Buca, Toronto, Canada - 09/20/2012

I went to Buca five days after coming back from Rome. My rusty Italian was still in good shape, therefore communicating with our Italian waiter half in English, half in Italian was definitely the way to go. He was somewhat sarcastic, but very funny and knowledgeable. I was very happy that we had him on that night to give us a true Italian experience.

Buca is a gorgeous restaurant. It feels odd to be in a basement with ultra high ceilings, but it works so well. The texture of the walls vary a lot. The have kept the oldness of the previous "establishment" and have added modern touches to the place. Their light fixtures are grand and beautiful.

We were a party of four and we shared the appetizers. It was very yummy and well presented. I am picky and I have to say that these guys know how to cook good food. Deep fried gnocchi, prosciutto with melon, and salmon sashimi. Simple but delicious.

Deep Fried Gnocchi with lardo

Prosciutto with Melon 

Salmon Sashimi

I had duck ravioli with fois gras as main. It was a tiny dish (see picture) but it was extremely rich. Every bite I took expanded throughout my mouth as an explosion. The flavours were beautiful and well put together. I wanted to eat more because it was so good, but I felt satisfied. I paired my main with a glass of chianti classico.

Duck Ravioli

We did ask for dessert this time. Two of us had some interesting flavours of gelato. Think of lavender and basil (which I tried and they were very good). I was very adventurous on that night and I opted for sharing one of their exotic desserts (which I cannot remember the name- my bad, but when blood pudding is mixed with chocolate anything can happen, including amnesia). The issue is that we hated our dessert and we ended up not eating it. The good part is that our server was kind enough to remove the dessert from our bill.

The crowd age was between 25-45. Well dressed patrons, the usual King West folks, you probably know the drill.

The bill was okay for the quality of the food we had, although I had to mention that their wines are on the expensive side.