Bardolino Presents Us With Summer On A Plate

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New York Italian fares well in rainy London

Bardolino's New York Italian Restaurant has taken over Frankie's on Chiswick High Road. We were glad to see the same glitzy style still in evidence, as were the jungle of potted palm trees and grape vines in the huge outside seating area.

After shaking our umbrellas, we started lunch with freshly squeezed juices. No bog standard orange juice though, but melon for some and a lovely cloudy pineapple for others. Having proved our temperate dispositions, we then ordered a bottle of Via Nova Pinot Grigio to go with our starters at £20 a bottle.

We opted for Italian classics such as Caprese Salad, Calamari Griglia, Coppa con Frutta di Cremona in Sciroppo
and Tuscan lentil soup. However, the winning dish was the beetroot salad with goats cheese which had concentric rings of carpaccio of beetroot covering the plate with a tumble of goats cheese and salad in the middle. All the starters ranged from £4.50 to £6.50 for the more elaborate dishes.

Our main courses included a whole range of delicious Italian specialties. One of us opted for the day's special of asparagus risotto. A notoriously hard dish to get right, it was pronounced perfect by all who grabbed a forkful. A Bardolino pizza was a classic thin crust pizza with parma ham and a nice scattering of tomato, rocket and parmesan on top. The Merluza alla Bardolino was grilled cod topped with mussels in a lemon sauce accompanied by saffron potatoes and confit tomatoes. The Monkfish special was also proclaimed absolutely delicious, making each dish worthy of the phrase 'Summer On A Plate'. The meat eaters round the table all decided the Pappardelle alla Vaccinara was divine and the ideal dish on a cold, drizzly day. For the standard of the food we received, every main was very reasonably priced at around the £10 mark.

We decided to share a chocolate mousse to finish off and all enjoyed the deceptively light dessert. After a round of coffees we were ready to face the dreary weather again.

Bardolino has musical entertainment on Friday and Saturday evenings and the huge garden will be blissful on warm evenings. But just in case the warm evenings never materialise, there is a lovely dimly lit bar room which could be the perfect place to enjoy a chat and a glass of wine, or even a melon juice.

June 17, 2011