<a target="_blank" href="https://www.exvitt.it/en/sorrento_bosquet-restaurant_E.html">Terrazza
Bosquet</a>Grand Hotel Excelsior VittoriaPiazza Torquato Tasso, 3480067 Sorrento, NATel. +39 081 877 7836

BY IAN D'AGATA | OCTOBER 04, 2019The Food:

Gillardeau
oyster, fondo marino, yogurt sphere,
iced powder made of Gin Mare and tonic (Ostrica
Gillardeau, fondo marino, limone e polvere ghiacciata al Gin Mare e tonica)

Sea
and land egg: Fried yolk, oil meringue, bottarga,
bacon, peppers, shallot (Uovo mare terra:
Tuorlo fritto, meringa all’olio, bottarga di muggine, pancetta e insalatina di
fave e cipolla)

Terra
mater: Sorrento lemon tagliolini, anchovies and anchovy extract, snap peas,
thyme (Terra mater: Tagliolini al limone
di Sorrento, alici e colatura, taccole e timo)

Tribute
to Pollock: Pasta with smoked potatoes, chives, caviar (Omaggio a Pollock: Pasta, patate, caviale)

This
is my way: Turbot, pine nut froth, tomato, parsley froth (Così è: rombo, spuma di pinoli, pomodoro, pesto di prezzemolo)

Sorbet
of lemon, herbs, green&nbsp;apple and celery (Sorbetto
alle erbe acidule, mela verde e sedano)

Sorrento
lemon Fantastique 1.3: Lemon, almond, yogurt, lemon balm (Fantastique di limoni di Sorrento 1.3: limone, mandorle, yogurt e
melissa)

The Wines:

<table>
 <tbody><tr>
 <td>2013
 Perillo Coda di Volpe Irpinia</td>
 <td class="wysiwyg-text-align-right">92</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>1983 Bernhard Jakoby Erdener
 Busslay Riesling Spatlese&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
 <td class="wysiwyg-text-align-right">91</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>2015 Miani Sauvignon Friuli
 Colli Orientali Zitelle</td>
 <td class="wysiwyg-text-align-right">92</td>
 </tr></tbody></table> <img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1570201174693-tuorlo+fritto_copy.jpg"> Sea and land egg: Fried yolk, oil meringue,&nbsp;bottarga, bacon, peppers, shallot 

I
have previously written about another restaurant in the&nbsp;Hotel Excelsior Vittoria a Sorrento, the highly enjoyable <a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/vinous-table-terrazza-vittoria-sorrento-italy-sep-2018">Terrazza
Vittoria</a>, whose easygoing dishes, very good wine list and magical outdoor
setting make for a truly ideal lunch spot. By contrast, the Terrazza Bosquet is
the hotel’s gourmet restaurant, characterized by much more intimate and
personal cuisine served in just as magical a setting thanks to the wonderful
terrace overlooking the Bay of Sorrento and Mount Vesuvius in the distance. The
wine list is bigger and deeper than Terrazza Vittoria’s, so there’s plenty to
like, though my most recent visit left me with some question marks.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1570201211679-lemon++anchovy+pasta_copy.jpg"> Terra mater: Sorrento lemon tagliolini, anchovies and anchovy extract, snap peas, thyme&nbsp; 

Sorrento
is truly a lovely city and an unforgettable vacation spot, provided you avoid
going in peak season, when the place is literally overrun with tourists. I find
it especially nice that for such a touristy hot spot, Sorrento offers varied
dining possibilities, ranging from the decent to the outstanding, and one
gorgeous hotel after another where you can rest and relax. Among these, the
Hotel Excelsior Vittoria is one of the most beautiful and storied. The ruins of
one of Emperor Augustus’s villas are said to lie beneath the hotel, so this is
a pretty unique place to put your feet up and recharge your batteries. The
hotel boasts 180 years of history and is owned by the Fiorentino family,
now in its fifth generation at the helm (Guido Fiorentino is also a member of
the Executive Committee of the Leading Hotels of the World). It has seen its share of megastars and famous
visitors, including Richard Wagner,&nbsp;Marilyn
Monroe,&nbsp;Sophia
Loren,&nbsp;Jack
Lemmon&nbsp;and&nbsp;Luciano Pavarotti
(to whom a suite is dedicated). More importantly, the Excelsior
Vittoria was a favorite haunt of tenor Enrico Caruso, who stayed numerous times
in the suite that now bears his name (and where Italian pop singer Lucio Dalla
also stayed; it was at the hotel piano that he began composing his hit song
“Caruso”).<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1570201845114-The+bread+rolling+cart_copy.jpg"> The rolling bread cart

