Cicchetti - Manchester

Unlike swathes of my friends, peers and fellow mancunions, I had yet to have eaten at Cicchetti, the latest (though not that new now! Get with the times etc! - ed) offering from the San Carlo group.

Part laziness, part skintness and part 'every-time-I-go-in-the-service-is-appalling-and-I-leave-before-I'm-seated-ness', has kept me away. Till now. Because we were very hungry and mother was paying.

Packed, even on a rainy mid-week lunchtime, we were asked to wait at the bar; we ordered a coffee, we watched the world pass and this time, we were treated with impeccable service. The relaxed opulence, the hurry-scurrying of the waiters and the fact everyone seemed to either be speaking in Italian (staff) or to be extremely tanned (well-heeled customers), made us feel 'like us on us 'olidays, in Italy, like.'



Buzzy, busy - Cicchetti at lunchtime

 

Capricious menu

Cicchetti's premise and inspiration, is the cicchetti bars of Venice; where small plates are brought out with drinks, tapas style. The menu is quite vast and I could have happily eaten most of the dishes on there – however we were advised that five between two would probably satisfy (and they were correct, pudding was noted to have 'pushed us over.' Mother was smug, she didn't eat pudding).

Despite sitting in an Italian restaurant and feeling rather continental, Mother and I bickered in the most British of fashions, suggesting dishes and immediately deprecating said suggestion in favour for anything the other suggested. Luckily I went back five days later and ordered all the dishes I'd conceded.

In the end we settled on the Goat Ragu (this month’s special), a meaty, soft, delicate and satisfying dish with some of the best pasta I’ve eaten (family gossip, my little brother has started making his own pasta) and the best dish of the day (we may not have agreed on which dishes to order, but we both agreed on this important fact).

We also chose the buffalo mozzarella with tomato; a very small dish, but the sheer amount of flavour, seasoning and quality made up for it. There were butterflied sardines on toast with a caper and roasted tomato sauce, more capers were needed in my opinion, but Mother was happy as she hates them (this was a dish she had conceded to me, her special spoiled princess).

We also ordered the duck and apple salad, expecting more apple than duck, a la everywhere else I’ve ever eaten. Instead we were confronted by what must have been at least a quarter of a duck; super soft and sweet, with peppery rocket and fine slices of sharp apple to cut through the buttery meat.

And then there was the dish of green beans. This could be construed as a boring choice, actually it was my attempt to inject something healthy into the meal. The beans may have been green, but I would guess that at least 200g of butter had been melted over the top of 100g of beans. This is how beans should always be served. Take note.

Quick aside - run down on the dishes I order five days later minus mother, plus friend who I practically bullied into these choices:
1. Terra board - the creamiest, dreamiest mozzarella scattered with slices of charcuterie.
2. Calamari - my 'kitchen competency test' - just cooked, the sweet squid was encased in the lightest, well seasoned batter.
3. Courgette 'chips' - see beans above. Everything that applies to them applies to this dish.
4. Mushroom pizza - anywhere else this would be an amazing dish, but with everything else on the table, this was obscured.
5. Dolce cicchetti - a big board full of puddings, great for sharing, not a patch on affagato (see below).



Full, satisfied and utterly charmed by our waiter, we finished on coffee – well Mother did, I had the affagato, because coffee is always better when it super strong, poured over ice cream and finished with a good kick of amaretto.

Cicchetti’s a rare place where you can either order a quick, small plate for one at lunch (sit at the bar, listen to the waiters, pretend you’re in Venice and have sunny fantasises before heading back to the office) or sit down for hours, order plate after plate of inspired, brilliantly cooked food and share them with sunny laughter, gossip, wine and friends – and anything in between.


I'm not sure why I stayed away for so long!

Price for five small dishes, two glasses of wine, two coffees and one pudding – £53.35

 
Food – 9/10
Service – 9/10
Atmosphere – 9/10
Value for money – 8/10

Go again – see above. Yes, yes, YES!

Cicchetti, House of Fraser Ground Floor (private entrance off King Street West), Deansgate, Manchester M3 2QG - 0161 839 2233 - cicchetti.kendals@sancarlo.co.uk - Facebook - Twitter

www.sancarlocicchetti.co.uk

Tomato, meatball and fennel pasta recipe

This is one of those recipes  that you can whip up pretty quickly and it looks like you've spent a good old bit of time in the kitchen carefully blending ingredients to make something hearty and warming. If you're a bit of a cad you can reinforce the lie by listing off a long list of ingredients you obviously used and leaving herb jars out on the side, or you can just 'fess up and have people gasp at your kitchen ingenuity - I mean, Nigella's made a career from cutting corners, so why can't you?

