Olympic Food Challenge - Vietnam - Vietnamese Beef Salad

When I received my list of Olympic countries from Ewan I was disappointed that Italy, Japan, India, Spain and Thailand weren't in there. However I was pretty pleased to get Vietnam as the food isn't too far away from Thai and I've enjoyed the food at both the Vietnamese Noodle Bar (now dead) and new restaurant  Little Hanoi.

Vietnam has been in the Olympics on and off since 1952 and this year they've sent 18 athletes to compete in 11 different sports.

Of course the most obvious choice for this challenge would have been a traditional pho, but I've never even eaten this soup before so unlikely to want to try cooking it quite yet. So I set about researching recipes and I soon stumbled on the Ravenous Couple's Vietnamese food blog and this recipe for caramelised braised pork and eggs which looks and sounds amazing, but I'm not sure where I would have got juice from young coconuts from (and no I wasn't going to risk my fingers/hands/knife in attacking a coconut myself). I also considered doing fish porridge but given the mini heatwave we're experiencing at the moment, and taking inspiration from the Little Hanoi menu I decided on a salad, a rare beef salad at that.

Google led me to this recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi of all people. The list of ingredients is pretty long, and Yotam himself remarks on the ingredient list, but it was full of things that I have in the cupboards anyway as I love this style of cooking. I followed the recipe quite closely except for the whole piling things up on a platter malarkey. Oh and I cooked the steak whole, then sliced, in order to get it rare.

So all the veg, noodles and half the peanuts went into a big bowl and the dressing was poured over just before serving. To serve I spooned the salad onto the plate, topped with some of the sliced beef and then scattered over the rest of the peanuts, chilli and shallot mix (and no I didn't buy shop prepared shallots as Yotam suggests, I fried some of myself).

Oh my! It was good, like really good! The beef was cooked beautifully and although the rub had been blitzed in the mini blender rather than in the grinder and so was quite thick with strips of lemongrass, it was absolutely fine. The salad was fresh and tasty, packed with the flavours of the fish sauce, chilli, herbs and lime. The chilli heat was there, to the point that my lips were tingling a little, but the heat built up slowly so it was a pleasure to eat. Better still this recipe makes a lot, a hell of a lot, so I have plenty for lunches for the next couple of days.

One I'll be doing again, for sure.

Rypyaal, Sheffield

I'm a bit of a sucker for Groupon (et al) restaurant deals. They're a great way to check out a new restaurant without the fear of wasting a huge amount of money if the food is bad and although I've had my fair share of dodgy meals thanks to these vouchers, I have had some rather good ones too.

Rupyaal was brought to me by Deal Monster. Martin Dawes' review helped sell it to me as he'd given 5/5 for both the food and the service, but, I'll admit to still being a little sceptical. But that's the beauty of these restaurant deals; it was £10 for 2 mains, a rice and a naan. Given it was BYOB too, I figured I could invest £10 in trying this place out.

We booked it for a Wednesday night and after a couple of drinks in town we headed off down Abbeydale road (via Ozmen for some dried fenugreek leaves and dried limes for my Olympic Food Challenge and Steers Beers for some Sauvignon Blanc) towards Kumquat Mae's old home, 353 Abbeydale Rd.

We were warmly welcomed by the owner (who I know is called Parvez thanks to the Star review). He was so incredibly friendly and enthusiastic that we just knew that we were going to be in for a good meal. So much so, I broke my rule of only ordering to the value of the voucher (to limit any further financial risk on trying out a new place), and we ordered starters.

First up though were a couple of popadoms served with the usual pickles and Parvez made a point of letting us know that these were complimentary. Brilliant. When did Indian restaurants start charging for these things anyway?

The pickles were good, especially the raita which had a surprising (in a good way) kick to it and we could see that there were flecks of fresh chilli in there. It was delicious.

The starter was a decent sized platter (£4.50) of a mixture of vegetable dishes including vegetable samosa, some bhajis (onion and carrot or sweet potato I think) and a selection of pakora (including aubergine). It was all tasty and an absolute bargain given the size of the dish. I was also glad to find that the salad served alongside the platter was freshly prepared; there is nothing worse than dried out, shrivelled up cucumber.

