Il Moro | Monza (IT)

Dishes with just a few ingredients, all treated with respect and each telling the story.
A wonderful Sicilian story with clear Mediterranean traditions.

Restaurant Il Moro is located in the heart of the city centre of Monza (Italy) not far from Milan in the North of Italy. An elegant and at the same time, cordial and welcoming environment, embellished by a refined decor, characterised by a white tone, which creates a friendly atmosphere.

Vincenzo, Salvatore and Antonella Butticè are three siblings, born and raised on Sicily. They started of with a career in catering. At first from the small family farm in Raffadali on the island of Sicily, but soon they set off for the peninsula. Taking them from Naples to Versilia, from Piedmont to Valle d’Aosta, a stint in Sardinia and finaly they settled down in Monza. Here, always united like the three musketeers, they opened restaurant Il Moro in 1996. Both brothers are chefs in the kitchen and Antonella takes care of the front of house.

Il Moro is open 6 days a week for lunch and dinner and is closed on Monday. Beside à la carte and a Business Lunch Menu (1-course at €18 and 2-courses at €30), they also offer a 4-course set menu (at €60) and 2 tasting menu’s. A 7-course Sicilian Experience Menu (at €77) and a 7-course Il Contemporaneo Menu (at €86). The first tasting menu being more traditional Sicilian and the later more contemporary.

We had dinner on a week day about a month ago and choose the 7-course Il Contemporaneo Menu.

First set of amuse bouches. Nice foamy cream from the parsnip. Flavoursome little bite. Arancini was okay.

And a few more tastes of the chef followed. A chickpea cube on the spoon, a piece of pizza and a little cracker with butter, raspberry and pistachio.

Pistachio crème, with corn crisps and caviar. Saltiness of the caviar bursting through the creamy pistachio with the crunch of the corn. Delicious first course.

Nice fresh oyster with almond cream. Nuttiness with the taste of the sea. Beautiful. Quite a small portion though. Just wanted more of it!

Broccoli flavoured with the fish. Great flavour and taste. Nice surprise inside with the salty tuna fish eggs. Tuna Bottarga is basically compressed and dehydrated tuna fish eggs which is then grated. Whole dish was light yet full in flavour.

The next course was a pasta dish. Unfortunately we found a hair in one of our dishes. They quickly took both our plates away and apologised deeply. It came probably from the waiting staff while serving it. These things can happen and it’s all about how they deal with it. And they did well. They offered us an additional dish (from the other menu) and later the chef also came at the table to apologise again.
The extra dish was a joy to eat. Perfect, creamy saffron risotto. deep earthy ocean flavour of the sea urchin. Beautiful traditional Sicilian dish.

Then we got the pasta dish. The spaghetti really al dente (just a bit too hard for me) Wild garlic was nice and subtle. Salty sea bream tartare. Just clean tastes in this dish.

After that we were served another complementary bite from the chef. A large piece of paccheri pasta with oh so fresh langoustine. Simple, but so honest. Love it.

Perfectly cooked male lobster with tomato, red onion, vanilla crème and lobster ice cream.

Duck was nice and pink, with a little bit of white chocolate, fresh apple and potato. Comforting yet interesting flavour combination. Acidity of the apple and orange lifting the dish up. Harmonious dish with individual elements still clearly tastable.

Nice palate cleanser with orange and blueberry. Soy cream, coconut and kiwi.

This dessert is on the menu as Dedica alla nostra terra: il pistacchio e il mandarino (Dedication to our heritage: pistachio and mandarin). Pistachio di Bronte, also known as the emerald of Sicily was the leading star of the dessert. Pistachio ice cream, mandarin sorbet, raspberry cream and pistachio biscuit.

With our coffees, we were served a variety of sweet deliciousness. A little pistachio macaron, an orange bonbon, a mascarpone with raspberry bite and some canelés. It left us truly satisfied.

A great dinner with a strong Sicilian signature. Stars of the evening were the oyster and the saffron risotto with sea urchin. Such intense flavours. Couldn’t really fault any of the dishes and enjoyed them all.

Service was pleasant and attentive. Antonella Butticè and her team serve the dishes with style and extensive explanation of what you are about to enjoy. Antonella herself likes to upsell and can be a bit persistent, which is fine but as long as you know when to stop and guest don’t feel pressured.

It’s nice to see the chefs coming out of the kitchen to greet the guests and inquire about the food with genuine interest. The chefs are clearly very proud of what they do. And so they should be. Dishes with just a few ingredients, all treated with respect and each telling the story. A wonderful Sicilian story with clear Mediterranean traditions.