Easy balls...

The meatballs in this recipe need to be top notch, so buy the best sausages you can afford and make sure they have a high meat content - you can afford to pay a bit more as the sausages stretch quite far prepared in this way. Go for free range/organic, as at least you know the piggies have had a good life before being mercilessly slaughtered for you the benefit of your tummy - after all, pigs are more intelligent than dogs and suffer shamefully in an intensive system (enough preaching now).

As expressed in previous blog posts, I can't survive without tomatoes, so when my ethical wranglings are too much for me to buy imported fresh ones, I satisfy my cravings at this time of year with tons of tinned toms.

I'm a little obsessed with fennel at the moment, but it's the one thing that makes this everyday dish a little unusual, leaving people puzzling to put their finger on what that floral, aniseedy backnote is. Including the fennel lightens the dish and means you can pair this with a mouthy white as well as a lighter red. Or both, if you want to drink that much...

Tomato, Meatball and Fennel Pasta

Serves two - Prep 10 min - Cook 25 min

Ingredients

 - 4 high meat content free range/organic sausages
 - 1 tsp of fennel seeds
 - 1 smallish onion, finely chopped
 - 2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
 - 1/2 red pepper, finely diced
 - 100g mushrooms, finely sliced
 - 1 tsp tomato puree
 - 1 x 400g chopped tomatoes
 - Salt and freshly ground pepper
 - 1/2 tsp sugar
 - Olive oil for cooking
 - 150g pasta of your choice

Method

1. Make sure your sausages are at room temp. Taking each sausage one at a time, squeeze out the sausage meat from the casing in three separate amounts; squeeze each bit of the sausage in to a small ball. Repeat with eat sausage.

2. Put a pan on to medium high heat and once hot fry the sausage balls until brown on the outside, but not cooked all the way through - you won't need to add any oil to the pan as enough will come out of the sausages. You'll need to fry the balls in batches, to make sure they fry and don't just steam. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Browned balls

3. Turn the heat down and in the same pan (don't wipe it out!) add the the fennel seeds and cook for  30 seconds until they become fragrant; then soften the onions and after three minutes, add the garlic and soften - keep stirring/turn heat down to make sure these don't catch or they will introduce a bitter note to the dish.

4. Once the garlic and onion has softened, add the pepper and the mushrooms and cook for a couple of minutes until they start to soften.

5. Add the tomato puree and the tomatoes, turn the heat up and add the sausage balls to the pan. Keep this blipping away on a medium heat as you boil a kettle for the pasta.

6. Put the water in a large pan, salt it and once to comes to a rolling boil, add the pasta and cook to the instructions.

7. Whist the pasts is cooking, check the seasoning on the sauce and keep it blipping away. Sometimes I add a dash of worcester sauce if I feel lacks a bit of flavour.

8. Drain the pasta, plate and add the sauce on top to raptuous applause (whilst you hide the sausage packet!).

NB thism sauce can also be used as a filling for lasgne, to have with potatoes, to accompany veg etc etc - it's not just for pasta!



Sneak Preview! Italia, Manchester

Italia? Is that a new restaurant? Well technically it's ancient, as old as the modern Manchester dining scene, as old as the manky hotdogs in the window of the hotdog cart on Market Street and nearly as old as the hills themselves...

So what's all this about a sneak preview? Italia, or Rustica as it has been known over the years, has been trading at the top of Deansgate since 1977, when the UK's perception of high class Italian cuisine and sophistication was a thick based pizza and an overly creamy lasagna. Unfortunately as tastes changed Rustica didn't, still churning out those solid, staid staples to an ever ageing/dwindling clientele; that is until Fraco Sogitu, the guy behind Solita, stepped in.

Rebranded back to its original name (it opened as Pizzaria Italia), Italia aims to make take proper Italian food and deliver it Manchester, whilst keeping traditional staples (albeit with a little twist/taking the recipes back to their proper Italian versions) and doing it all at a price that is accessible to everyone. So here we have Carbonara minus cream and bolognase with tagliatelle/ragu (see, they know what they're doing).

Located in a building that’s earmarked for ‘development’ (ie bulldozing), Franco hasn’t pumped millions of pounds in to a glitzy face lift or hired in a celebrity chef from Milan to transform the menu – indeed many of the original 70’s fittings are still there – instead he’s given it a kick up the arse to create a laid back, true to its roots place that uses the best quality and regional ingredients to create dishes us Northern folk would label 'proper tasty.'

