Rue Saint-Jacques is transformed into a real gourmet Little Italy. After the no-frills canteen Cucina Popolare, Bruno and Sophie (AKA So) decided to open three other addresses in the same street: Rocco Cantina, the delicatessen Bruno e Sofia, and the future trattoria Rosa which will be born on the first quarter 2025. We'll give you the introductions.
Imagine a street in Lille qui is full of addresses where Italian cuisine is available in all its forms. Or The hardest part is choosing which spot to go to to take your taste buds on a journey to the boot of Europe.
What if we told you that you no longer have to imagine? Because this path to Italy is very real: it is rue Saint-Jacques in Old Lille. At the start, there was just Papa Raffaele (and Papa Posto 50 meters further) of Martin and Charly. And then Bruno and Sophie (the future ex-managers of the Giulietta bar) decided to set up their popular canteen Cucina Popolare in 2023 with their Florentine chef Massimo, already having the idea of increasingly Italianizing the street, “without entering into competition with Papa Raéffaele who keeps control over the pizzasassures the Old Lille resident. We want to be like a small Italian village.“
This has now been done since the end of 2024. The passionate couple from the Mediterranean country (Bruno is Italian through his mother) has opened two new addresses and a third is due to open in the first quarter of 2025.
The Rocco Cantina
Let's start with Rocco, the restaurant located at number 15 rue Saint-Jacques. It opened at the beginning of November first in an aperitivo format, with boards, burratas and bruschettas and a wide drinks menu with different spritzes at €6.50 and €10, cocktails, Italian and French wines, local beers, a panel of spirits from the four corners of the world, etc.
And recently, we can also eat homemade dishes there.Franco-Italian but especially Italian“noon and evening (except Sunday evening). For example, we have mafaldine with truffle, rigatoni with butternut cream, lasagna Bolognese, ravioli with porcini mushrooms and ricotta, chicken with gorgonzola or even from Burgundy to Italian, for prices ranging from €14 to €17, not to mention the tiramisus. “The menu will change regularly, once we get used to it“, predicts Sophie. We will show you all this as soon as we have tested it.
???? Open Monday from noon to 5 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday from noon to 2:30 p.m. and from 5:30 p.m. to midnight, Thursday and Friday until 2 a.m., Saturday from noon to 2 a.m. and Sunday at noon
L'épicerie fine Bruno and Sofia
The couple thought of everything. In addition to enjoying Massimo's cuisine (which offers dishes from Cucina Popolare to take away), you can also bring home products from Italy thanks to the Bruno and Sofia delicatessen which opened at the beginning of December at number 17 bis of the street.
There is a wide variety of artisanal panettone at €30 or a slice at €4.50 (traditional or with amaretto, choco brownie, limoncello, etc.). But also pasta from Puglia, olive oils, tomato sauces, nougat, aperitif cakes, spreads and even Italian wines like Chianti classico (Tuscan wine).
???? Open Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The future Rosa trattoria
For this last address, which is located in the middle of the other two, you will have to wait a little. “We plan to open in the first quarter of 2025 but we cannot yet announce a date“, teases Bruno who has been working on this project for 5 years. And unlike his sister the Rocco Cantina, in the future trattoria Rosa, we will only offer 100% Italian dishes, with for example Sicilian couscous (with fish) or more octopus.In summer, we will install two large terraces for the two restaurants“, predicts Bruno.
Between the couple's three restaurants, as we told you, the hardest part will be choosing.