Onto the mains and Parvez recommended a few dishes to us. We went for the Hyderabadi Handi Gosht which was described as 'Slow cooked juicy lamb cooked in a chef`s special brown masala sauce with fresh green chillies, tomatoes & coriander' and the Goan Fish Curry which was a 'traditional goan curry cooked in a vindaloo paste, tamarind & coriander'. I was alerted to the mention of vindaloo in the dish, but Parvez assured me that the dish is more flavoursome rather than hot.

Mains arrived with a dish of pilau rice which was served properly with some fried off onions topping the plate and a naan bread, which was the star of the show for me. Freshly cooked, it was perfectly light and packed full of the chillies that we'd asked to be added.

Mains were ample, but sensibly sized, portions. The gravies were really good; full of flavour, although I do think that Parvez took my fear of vindaloo a little too seriously as both dishes lacked real heat. Lesson learnt, do not show a fear of heat here!! The fish was well cooked, but sadly I can't say the same for the lamb. It will have been stewing lamb and it needed a good slow cook and I don't think ours had quite long enough as it was really tough and chewy.

Despite this, I will be back, or I will at least try them for takeaway. The pricing is good (had we paid full price for the meal it would have come in at around £20 AND they offer 2-4-1 on all starters and mains on Thursdays and Sundays), the service was very welcoming and friendly and the food (bar that chewy lamb) was good.

Apologies for the lack of pics, they came out really dark and seriously do not do the dishes any justice so I've left them out.

Olympic Food Challenge - Greece - Souvlaki, Tabbouleh, Flatbreads and Tzatziki

Having the Olympics in London is a once in a lifetime event, but I won't be going because I'm too tight to pay for the tickets.

Having the Olympic Torch pass my street was something not to be missed, but I did because the crowds put me off and I was tired after work.

And although I watched and enjoyed the opening ceremony, I doubt I'll watch many, if any, of the sporting events.

I am told that my grandkids will ask me where I was throughout this exciting time, and I'm counting on not breeding in order to avoid this awkward question.

It's not that I'm boring (honest), it's just that I have no interest in sport and although I love London it may as well be a million miles away from where I am in Sheffield.

So when I heard about the Olympic Food Challenge my ears pricked up. Created by food blogger Ewan Mitchell, the Olympic Food Challenge lets me join in with the fun without any of the sport. Perfect.


You can read more about it here, but essentially Ewan wanted to cook a dish from every country participating in the Olympics. Realising that he couldn't do this alone, he enlisted the help of his food loving (and blogging) Twitter friends.


Although excited by the challenge and eager to take part, I realised that there was no way in hell I could commit to cooking and blogging every day for a straight 19 days. Thankfully Ewan was understanding and he devised a plan allowing me to have just 7 countries. Fabulous; my social life (and sanity) will remain intact.

And now, if those grandkids do magically appear I can tell them that I spent my Olympics researching, shopping for, cooking and eating some of the most unusual and exciting recipes I've ever encountered. There, that doesn't sound too bad does it?

After 3 days of reading how other bloggers were getting on with their food challenges, I was glad to finally get cooking today. As the weather has been quite good recently I fancied something light and fresh and, having already picked my dishes for each of my 7 countries, I decided that I'd kick off with Greece (and given that the Greeks had given us the Olympics all those thousands of years ago, it seemed apt to let them go first).

I must admit to never really being bothered about Greek food. I think Greece and I think tacky holidays in Kos, crap toilets and, more recently, mass unemployment. Having said this, it didn't take me long to find a few recipes that I fancied and in the end I went for Souvlaki, Tabbouleh, Flatbreads and Tzatziki (click for the recipes I used). 

Each of the recipes were easy to follow, although I assume there is a typo in the tabbouleh recipe as I think 250g of bulgar wheat was needed, not 25g! I was especially impressed with the flatbread recipe, not just because I managed to pull it off and make bead on my chargrill pan, but because there's yoghurt in there. Bizarre, but it worked really well and I know that I will make these again, but I might throw in some chilli and coriander into the dough when mixing it up.

The rest of the meal was pretty good too. Tabbouleh was fresh and tasty, tzatziki was slightly zingy thanks to the lemon and garlic and souvlaki was flavoursome thanks to the long marinade.

A good start me thinks, bring on Vietnam tomorrow....!