Original 70s dessert trolley (don't worry, the pudding is freshly made)

A plate of mixed bruschetta to start with – pear and gorgonzola a sure fire favourite for its sweet and tangy contrasts; smoked mozzarella and anchovy worked exceptionally well and lardo (cured pork fat) was a lighter, tastier version of bone marrow on toast.

Lots of bruschetta for my little tummy to contend with

Next were risottos – both cooked properly al dente (unlike most of the manky, soggy crap you get in Manchester). The butternut squash and fontina-full Invorno; light, silky, sweet and given an extra taste/texture dimension with the inclusion of crushed amoretti – inspired, but I could only eat a small portion. And the yet unnamed simple, yet stunning (although still slightly too cheesy) caviar risotto, made with farmed sturgeon from France (yes I thought it was impossible too); this will eventually appear on the specials menu when they’ve finished tweaking those cheese levels.

Carrying on with the rice and cheese, we literally pulled apart the Suppli al Telefonica – pillowy soft rice and mozzarella sticks, covered in a light breadcrumbs and fried – I guess these will be my downfall one day; when they cut me open they will be pulling out big strings of mozzarella from these (that’s how this dish gets its name – telephone wires).

Suppli al telephonica served on a bed of kick ass tomato sauce to cut through the cheese

Dish of the night was gnocchi coda di bue brasta (gnocchi baked with oxtail) –I haven’t had such light as cloud gnocchi like these since I was last in Italy and being cooked for by my Dad’s friend’s Nonna (she's amazing, but pretty scary). Beefy and thick; softly, softly rich; comforting and delicious…drooling just thinking about it.

Food porn - seriously - just go order this now

There’s an inka grill installed at Italia (like Solita) and Franco was determined to show it off – three large tiger prawns with nothing more on them than the charred skins on their back – they didn’t need anything as the succulent woody char they picked up from this ingenious (and expensive) bit of kit was enough.

It wouldn’t be an Italian without the pasta – firstly a menu dish, Zitti Contadino – so called the most messy pasta in Italy as the long tubes wiggle all over the place. It may have been messy (and very fun), but the sauce was sublime simplicity; tomato and vegetable shot through and pepped up a good dose of piquant gorgonzola. Then for something special – naked spaghetti with bottarga grated over the top (that’s dried tuna/mullet roe) – sounds a bit ming, but is in fact very tasty (if you miso soup or anything very savoury then this will suit you) – not a dish that’s on the menu, but it may sneak on to the specials, so keep your eyes open!

And then pudding. Or three puddings to be exact – cannoli, oranges with ice cream and cheesecake. All perfectly lovely, but by this point in the tasting I was calling for the torture/pleasure to stop and rolled my fat belly down the conveniently placed hill to the station and then ultimately to a stuffed and satisfied sleep.

Torture - I mean freshly made cannoli and gelato

As is apparent from the menu, Italia is not about fancy pants dishes or charging exuberant costs for fiddly food – it’s about Italian classics/traditional dishes, cooked well and for a fair price with a specials board for those dishes that are a little different. With very competent chef Tim Shirley (ex-Jamie's Italian and Piccolinos) in the kitchen and a dedicated, knowledgeable and enthusiastic floor staff it looks like they have all the ingredients for success.

Please note Italia is not fully open yet and the menu is not finalised, so I’m not going to score on this occasion. However from what I’ve seen it’s fair to say the food is of a very high quality for a pretty decent price.

Please note I was comped all the food in this piece, but as you know from other places I been and slated, I’m under no obligation to say nice things, I just thoroughly enjoyed the food and good company.
Italia, 40-42 Deansgate, Manchester M3 1RH - Twitter - Website

Jamie's Italian - Manchester

Another meal out in Manchester; big surprise, it's another Italian - the city seems to breed them. This time it's the behemoth of Italians - the big, new, pukka kid on the block that's fittingly set in a big, bold, behemoth of a building. Even in the city where there's more Italian places than you can shake your spaghetti at, Manchester hasn't escaped Jamie's ever expanding eating empire.

Jamie's big old bank is once again a big money maker - with thank to Premier Construction

Set in the grand old HSBC building at the top of King Street, Jamie's chain has sympathetically moved in - most of the stunning old features are there, there's just the addition of tables and a dark wooden bar with it's customary parma ham legs and charcuterie hanging off it. Downstairs the personal vaults have hardly been messed around with, they've just been turned in to loos with reclaimed toilets. The main vault is now a private dining room, replete with the safe deposit boxes that hundreds of rich Mancunians stuffed their ill gotten gains into - pretty much the same thing that's now happening in the tills upstairs.

