October 2025

The town is one of more than a dozen up and down Lake Como in northern Italy. There are three Michelin named restaurants in Cernobbio, more than any other town on the lake has, and this restaurant is the smallest of the three. Although they open at 12:30 for lunch we were kindly allowed to show up at noon as we had to make a ferry sailing by 1:30. In the event there was no problem but we arrived punctually and the chef’s wife showed us to a corner table.

The lunch was the best meal either of us had had in a long time.

The brothers, Sossio and Daniele Perrotta and their wives with a wine expert run this small restaurant with about 12 tables which has made Michelin mention. As far as we could tell only Sossio in the kitchen and his wife out front were there while we were. They were both charming in a classy informal way. It surprised us that although we were there for an hour and a half no other lunch diners showed up.

We went for the least of three fixed menus at €65 each, the other two being mainly fish and then one which was called “surprise”. There was a full à la carte list as well and a medium-sized wine list with a few French and American bottles.

A couple of introductory items arrived, deep-fried squid ink pasta on a little stick and then a tiny cookie topped with a mousse. These were a variable-consistency bite each, lightly flavoured. The amuse-bouches were small donut-shaped bagels with a savoury green sauce. At this point three kinds of bread arrived. Our favourite was a foccacia which was soft inside with a deliciously crispy base, more like an open puff pastry than typical focaccia, packed with flavour. There was a hemisphere of brown bread, delicious buttered, and finally a walnut and taleggio muffin. These set us up for the next main course.

An egg deep-fried in a bread crust was set on a sauce of pecorino floating on a savoury roasted tomato base all sprinkled with caviar. The quantity here would have been enough for a tiny  breakfast. Opening the crust of the egg the yolk flooded the pecorino and joined up with the tomato for probably the best bites of this lovely meal. The three breads were still around to soak up the soft remnants.

Next was a celebration of wild boar. There were four raviolis containing boar sausage, surrounding a pile of “pig popcorn” in the centre which was featherlight bits of delicious roasted pig fat. There was a broccoli purée to be caught up while scooping the raviolis.

Finally there were two cubes, one a braised veal crisp on the outside, and the other an identical -sized seasoned polenta, also crisp, with enough veal reduction to keep the bites moist. A hard chocolate mound filled with creamy softness carried us away to the end of our bottle of young Sienna sangiovese.

The first two of the three mains were such comfort food mixed with the kind of thing the Michelin people look for that we were convinced: these folks really know their business. And they were so happy to describe the courses and then were kind enough to make us feel that our congratulations to them were appreciated.

About C$400 for this kind of a treat is for us worth it once in a while. I’d love to see how things would go for an evening meal with the 12 or so tables all occupied. If you’re ever near the southwest arm of Como Lake don’t miss this place.

Food 9.6, service 9.7, ambience unusual but very pleasant, value 9.3, peace and quiet 100 percent.