Street Food Chef - Mexican Canteen

Street Food Chef has become a real favourite in our house. The burritos are perfect any time of the day and I'm a particular of the breakfast burrito (the chilli heat is perfect for sorting out those hangovers...). And it seems that ours isn't the only household that has fallen in love with these bad boys. The Pinstone Street branch is constantly bustling with customers and although the queue can be a little off putting, the burritos are built for speed and you'll never be waiting too long for your lunch.

Having said that, a second branch is certainly no bad thing and the Mexican Canteen is a welcome addition to the city. Living so close to the Pinstone Street branch, I'll admit that it's taken some doing to get me all the way down to Arundel Street. After all, what could they possibly offer down there that I can't get around the corner?

Well, for one they offer seats. Hardly ground breaking but it did mean that Gav and I could enjoy a Mexican lunch together today in comfort. The Canteen offers the chance to eat in and take away and there's ample seating for those dining or waiting as well as a few tables outside. The decor's bright and cheerful, with walls painted in bright orange and yellow and there's a few Mexican trinkets dotted here and there. Admittedly it looks a bit 'work in progress' as some of the walls are a bit bare, but it's clean, fresh and inviting.

The open plan kitchen sits behind the counter where you order your food. It's a simple process, choose what you want from the menus pinned up around the counter area, order, pay, take your little numbered disk to your table and wait for your number to be called out.

The menu is quite similar to that at Pinstone Street and I do wonder whether these Mexican chefs plan on trying something new, some fish dishes, soups and fresh salads would be welcomed. But as I sat down and watched the kitchen at work, I realised that these complicated additions to the menu would just slow things down; and this is street food after all.

Burrito

Initially I thought about being healthy and ordering a Mexican plate, then I thought about getting a quesadilla, but my rumbling belly won out and I went for the pan fried burrito, with guacamole. I'd gone for medium heat (I save the super hot sauce for hangovers) and I was glad to see that it was served with a simple salad along with some freshly made salsa. Better still was the soured cream, guacamole and chilli sauce which all adorned my fat burrito. 

My favourite filling is the Moss Valley pulled pork, not just coz I'm a fan of this Sheffield pork, but coz it's bloody tasty and I went with that today*. The pork was tender and juicy, the refried beans added a good texture and flavour to the package and the rice ensured that all my carb cravings were fully satisfied. I'll admit that it was a struggle to get through due to the sheer size of it, but believe me, I wasn't going to let it beat me! 

Mexican Plate

Gav was intrigued enough to try a Mexican plate, which was essentially a naked burrito; all the goodness without the tortilla wrap. It was quite a decent serving and it was good to be able to appreciate each component of the burrito in their own right. For the first time we had able to taste the refried beans properly (and they were delicious, by the way). There was a good amount of meat on the plate too - he'd gone for the slow cooked beef brisket - his favourite filling.

The plate was smaller than mine (no bad thing) and it's the perfect size for anyone wanting the flavour of the burrito without the heaviness of the tortilla (anyone on a diet would do quite well here, just skip the cheese), but Gav isn't on diet and this was a treat for us so he went and ordered a breakfast quesadilla too! The tortilla was light and crispy and we were pleased to see that there was the addition of refried beans and tomato salsa to the usual cheese and bacon filling normally found at Pinstone Street.

quesadilla

All three dishes along with a couple of bottles of Fentimans came to less than £20; a reasonable price we thought, especially as we really had not held back.

So, what can Mexican Canteen offer that Pinstone Street can't, aside from seats? Well the Mexican plates are a good addition to the menu, as are the new quesadilla fillings. I also really liked the salsa and sauces served with the burrito, something that just isn't practical in a takeaway. Will I walk the extra 15 minutes to visit the Mexican Canteen over my local branch? Who knows. If Gav and I are after a civilised sit down lunch, then yes, if I'm after a quick fix hangover cure, then no.

I tell you one thing that would guarantee a few more visits.... an alcohol licence. In fact an ice cold beer and a burrito would go down lovely right now...


*Sheffield Food lovers will also be glad to find Our Cow Molly milk in the fridge, #brownies on the shelf and Yee Kwan ice cream in the freezer as well as the obligatory (although not at all Mexican) Hendo's relish on the tables.

HFW - Veg Every Day.

I've surprised myself with this book.

Firstly it's written by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, a celebrity chef with silly hair and someone I will always know as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingbollacks thanks to my husband (who means no offence by it).

