Jam-less

The city of Bergamo, despite the solemn impression it initially gives, has a surprisingly vibrant nightlife. On a Friday evening, the many pedestrian zones of Città Bassa get crowded with people of all ages, who fill all the cafés and bars and stand in large groups outside, drinking, chatting and laughing. Fortunately or unfortunately, this was exactly the evening when, having returned from the Old City – where I had had a fantastic dinner just a couple of hours earlier – I suddenly felt a strong urge of trying Bergamo’s version of a Brettljause. After all, it was my last evening in the city, and Salumi e formaggi were mentioned as one of the main delicacies of the region (and truly, the menus of almost all Italian restaurants in the city have it).

With the clock approaching 11 p.m., a bistro a couple of hundred meters from my hotel was my first choice, but the crowd around the entrance was so dense that I feared I would not be able to get to the doors, let alone find a table inside. The same problem was with a restaurant on the next street. The cafés on the main square were not crowded but did not have a single empty table outside. Thus, step by step I was getting further and further away from the hotel while the streets were becoming narrower and darker. Finally I had luck, finding not one but two eateries facing each other and both offering cold cuts: a tiny café with four plastic tables outside (one was still free) and a bar/restaurant Botanico, offering sushi and pizza – which is very suspicious combination for me – but definitely looking better.

By that time, it was almost midnight and certainly too late for a meal, so when the “Local cured meats and cheeses served with jams” turned out to be a pretty small dish, I was quite relieved at first. The initial happiness evaporated, however, when I realized that “the cheeses” were in fact one type of cheese, and the “meats” consisted of mortadella and prosciutto, both presented in a highly unappetizing manner. Instead of bread, Botanico served a few cold slices of pizza crust and there were no jams in sight at all.

The cheese was the best part of this “Jause”, confirming my earlier impression that the Bergamo region may be proud of its cured meats, but has a cheese culture that is much more developed and interesting. The mortadella was edible, though I have never been a fan of its taste. The prosciutto, on the other hand, was almost tortuous to eat, constantly sticking between my teeth and resisting to be swallowed. Fortunately, I had beer to help me, and it was definitely the best part of my experience.

Bergamo is a fantastic city, and I am quite sure one can find great Italian Brettljausen in it, but one needs to do a bit of research before and not choose restaurants based on free tables alone. Having said that, I can still believe that pizzas and even sushi at Botanico are good.