In Thong Lor, in a white building near soi 4, one can't miss the "Beccofino" sign out front. Inside, you'll find a small but sleak wine bar in dark wood with black leather couches. As you enter the dining room, there's white brick and glass walls with an open oven in the middle. Much of the interior is made of copper and there is three private rooms that can be combined into one large meeting room.

Beccofino is an Italian expressionf for "fine palette" or "a gourmet". The restaurant was opened as a dream of one of the owners, Mr Angelo Rotolli, who also happens to be the executive chef. The other primary influence is another partner, Mr Kit Marshal from California whose expertise is "a wine expert". Kit is the creator of the Cruvinet, a machine that preserves wine by drawing the oxygen out of the bottle and replacing it with nitrogen, thus keeping the wine as fresh as if it were never opened. The first device of its kind now allows restauranteurs to open even the most expensive bottles to serve just one glass.

I am sure if we asked Mr Angelo what are the factors that make his restaurant different or better than most others in the area, we'd probably get a similar answer as the many Italian restaurants we have previously visited and asked the very same question. That would be: Simple and basic food with an emphasis on fresh top quality ingredients, the timing and the balance of textures and flavors but most importantly what is often left out when we ask miost quality Italian chefs this question, is the word "authenticity". Mr Angelo explains that there is nothing in his food that can't be found in Northern Italy. No tricks, just quality ingredients with proper preparation that makes all the difference. Now it was time to try some of these dishes of fine Italian cuisine. The menu was generous in size with at least 7 appetizers, 5 soups, 8 pastas, 3 risottos, 4 choices of salad, 9 types of pizza, 4 grilled meat dishes, 4 types of fish and 4 meat selections. There were four of us dining and we decided to mix and match many dishes and to each try all of them. We started with the Beccofino fancy appetizer platter for 2 at 1180 baht and chose the Summer salad with artichokes, olives, farm cheese, mozzarella and asparagus at 350 baht. Next up was the Pan-fried seabass with asparagus gratin and saffron cream sauce for 580 baht. I have to say, they got this one spot on! The fish was succulent with its crispy skin and perfectly tender meat. By the time we got to the main courses we were on our second bottle of Italian red and as expected, the selection is mostly Italian, but also includes some free world varietals. Of course, we had to try some risotto so we selected the Risotto with Porcini mushrooms and parsley at 450 baht. Our next main course was the Breaded veal Milanese with greens and a balsamic dressing at 780 baht. Our pasta dish was Fettucini with porcini mushrooms at 350 baht. We even added a pizza in the mix with toppings of Parma ham and rocket leaves at 360 baht. It was deliciously Italian with a perfect thin-crust.

Unfortunately, we had no room for dessert, but it will definitely be on our list on our return visit.

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