We were sat by the busy kitchen, watching the hustle and bustle of the chefs and the serving staff running in and out - service was pretty spot on and quick; the chap who served us knew everything about every dish and refreshingly, advised us on our food and drinks choices not by price, but by what we wanted and what he felt would show off the kitchen to the best degree.

The generous meat platter for one

Starters are the winners at Jamie's; filled, fiery pepperdews were tamed by a sharp creamy filling; the meat board for one was massive for the £6.95 it cost and t'boy's special of chargrilled squid salad on fregola was soft, smokey and had an amazing depth of flavour for the simple dish that it was. Despite looking a little sus (or was that just my dirty mind?), the baked courgette with stuffed flower retained a toothsome crunch in both the veg and the crispy panko coating, the sharp stuffing a great answer to the accompanying heavy sauce.

Squid and fregola salad

Compared to the well thought out and full of character starters, all the mains - bar the bream acqua pazza - were nothing more than average. Jamie's makes a big thing of advertising their homemade pasta; that's great, but if you're going to shout about it, cook it properly - most were a lot more than al dente whrn they arrived.

The special pasta of the night was a 'British seafood celebration' and described as a zesty bowl of gurnard, cockles, scallops and squid. A celebration is a great thing in a bowl, but most of the fish must have been at another party as there was only one rubbery piece of squid, six cockles and a tiny piece of gurnard in attendance: all I got from the 'refreshing' chilli, lemon and extra virgin olive oil dressing was some overly aggressive heat and no layers of flavours. Other pastas seemed as middle of the road but fared better with the amount of ingredients they contained (apart from one other British seafood celebration, which contained an even scantier amount of fish than mine did).

Celebration of British seafood pasta - sans much seafood

As mentioned before the bream was a bit of a star - just pan fried (I hate that as a descriptor) and simply dressed with a sweet cherry tomato and chilli dressing. All that was needed was a bit of bread to mop up the juices but, thankfully, we'd ordered some 'posh chips' (covered in truffle oil and parmesan) and they did the trick nicely - unlike Trof's version, these were heavy on the truffle, crisp, fluffy and a generous portion to boot.

Baked bream - fish, and dish, of the day

Pudding was predictable - an almond tart was basically a bakewell - good pastry, sweet filling, job done. The chocolate pot with vin santo cream was a hefty portion that we shared; chocolate wasn't too bitter, cream was interesting - again nothing brilliant, just well done.

As you'd expect there was a lot of wooden board action, enamelled dishes everywhere and beakers to drink from  - Jamie's styling team are pushing out that Jamie signature slap dash, share it with your friends vibe - it's just a bit too thought out and they've kept it on the conservative side of edgy - as you don't want to be scaring those patrons off. It's easy to hate Jamie for his shouty, full on character and his seemingly unstoppable money-making machine, but he must be doing something right as the place was full to bursting on the Monday night we went and you have to admire his business acumen. (for more Jamie Oliver love/hate postulating and articulating it much better than I would, check out Jay Rayner's Guardian comment).

Jamie's Italian is a chain; a well thought out, profit maximising concept that sets out to bring Jamie's brand of Italian food to the masses. People need to remember this when they come here - if you want something authentic, Manchester's got at least a dozen other places you can head to. The place succeeds in what it sets out to do and will probably continue to do very well in a city with no Michelin stars, plus a clientele of mainly provincial families and eager-eyed students.

Ps I live, work and play in Manchester's provinces and have done for the past 11 years, before you get all het up about my description of the general population.

Price for six starters, six mains, two puddings, two litres of organic house white, two shorts and a port, plus 10% service charge (as we were a large party) - £217.57

Food - 6/10
Service - 8/10
Atmosphere - 8/10
Value for money - 6/10 Starters spot on, mains tad expensive esp the pasta.

Total - 30/40

Go again? Only if food wasn't going to be the main reason I was going. For families, teenagers' birthday parties and food-conservative friends it's the destination to head.
Jamie's Italian, 100 King Street, Manchester M2 4UW - 0161 241 3901 - Website - Twitter - Facebook

Rosso - Manchester

What do I know about footballers? They throw tantrums, they like bling and the ball is the wrong shape (I'm from Wales, we play it different over there). So what about footballers and food? After the disaster that was Vermillion, I wasn't too up for trying Rosso; Rio Ferdinand's Italian offering smack bang in the middle of Manchester's luxury brand stores and financial offices. With these type of neighbours, is Rosso more style over substance?

