U Locale — Restaurant in Buccheri

On Monday Tom and I meandered over to San Giacomo, which is about an hour and a half south of Mineo. We were going to stay a couple of nights there with Liz and Greg. Greg is very old friend of mine but I had lost contact with him after he had spent many years running 6 Star Resorts in Fiji. Liz and Greg run a rather stunning B&B nearby called 'Casa Iside'. The name derives from Liz's boat 'Isis' which had been her home for twenty years or so.

After selling the boat Liz bought and 'renovated' (an understatement of the highest order) an old house in an overgrown olive grove. Kevin McCloud would have been right in his element describing the Herculean task of completing this project. But complete it she did. A pretty neat achievement for someone who had never renovated before AND who spoke no Italian. Now it is a credit to both of them and the many 5 Star reviews on TripAdvisor are testament to their efforts.

Afternoon lunch by the pool and then a trip to Buccheri for dinner at a very unique restaurant called Osteria U Locale run by two brothers, Sebastiano and Pipo. What a sensational place. We ordered a mixed antipasto for starters and then a variety of selections for mains. Wine, as is our habit, was simply 'Vino Rosso della Casa. When the antipasto arrived it looked like they had cleaned out their larder. There were dishes of every conceivable variety and my immediate concern was 'how the hell are we going to eat all this' and secondly will we collectively have enough money to pay for it. Anyway to cut a long story short we got through everything and the food was exquisite. To top off the night there were a couple of 'digestivi' on the house. The place was not very busy and the brothers spent a lot of time at our table talking about their attitude to food and life in general. They were real characters in the nicest possible way. A FABULOUS night. When the tab arrived it was incredibly...

I give it a two because I happened to be in the town of Buccheri visiting and wanted to grab a meal before going on with my sight seeing. I must add that I happened to be with my staffie Libra at the time. I walked into the restaurant and before I could open my mouth to ask if they were serving I was stopped by an individual who quickly pointed to my dog and said that animals were not welcome. Needless to say, I turned around and walked out and they will never see me again. I would like to add that it was a Monday and there wasn't a soul seated in the restaurant. Any place that doesn't allow domestic animals is...

Che dire ..... Non siamo abituati a sparare sentenze ,ma diventa doveroso puntualizzare certi argomenti. Ci siamo ritrovati a pranzare in questo locale,dopo tanti anni ci siamo ritornati e si pensava che ritornandoci sarebbe stata un ottima esperienza. Parliamo di Giuseppe...caro mio non sarebbe male approcciarsi al cliente con un po' più di umiltà, non bisogna essere per forza"so tutto IO"spesso rendere il cliente protagonista non è un male ma anzi un valore aggiunti, da chi fa il mestiere dell accoglienza,capiamo la stanchezza e le frustrazioni che porta questo determinato mestiere ma ciò non toglie che alla fine, il cliente se educato ha il bisogno un po' d essere cullato e questo ,noi non l abbiamo per niente sentito,e tanto meno recepito. Non parliamo l'uso della pseudo baguette di scarsa fattezza"ard discount"quando si poteva usare dell ottimo pane locale ,per fare il crostone. Ai funghi "Champignon" Una manciata di rucola della busta presa e buttata lì sul piatto con pecorino ai 3 latte,che di tutto sapeva tranne che di formaggio ,quando alle porte del paese ,nelle campagne vicine ci sono fattorie dove il formaggio lo realizzano come Dio comanda. La salsiccia ....Giuseppe la salsicciaa.NON PERVENUTA. In fine l olio con la aria condizionata,...... Olio di Ferla/Giarratana ,ma come si fa ad non usare olio del luogo L OLIO DI BUCCHERI i miei avi sarebbero davvero arrabbiati a sapere ciò. Saluto con affetto ed un forte abbraccio a tutto il paese di Buccheri PS non tutti i catanesi sono "VASTASI" ne tanto meno i Piemontesi questo lo...