The hotel offers a number
of different dining possibilities. At Terrazza Bosquet, come summertime, guests
can eat on a beautiful terrace boasting a sublime view, especially at sunset.
However, be warned that in colder weather (which might mean even late April),
the terrace is eschewed in favor of indoor seating in an undoubtedly refined
room with large windows but one that I personally find too cramped, narrow and
not especially warm. Not that it’s a bad restaurant dining room setting; it’s
just that the inside space cannot begin to compare with the terrace, which is
one of Terrazza Bosquet’s major attractions. Service is first-rate but a little
overbearing at times; for example, I found the insistence on not allowing my
guest’s handbag to sit on the floor a nice thought, if it weren’t for the fact
that the maître could offer nothing
better than to twist and tie the leather handles of the Céline bucket so that
it would hang from a table hook to avoid touching the floor. I would imagine
they have heard of taborets (tabourets,
in French) at such an elegant dining establishment; in any case, and rather
understandably, my companion was less than impressed.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1570201908662-turbot_copy.jpg"> This is my way: Turbot, pine nut froth, tomato, parsley froth 

Like the distinguo that must necessarily be made
between the restaurant’s different dining areas and the at times too fastidious
but well-meaning service, the food at Terrazza Bosquet is also not exactly a straightforward
issue. Young chef
Antonino Montefusco, in his early 30s, is undoubtedly talented and has trained
with a star-studded cast of chefs over the years: Philippe
Chevrier (two Michelin stars at the&nbsp;Domaine de Chateauvieux&nbsp;in Switzerland), Heinz Beck of Rome’s
three-star Pergola,&nbsp;Pino Lavarra&nbsp;at
Rossellini’s and still other famous names. He first began working at Terrazza
Bosquet in 2014, and after stops and starts took over as Executive Chef in
2016, when Luigi Tramontano moved on. Montefusco’s cuisine is intimate and intellectual,
and though he is very adept at extracting flavor from the ingredients he uses,
not all the dishes he conjures up are immediately easy to grasp in their
essence and vision. Still, I ate very well on my last visit. The bread basket
(actually a rolling cart) is one of the best I have ever come across in my
Italian dining peregrinations. The fried yolk and the lemon tagliolini also
proved very satisfying and enjoyable.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1570201917514-sorbet_copy.jpg"> Sorbet of lemon, herbs, green apple and celery Certainly, nobody risks
going thirsty at Terrazza Bosquet. The wine list offers an outstanding lineup
of choices ranging from many Campanian wines to well-known estates from all
over the world. In this respect, everybody seems to have a good time; for
example, tables next to mine crammed with wealthy tourists and families were
enjoying bottles of Gaja and Quintarelli. Personally, I usually opt for
slightly lighter-styled, highly precise wines with the cuisine of the Sorrento
coast. The 2013 Perillo Coda di Volpe Irpinia with which I started my meal is one of Italy’s most underrated whites.
Lemony, herbal and mineral, it ages extremely well and is a testament not just
to Perillo’s talents but also to the nobility of this underappreciated variety
that lives in the shadow of the more famous Fiano and Greco. I have always
greatly enjoyed the 1983 vintage in the Mosel, which, though not brilliant in
its noble rot presence, gave us some of the purest and longest-lived German
beauties I have memory of. And so it is with the delicious 1983 Bernhard Jakoby Erdener Busslay Riesling Spatlese, a wine of
considerable ferne (a German word
relating to the richness in aromas and flavors brought on by age) and, at
almost 40 years of age, still endowed with a remarkable hint of sweetness and
Erdener power (if not quite at the level of say, the Erdener Treppchen). A
delicious cocktail of lemon verbena, jasmine, liquid rocks, lime and diesel
fuel, this beauty is still quite young, if you can believe it. I closed off my
night’s libations with the 2015 Miani
Sauvignon Friuli Colli Orientali Zitelle, a more medium-bodied, less powerfully
intense style of white wine from Miani that, no doubt thanks also to the warm
year, has been highly enjoyable since day one (meaning pretty much upon release).
Clearly not the most explosive of Miani’s Sauvignon Blancs, the 2015 delivers
lively varietal accuracy and easygoing aromas and flavors of green fig,
grapefruit and sage.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1570201935097-lemion+fantastique+before_Copy.jpg"> Sorrento lemon Fantastique 1.3: Lemon, almond, yogurt, lemon balm When all is said and done,
Terrazza Bosquet offers a lovely dining experience. I’m not sure I’d return
again and again, but the magnificent view from the terrace is reason enough to
go at least once and take in the perfumes, the flavors and the sights of
Sorrento’s (and Terrazza Bosquet’s) magical atmosphere. <img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1570201945299-da+wines_copy.jpg">

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