Certainly the setting's impressive; housed in an old bank there's a profusion of marble columns, linen table cloths and high ceilings. There's a large bar serving an array of Italian inspired cocktails, splashes of red (Rosso, you geddit, yeah?) on the walls and a wall dedicated to a who's who of the Manchester glitterati who've graced the tables. Bit too glitz and glam for me, I like my colours neutral and couldn't tell you Maradonna from Madonna, but if you've got a fancy footballer backer and a clientele of players and their Wags why not celebrate it?

Rosso's impressive setting - with thanks to What Happended Last Night

Everyone seemed happy to be there and the atmosphere was buzzy - there was a mix of suits, ladies who have husbands in a certain wage bracket and well-dressed couples - and they were all enjoying the entertainment; during the week Rosso hires singers to serenade you whilst you eat; I'm terribly British about this and am perturbed at any type of intrusion - but the lady in question was very subdued and very good.

First out, ubiquitous bread and olives found in Italian places countrywide - but luckily these olives were fat little grenades of grassy greenness - so grassy indeed that it felt like licking meadow. The accompanying bread roll was a little stale, but plus points for seeming like it homemade. Served with another big grassy hit from a quality olive oil, it was a shame it was let down by a substandard balsamic - one of those vinegar with caramels added rather than a sticky, musty PDO original.

Slightly stale bread, substandard balsamic, best olives in that part of town

Asparagus wrapped in provolone and parma ham was salty, fresh and had plenty of crunch from the just cooked spears. Roasted mushrooms with a goat cheese and rocket mousse was simple but gorgeous - soft, salty, oniony and light. By this point we were already getting stuffed, the portions at Rosso are certainly footballer sized rather than those eaten by Wags.

Asparagus, parma and provolone - salty, crunchy, fresh goodness

For my main I chose the tuna, thinking fish = light = small; however this was a huge slab, as big as my face - their menu inspiration must be plenty of lean protein for muscle building! The tuna was perfectly seared, very fresh and was accompanied by a caper sauce that could have done with a bit more punchy sharpness. My friend had been advised to have the ostrich she'd ordered medium rare rather than medium to avoid chewiness. The meat was cooked to perfection; soft, unctuous and dressed in a rich, savoury sauce on top of the softest mash. We'd chosen sides of roasted veg and chilli broccoli, but the size of the portions meant we hardly touched them, even though they were gorgeous and perfectly cooked.

Do not let my photo deceive you, that slab is as big as my face!

By the time pudding came around I was thinking how good it was they'd seated us in the corner booth - we had a great view of everyone else, but we were covered by acres of white linen, so my button was loosened and with that I ordered the bombolini; sweet mini doughnuts with dark and white dipping sauce. I may have been stuffed but I got them in - the white sauce was a bit too sweet and looked a bit suss; but I think that was our dirty minds, no fault of the sauce, and I don't like white chocolate anyway. A ginger cheesecake was the only really bum note of the meal - very sans ginger and too cheesy; but the accompanying rhubarb compote was sharp and divine.

Bombolini - see suspect looking sauce at the back - sorry, got a dirty mind!

Rosso is big, it's bold and in some respects it's a bit brash; but unlike other celebrity owned places they actually bother to make the food very good - although not traditionally Italian, rather more Italian inspired -rather than just trading on a famous name. The service is fantastic, caring without being obtrusive; the cocktails are brilliant, if a little lethal and the setting truly is impressive.

Oh and I know the question on everyone's lips - did we see the man himself? No he was away, but I was assured by the general manager that he comes in at least twice a week and always gets very involved with running the place - so not just a name, but an active partner too. Impressive. And what do famous footballers eat when they own a restaurant? Everything off the menu? Nope; chicken breast, pasta and plain tomato sauce, every time.

Price for three cocktails, one G+T, bread and olives, two starters, two mains, two puddings and two coffees - £101.75

Food - 7/10
Service - 9/10
Atmosphere - 9/10
Value for money - 8/10; expensive, but massive portions!

Total - 33/40

Go again - yes, if we had people we wanted to take out for a good, decent meal.

Ps If you don't eat massive portions I would suggest just having a main, or a starter and a pudding. I seriously struggled and had to send food back!

