Monday 18 April 2011

Apologies and Zerboni Taste

UPDATE - THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED.

Apologies, I feel as though I have been neglecting this blog recently and I’m sorry for that, but I am still here, the blog is still alive and I do have a new post.

For fear of repeating myself, I’ll assume that you all appreciate my love of Roman food. Given this, imagine my delight on finding a little Italian run by true Roman, Marco Zerboni, in Sheffield! I’ve been here a couple of times and enjoyed delicious carbonaras (even one with al dente pasta on request). So, when the husband suggested going there for an evening meal, I jumped at the chance! They open on Friday and Saturday nights as a bistro and having already tried Marco’s pasta, I was keen to try more.

We went for a couple of drinks first. A nice pint of Staropramen at the former Olive Bar on Division Street, (which is now owned by the Bowery guys and will have a formal opening do at the end of April) and a strong Beefeater 24 G ‘n’ T at the Wick at Both Ends. Suitably hungry and armed with our bottle of wine from Tesco (Taste is BYOB) we grabbed a cab to Eccy Road.

The restaurant was quiet. There was only one small group in so we had the pick of the tables and we chose to sit by the window over looking Eccy Road. The menu is tapas style with dishes ranging from about £2.50 to £7. We were advised to choose 4/5 dishes. We also decided to go with some bread and olives to start.

The bread selection was good and it was served with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. There was a decent heap of olives with some cute little picks decorated with Italian flags.  


In all fairness I would have preferred to see fatter juicer olives, but they did what they said on the tin and all in all it was a nice appetiser. For mains we decided to have a couple of larger dishes along with a couple of the smaller ones. It was a good plan as we had ample food, but not too much.

Cod with beans was delicious. The sauce was creamy and rich. I think there was cheese in there along with tomato and herbs. It went down well.


The meatballs with spare ribs were even more delicious!  The meatballs were tasty and the spare ribs were tender with the meat falling off the bones. The tomato sauce was also good and better than any I’ve tried to make at home. 


The smaller dishes made were good as side dishes. We had peas with pancetta and spinach with Parmesan. Both were as good.

 
We decided to have a little break before dessert and I nipped outside for a cigarette. There was a lot of commotion going on as someone had collapsed in the street and both an ambulance and a police car had arrived. Marco was very intrigued by it all and came to see what was going on. He recognised me after the Exposed blog, which I’d emailed out to him, and we chatted briefly before he was collared back in to get on with some cooking!

Once seated back at the table, we decided to order the selection of desserts. This is a dish of 5 different desserts drizzled with chocolate sauce and a pot of cream. It’s perfect for sharing – especially for those who can’t decide what to have.


There were two cakes, one with dates, the other with carrot and orange. There was a profiterole, a coconut macaroon and a chocolate brownie. All were good; the carrot and orange cake and the brownie were my favourites.

We also had an espresso each which was a good choice after all the alcohol we had consumed. The bill came to about £37 which included corkage for our wine and was pretty reasonable. So Marco’s done it again…. another fantastic meal was had!  

Next I want to try his Sunday lunches and I know I’ll be back for more pasta!

2 comments:

  1. Ooooo and in case you haven't seen it yet - here's a link to my Our Cow Molly Post for Exposed - enjoy!!

    http://www.exposedmagazine.co.uk/clares-foodie-blog/2011/04/12/Our_Cow_Molly__private_tour/

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  2. Hi Clare,

    great article again. I can't help feeling disappointed though, that you didn't mention that the ambulance was provided by the South Yorkshire Ambulance Service, who in fact supply all South Yorkshire streets with ambulances.




    (sorry)

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