubt it would have done between two slabs of normal bread. I had these because the enthusiastic Sergio took on the job of ordering the starters and what a feast we had!
After the very pleasant selection of panzerotti, piada, and cassoni we were treated to a plate of Sergio's favourite antipasto dishes. We had six dishes including a little nicely pink goose liver with a raspberry sauce, slices of Italian sausage, a large mussel enveloped in tomato sauce, parma ham with melon, a small edible cheese basket filled with rocket, and finally tuna tartar that had pomelo in it. They all were good and the pomelo (Thai grapefruit style fruit) in the tuna tartar was a new idea for me and worked well. Okay, Sergio was on the case and he was making certain that what we had was first class but nothing took very long which suggests the kitchen has all these dishes covered and knows what to do.
For mains we were feeling slightly bloated after Sergio's starter feast and I shied away from the more substantial offerings of steaks and chops and all kinds of grills and settled on Involtino al san Daniele (roasted chicken breast with ham). I gave the order to a waiter and seconds later Sergio was back. I was not allowed chicken because Sergio cannot find good chicken in Thailand. Plenty of chicken he said but none that was good. In other words no nice corn fed fat chicken from Bresse. So I had duck a la orange instead. On proved who the real trencherman was and demanded a tenderloin. My duck tasted good and was presented nicely on mash with sauce and a ramekin portion of spinach; the garnish was three segments of orange. On’s steak has a similarly sparse presentation and she declined a sauce. The mains were, taste wise, well up to standard even if they did not have the arty tarty bits that high end restaurants tend to spend time and effort delivering.
Sergio told me he was keen to make Bacco primarily a restaurant, unlike Basilico which is mainly a pizza parlour. He does still own a sizable chunk of Basilico and does not want to compete head on. Well, on greeting alone, he is way ahead of them, and yes Bacco's food is much better. It is first class fare without the frills: white table clothes, and fancy garnishes. I shall undoubtedly go back.