Rosso Restaurant, 43 Spring Gardens, Manchester M2 2BG - 0843 290 1900 - michelle@rossorestaurants.com - Twitter - Facebook

http://www.rossorestaurants.com/

Please note the restaurant knew I was there to review them and comp-ed my meal for me, however the views are my own and I am under no obligation to write nice things. In fact, I 'm probably harsher as I expect things to be perfect if they know that I'm there!

Luciano's Revisited - Rivington, Horwich

Don’t judge us, but we ate at Luciano’s in Rivington/Horwich last week, twice, on school, nights. Not because it’s a particularly awe-inspiring place, but we needed some R&R and I was on some insane carb kick that has now, thankfully, abated a little.

Luciano’s isn’t far for us, that’s the beauty of it, but it’s also quite a pleasant place to hang out on a summer’s evening and they do the best pizza round our way. I’m not saying it’s the best pizza ever – it’s just good, homemade and served with a smile.

The first time (last week) we decided to sit straight in the restaurant, foregoing polite pre-dinner drinks mainly because I WANTED SOME CARBS. RIGHT NOW. The restaurant was mostly full and we were surrounded by young couples and groups of certain age ladies – there was a quiet, friendly buzz to the air.

Luciano's at the Millstone - with thanks to Chorley Guardian

Service was quick, efficient and friendly. The pizzas were freshly made, charred at the edges and bursting with flavour – the tomato sauce Luciano’s makes has a sweetly bold flavour; but it’s a good idea to ask for less cheese (unless you like your pizza smothered).

The kitchen was more than happy to listen to and comply with my many questions and demands. Wonderfully, if you ask for rocket it’s always served on top, afterwards and never cooked – as Luciano says “well we are Italian, so why would it be served any other way?” (Take note pizza chains of the North West).

Second visit was on one of those recent, unseasonably scorching evenings; feeling more relaxed we opted to sit in the bar and placed our drinks orders and waited. And waited. And went and looked for a member of staff. And waited.

Hungry to the point of thinking the menus looked good enough to eat we walked off into the restaurant, explained the situation to the maitre’d and were immediately seated. Again the place was buzzing – this time with various birthday parties and some more of those certain aged ladies (do they ever eat at home, maybe they were thinking that about us?).

Service here was attentive, quickish and efficient – a complete opposite to the main bar area. We did have to wait a little longer than usual for food, but we were in no rush and there were quite a few other diners there that night, so non c’ è problema then.

Sharing a pizza, with it’s liberal topping of anchovies and black olives (not enough to make it too salty, just enough for that moreish, mouth puckering tang), the staff were only too pleased to cut it up for us and place it on a stand so we could share and still look at each other (ah, romantic).

Look at all these olives

Our side of bread and olives was a bargain for £3.10 – big juicy olives seasoned with herbs, dried chilli and a massive whack of garlic, which made up for the fact they were pitted (thankfully with no hint of rancid oil). The olives were served with slivers of spanking fresh bread with a peppery, green, grassy olive oil streaked through with sticky balsamic vinegar, that clung to the bread in big musty blobs; divine.

T'boy seeking immortality and fame...and lots of olives

Luciano’s is a straight forward, useful addition to our local restaurants – they’re good at the simple things, which is what you need most of the time; but it’s done with such pride, care and in such a lovely setting that it makes something ordinary, truly extraordinary – plus there is no where in the area where you are treated so warmly, indeed Luciano’s smile could melt a million ice caps and the twinkle in his eye rivals any star in a clear night’s sky.

Pizza £6.95-£9.50, Bread and Olives £3.10, Beer £3.10

Food – 7/10
Atmosphere – 7/10
Service – 8/10 (excusing that minor blip in the bar)
Value for money – 9/10 (for pizza, not sure for full mains)

Total – 31/40

Go again? Yes, they’re great for mid-week meals or when we need a quick, friendly cheer up.

Luciano's Italian Restaurant, At the Millstone, Bolton Road, Anderton, Chorley PR6 9HJ - 01257 480205 
http://www.lucianosatthemillstone.com/

Avanti - Heaton Moor, Stockport

There’s one thing Italian’s do well and that’s style; from the matching all in ones of the ski slope, to the famous fashion house of Milan. Thinking of stylish eateries they have cool, airy rooms full of white tablecloths and glistening silverware, wafts of lemon and fig float in through the billowing white curtains and men stand in stylishly cut suits, smoking on the terrace overlooking the vibrant blue sea.

