Il Pecorino

8.1 /10

The proper Italian trattoria every neighbourhood deserves; Van der Pek actually got one.

Il Pecorino started life as an NDSM pizza shed and grew up into a real trattoria on Van der Pekplein, two minutes from the Buiksloterweg ferry. The room is warm and handsome, arched windows, checkerboard-tiled bar, walls the colour of Chianti, and the kitchen cooks the kind of Italian food that doesn't need explaining: burrata with chilli-sautéed spinach, arrosticini fresh off the grill, house-baked bread, pasta and pizza that respect the rules. Next door sits the Bar-Bottega, open from 13:00 for aperitivo, cicchetti, pizza al taglio by the slice and shelves of olive oil and pasta to smuggle home. Open seven days a week, dinner from 17:00, and the terrace on the square is free-for-all walk-in territory. It's the local Italian answer for half of Noord, and deservedly rammed with families, dates and ferry-hoppers alike.

Start with the arrosticini di pecora, grilled sheep skewers that honour the name.

What to order

Full menu

Porchetta tradizionale€26
The house signature since they pivoted from pizza to full trattoria cooking.
Lasagne alla Bolognese€23.50
The comfort order regulars default to; rich and properly layered.
Arrosticini di pecora€10
Abruzzo sheep skewers, the pecorino in the name, taken literally.
Spaghetti neri allo scoglio€23.50
Squid-ink spaghetti with shellfish; the seafood flex on the menu.
Pizza al taglio at the Bar-Bottega
The wood-fired pizza reputation lives on next door, by the slice.