Bislakko

Where Vercelli's Rice Country Meets the Plate

The Po Plain around Vercelli is one of the few places in Europe where rice has shaped not just agriculture but an entire regional identity. The paddies that flood every spring between Vercelli and Novara produce some of Italy's most prized Carnaroli and Arborio, and the city's cooking has historically been inseparable from that single ingredient. Against that backdrop, a restaurant that works risotto into both à la carte and tasting-menu formats is doing something geographically coherent, not merely fashionable. Bislakko, at Via Thaon de Revel 87, sits within that tradition while deliberately expanding beyond it: its menu spans meat, fish, and vegetarian preparations alongside the expected risotto, and it holds a Michelin Plate in both 2024 and 2025, a signal that the kitchen's consistency has cleared a recognised threshold without yet pursuing the starred tier.

A Chocolate Thread Through Country Cooking

Italian country cooking, at its most serious, is less about rusticity than about sourcing specificity. The logic is that dishes built around ingredients tied to a defined territory carry more information than technically complex preparations assembled from anonymous supply chains. In the Piedmont and Lombardy border zone around Vercelli, that means rice, freshwater fish from the rivers cutting through the plain, local meat, and seasonal vegetables from the agricultural smallholdings that still ring the city. Bislakko works within this framework, but the kitchen's most distinctive move is the way it integrates chocolate across its tasting menu format called Chocolate Passion. The concept, where chocolate appears in measured quantities through every course rather than being confined to dessert, is the kind of ingredient-led experiment that either reads as gimmick or as genuine culinary argument. The sustained Michelin recognition, alongside a 4.5-star average from 659 Google reviews, suggests the kitchen makes the argument convincingly. The restaurant's own self-description as a cioccoristoreria, a portmanteau of cioccolato and ristorante, signals that the concept is structural, not accidental. For context on how the wider Vercelli dining scene is developing, see our full Vercelli restaurants guide.

Ingredient Logic in a Rice-Growing Region

What makes Vercelli's sourcing context specific is proximity. The rice fields begin almost at the city's edge, and local producers have supplied the city's kitchens through generations of cooking. Restaurants in this part of Piedmont that take country cooking seriously are, in effect, working with one of Italy's most traceable agricultural products: short supply chains, varietal specificity (Carnaroli vs. Arborio vs. Sant'Andrea all behave differently in the pan), and a seasonal rhythm dictated by flooding and harvest calendars. A menu that gives risotto a permanent position, available both à la carte and as part of a tasting sequence, reflects a kitchen that understands its geographical asset rather than treating it as a regional obligation. The meat and fish components extend that logic outward: the Po Plain produces freshwater species, and the surrounding Piedmontese agricultural zone supplies beef, pork, and poultry that are distinct from the more heavily exported Chianina or Fassona breeds that dominate higher-profile Italian menus. At the €€ price tier, Bislakko positions itself as accessible rather than exclusive, which in a mid-sized provincial city with limited high-end competition is a commercially sensible stance. Compare the category across Piedmont's higher-end reference points and the distance is apparent: restaurants like Piazza Duomo in Alba or, further afield, Osteria Francescana in Modena and Le Calandre in Rubano occupy a different tier entirely, both in price and culinary ambition. Bislakko is not competing with those addresses. Its peer set is the credible mid-range restaurant in a regional Italian city that holds external validation and genuine repeat custom.

The Vercelli Context

Vercelli rarely appears on international food itineraries, which means the handful of restaurants that have earned external recognition carry more weight locally than they would in a denser dining city. The Michelin Plate designation, which indicates a kitchen meeting quality standards without yet reaching star level, places Bislakko in the company of other Plate-recognised trattorias and regional tables across northern Italy, a category that includes some genuinely serious cooking often overlooked in favour of starred addresses. Across Italy's northern regions, country cooking restaurants at this level have produced chefs who later moved into the starred circuit; the format itself is not a ceiling. For comparison within the country-cooking category in the broader northwestern Italian region, 21.9 in Piobesi d'Alba and Andrea Monesi - Locanda di Orta in Orta San Giulio offer useful calibration points. Within Vercelli itself, Christian & Manuel represents the modern cuisine end of the city's dining options, giving visitors a clear choice between the two dominant registers the city currently offers.

Planning a Visit

Bislakko is at Via Thaon de Revel 87 in central Vercelli, a walkable distance from the city's historic core and the cathedral. At the €€ price point, a full tasting menu sits at a level accessible to most travellers without advance budget planning. The Chocolate Passion tasting format makes a stronger case for a dedicated dinner visit than a quick lunch; risotto and a single course à la carte suits a shorter stop. Vercelli is on the Milan-Turin rail corridor, roughly 70 minutes from Milan Centrale, which makes a day or overnight trip viable for visitors based in either city. For those building a wider Vercelli stay, our full Vercelli hotels guide covers accommodation options, and our Vercelli bars guide, Vercelli wineries guide, and Vercelli experiences guide round out the picture. Travellers with broader Italian itineraries who want reference-level cooking in the north might also consider Dal Pescatore in Runate, Enrico Bartolini in Milan, Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, Uliassi in Senigallia, Quattro Passi in Marina del Cantone, Reale in Castel di Sangro, or Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler in Brunico depending on region and price tier. Booking method and hours are not currently listed publicly; contacting the restaurant directly via the address is the practical route.