Avanti exterior - with thanks to dineavanti.co.uk

So when an Italian restaurant markets itself as ‘vibrant,’ ‘stylish’ and ‘Stockport’s finest,’ I go expecting Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni sipping espressos and discussing the finer points of tailoring.

Avanti, Heaton Moor, is none of the above and if it’s the best Italian in Stockport then I don’t want even want to consider eating at the others.

Initially the evening looked good. Staff were friendly and fetched drinks whilst we waited for latecomers. Starters arrived and were decent enough: my king prawn crostini was full of loud punchy flavours finished off with a decent helping of lemon. Meatballs were soft, tender and enrobed in a garlicky sauce redolent of something homemade.

King prawn crostini

Just as we were pootling along on this not-very-adventurous-but-alright-for-a-high-street meal, the mains arrived and the evening’s gastronomic happiness took a turn for the worse.

I’ve eaten in Brewers Fayres and pubs with carveries, so I know food can be crap; but I pay £5.95 for that pleasure and not what I was paying at Avanti. The chicken wrapped in parma ham was very dry, lamb shanks tasted of an overly sweet mint sauce, seemed like they had been bought in, plus were chewy and dry (how you get a shank to be dry I’m not sure). My main of seabass was terribly overcooked – the fish dry and flaky, dumped on some poorly seasoned mash with a raggle taggle of greasy sundried tomatoes and olives. All dishes apart from some vegetarian pancakes were poorly constructed, poorly presented and poorly executed.

Over cooked seabass

And do I really need to bother describing the puddings? Let’s just say they were bought in and awful.

Very cakey, obviously bought in: the boy's sticky toffee pudding (in an Italian? Indeed!)

Avanti in Heaton Moor is not ‘stylish,’ the décor is boring to say the least; rather like a high street coffee chain. It’s not ‘vibrant’ either – yes the atmosphere was ok, but there was no buzzing fug emanating from the place. And I will probably guess its not the best in Stockport either - I'd go as far as to say the Pizza Hut would probably be better than this.

To sum up I’m not going to go back to Avanti, there are plenty of better places serving much better food across the city and the North West. And there probably are in Heaton Moor as well.

Price for a starter, main and pudding – £25

Food – 4/10
Atmosphere – 6/10
Service – 5/10
Value for money – 5/10

Total – 20/40

Go again? No, rather go to the chippy up the street!

Avanti Restaurant and Grill, 1 Moorside Road, Heaton Moor, Stockport SK4 4DT - 0161 443 3123
info@dineavanti.co.uk

http://www.dineatavanti.co.uk/home/index.php

Luciano's at the Millstone - Anderton, Chorley

Luciano's is the recent incarnation of an Italian restaurant at The Millstone, it's been remade and done up - previously it was a sad, tired restaurant with peeling 90s wallpaper serving over-priced, over-cooked food apparently with a mediterranean influence ie. served with watery courgettes and a sprinkling of oregano.
From the outside the Millstone looks like an old-style country pub, however inside it's all white linen tableclothes and leather chairs. Luciano's is now headed up by Luciano Fortuna, who's gregarious Scilian personality can usually be found heading up the restaurant and welcoming guests with a twinkle in his eye.

Looks like a pub, is a restaurant - with thanks to Chorley Guardian

We were seated quickly even though we didn't have a reservation in the modern, clean dining room. Thankfully Luciano has a habit of seating guests near other tables and filling the restaurant up that way, so even if the restaurant is only half full it seems like there is plenty going on and the atmosphere is good.

There's a main menu comprising starters, pastas, pizzas and mains - plus a daily changing special menu. I decided to order the mussels off the specials and have to say they were freshest, tastiest and well cooked mussels I have had; the flesh was silky soft and the tomatoey broth thick with fragrant herbs and garlic, it was so good I asked for a spoon (they agreed without quibble)!

Spanking fresh mussels

We ordered pizzas and pasta as it was a relaxed meal - good wood fired dough, thin and crispy. However it was 50/50 as to whether they were worth it. A 'create your own' of rocket, calabrese salami and peppers was fresh and very tasty, but the prawn pizza was bland - far too much cheese, hardly any courgettes and a few tiny rubbery prawns, this sorry state was replicated in the Sciliana as well. A secret to pizza success here seems to be asking them to be easy on the cheese.

Overly cheesey, bland prawn pizza

Pasta was well cooked to the bite and the sauce well seasoned, the diavola being loud and shouty spice in your mouth - it could have been toned down a tad as the spice seemed to drown out anything else, but was overall rounded and well thought out.

