Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Amalfi - London, United Kingdom

My better half and I love Italian cuisine, so it was no wonder we ended up in this restaurant. Do you have a favourite Italian in London? I'm curious. What is it?Or maybe you have also dined at the Amalfi? Please leave a comment to share your experience and opinion.

We read an article about Tragus, a restaurant holding company that includes the Cafe Rouge chain, and a new concession they gained. Checking out what they owned on their webpage we found Amalfi, an Italian restaurant in 29 - 31 Old Compton Road, London. Amalfi has also an online presence (amalfi-restaurant.co.uk), and we had a look at the menu. It was mouthwatering, so we decided to go there on our next trip to London - see also the Hilton Metropole London review.

Shortly before we traveled to London, we booked a table online.

We were a little bit delayed thanks to a long queue at the check out. We took the Tube to Piccadilly Circus, but you can also get off at Leicester Square or Tottenham Court Road.

We followed Shaftsbury Avenue, turned left into Wardour Street and then right into Old Compton Road.
The Chinese New Year Festival was in full swing. The short story with the same title (Chinese New Year) is inspired by all the hustle and bustle, food stalls and entertainment.

We arrived around ten minutes late at the restaurant. It's quaint, incorporates two houses and has a small entrance door.

Amalfi welcomes patrons since 1963. If we hadn't known it's owned by a large holding, we would have believed it's a charming family run property. The restaurant manager is Italian and in his forties, I guess. We had a print out of our reservation with us, but the manager was not especially interested. The restaurant is divided into two rooms on the ground floor and a large one downstairs (It's called the wine cave and looks like it. The ladies rest room is located there, while the gentlemen's is after passing the bar to the right). When entering, the first thing we noticed was the bar. There are also photographs, paintings and other memorabilia of the Amalfi Coast and Italy.

The restaurant wasn't very full. There was a group of ladies and a few couples. We were seated at a large table, normally for four people, and soon received the menu. We decided to have Aranciata (Orange Lemonade by San Pellegrino), Strozzapreti Pugliese, pasta with Luganica sausage, cured pancetta, broccoli, red chili butter and Grano Padano for me and Pizza Rossa with spicy Southern Italian Salami, roasted red peppers, chili, caramelized onion, garlic, oregano and mozzarella for him. We both like spicy food, so we were looking forward to our meal. We weren't disappointed. The pasta was al dente and the pizza thin and crispy. The flavors worked well together. Both the pizza and the pasta had the right level of spiciness. It gave a nice kick, but wasn't overbearing or burning your tongue. We were happy and sad at the same time, because we didn't have space for dessert - the figs sounded so delicious :-( - and we don't have a really good Italian in Dublin. Our favorite was Pasta di Milano, also known as Condotti, but it closed years ago. Of course we tried others, but nothing can compare to it.

Back to Amalfi, though. All servers were male, attentive and efficient. The bill came at slightly over 30 GBP or ca. 36 Euro / 48 USD. Credit cards are accepted. The value was good for the quality paid.

By the way, when we left, the custom had picked up considerable and barely a table was available, so reservations come highly recommended.

Amalfi is definitely on our list of restaurants to return to.





©2012

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