Service was attentive, if somewhat over-bearing from someone whom we could only guess at being the head waiter - an over-the-top personality who made us feel very welcome, but whose schtick soon got a little tiring. Far more subtle and effective was Luciano himself, who glided around the dining room, was expertly knowledgable and liked to talk about proper Scilian and Italian food.

We've aslo popped to Luciano's for a drink after work - the beer garden here is pretty and good sized, though a little close to the road to really chill out (thankfully you can only hear it and not see it). It's good to see that as well as serving Peroni and other largers, they pay a respectful nod to the local Bank Top Brewery and serve Flat Cap on tap. Order the breads and olives whilst you sup - the chewy bread comes with some lovely, grassy olive oil and come very sticky, thick balsamic syrup.



Luciano's isn't a mecca for foodies, but for a local mid-week, fairly priced meal that's actually alright it hits the nail on the head. If Luciano could influence the menu to give the food a more Scilian slant I think they would be on to a winner.

Price for one appertiser, two starters, three pizzas, one pasta and drinks - £67.75

Food - 7/10
Atmosphere - 7/10
Service - 6/10
Value for money - 6/10

Total - 26/40

Luciano's Italian Restaurant, At the Millstone, Bolton Road, Anderton, Chorley PR6 9HJ - 01257 480205
http://www.lucianosatthemillstone.com/

Rigalettos - Wigan

I'm not one for the beautiful game and I'm not one for rugby league, so I wasn't really excited about the prospect of eating in a football/rugby stadium: let alone one five minutes from where I work. However it was the Scouser's leaving do and I had hopes it may be a la Delia and the whole Canary Restaurant at Norwich City thing.

On pulling up I instantly knew this was no Delia. Rigalettos is located in the base of the stadium so it can be accessed when the stadium isn't open. The sign looked cheap and old and as I walked in the door so did the restaurant. Decked out as a Blackpool re-imagining of a 90s cartoon Italian trattoria - here was hoping that the food would be authentic trattoria. Unfortunately the food wasn't authentic, I wouldn't even class it as food.

We'd opted to keep it cheap and were dining off the early bird menu - even at that price the food was dire. I'd like to try and pick out a dish that at least shone through as a glimmer of hope in the whole evening; but I can't even say that of the drinks, let alone the food.

I ordered the bruschetta to start but was instead presented with two overly greasy pieces of garlic bread, dripping with oil, not tasting of garlic and with an insulting amount of insipid, cotton wool tomato mixed in with large chunks of onion. I won't even discuss the pointless, limpid lettuce on the side. The other Scouser's starter of garlic mushrooms were pale and I wouldn't call putting one in my mouth actual tasting as there wasn't any there.

Bruschetta - well Rigalettos' sorry excuse for one

For mains I'd ordered the seafood linguine and thought for the £1 surcharge I'd be on to a winner. Wrong. The pasta was terribly overcooked and soggy, the tomato sauce was under-seasoned and tasteless - almost as if it was just a thickened can of chopped tomatoes. And the seafood? I've eaten some terrible seafood in my time but this was actually inedible. The calamari was akin to chewing on tyres and the mussels had become hard and chalky; I think there may have been some tinned tuna in there but I really can't say. Needless to say I ate less that a third of the dish.

Seafood linguine - nearly as much as you see in this picture

was returned to the kitchen

I declined to spend the extra pound and order pudding, but in the spirit of gastronomic investigation on behalf of you, dear readers, I nicked some brownie off the Scotsman and all I can say is that the raspberries were nice.

I'm trying really hard to find something positive to say here - but they charged me over £8 for a G+T made with Beefeater and a glass of cheap white, so I'm struggling here. Er - the toilets were clean and the service was alright.

In all I wouldn't return to Rigalettos even if I was starving or needed somewhere to hide out whilst being chased by dissident rebel fighters. Rigalettos needs to make over it's sad, tired image and get someone who can actually knows what Italian food, or even cooking is, in the kitchen.

As fellow blogger Northern Food warned, "you'd be better sticking to balti pies in the stadium," too true.

Price for early bird menu - £8.95 for two courses, £9.95 for three (beware some of the dishes have a £1 surcharge).

Food - 1/10
Service - 6/10
Atmosphere - 3/10
Value for money - 3/10

Total - 13/40

Rigaletto's, DW Stadium, Loire Drive, Robin Park, Wigan WN5 0UH - 01942 774000
http://www.dwstadium.co.uk/rigalettos.phpdwstadium.co.uk/rigalettos.php