Secondly it's a book about veg. 416 pages and not a whisper of any meat or fish and, although I was veggie for a bit as a kid, I have now come to terms with the fact that I LOVE meat and I just couldn't imagine getting on with this book.

Thirdly it's inspired me to blog it...

So, despite my initial fears, you might be surprised to know that I think this book is amazing. I've been on a bit of a health kick recently (don't worry my food loving readers, my idea of a health kick is just to try and get my 5 a day stuffed down my throat) and this book has been a real help.

I've cooked a fair few recipes and every single one has been easy, tasty and satisfying. I'd like to say that each one was a meal in itself and that it didn't need any meat added but I simply couldn't resist adding chorizo to the chachouka I had this week (a dish of tomato and eggs screams out for chorizo) and it was beautiful.

The book is good for dinner time meals, but I also use it for inspiration for lunches at work. There's a whole chapter dedicated to salads and they use some amazing flavour combinations - you won't find any iceberg lettuce here!

Salads of white beans, artichokes & goat's cheese and mushrooms, roasted squash and Stilton are great for lunches at work. Roast potatoes with aubergine is lovely warm and cold, as is the aubergine parmigiana. Pinto bean chilli is a great vitamin C booster, as is the cauliflower and chickpea curry.

With recipes such as kale and mushroom lasagne, tahini dressed courgette and green bean salad, garlicky flatbreads, upside down onion tart and pasta with fennel, rocket and lemon (which we're having this week) I know I'll be using this book a lot for years to come.

I recommend this book to anyone wanting to eat a bit healthier, or just interested in trying some  new flavour combinations. You can buy it from Amazon - just click here.

How to Eat in Rome - Part Four - Anitca Caciara Trasteverina

Day three of our holiday in Rome was not the best. It was hot and I had been deprived of a decent lie in. After a quick breakfast of coffee and cornetti (think croisants stuffed with a sweet custard) at the place that was previously known as Frontoni (another Downie recommendation, which has since changed hands, and names, and no I didn't catch the new name) for the excellent price of €2.20, we kind of wandered around aimlessly.

Well, not entirely aimlessly as we were heading to Testaccio, although I'm not sure what we were hoping to find there. In the end we gave in to the heat and stopped for a drink at the first cafe/bar we stumbled on. It was a friendly little place; full of locals of all ages, including a wealthy granny sipping from a can of red bull!

But the sticky plastic chairs, lack of a seat on the loo (a lot of the loos are unisex in Rome and you're extremely lucky to find one with a seat - especially in the bars) and the beggar trying to sell me a pair of socks (seriously it was 35°C, I did not want to even look at a pair of socks)  all began to grate on me.

We decided to take a trip to a deli, buy some goodies for lunch and go back to the hotel to eat.

We'd been to Antica Caciara Trasteverina before (again, a Downie recommendation) and we were glad to find that little had changed. The shop was packed full of gorgeous smelling produce including cheese and meats and the owner, who, thanks to Downie, I know is called Anna, was as sweet and helpful as ever.

We bought some ripe and smelly cheese (I don't know what), some mozzarella, some bresola, some artichokes and some little bottles of campari and soda. We forgot to get some bread so we stopped off at a supermarket where we also picked up some tomatoes to go with the mozzarella.

The bresola was gorgeous; wafer thin and tasty. The mozzarella was probably the tastiest I've ever had, certainly better than any I've had in Britain anyway! Cheese was good and smelly and we also had some amazing mascarpone with Gorgonzola which we'd picked up earlier in the week. I wasn't too bothered about the Campari and soda as it was too bitter for me, but overall it was a good lunch.

Suitably satisfied we put the telly on and dozed off to Family Guy....

How to Eat in Rome - Part Three - Pizzeria Ai Marmi

Pizza ain't my favourite meal, but that's mainly because I remember those horrible deep pan things we used to have as kids. They had thick stodgy dough, bland toppings and never, ever enough cheese. And, although pizzas have improved in Britain, they are nothing like the pizza in Italy!

We'd been to Ai Marmi (otherwise known as L'Obitorio, or the morgue, due to the marble tables) on our last trip to Rome as it's listed in David Downie's 'Food Wine Rome'. However Gav had ordered a pizza on the basis that he didn't know what the topping was going to be as he couldn't translate the description fully. It ended up being lettuce, and although the base was good, the topping was not and Gav has never lived his mistake down.

As I felt we hadn't had the true Ai Marmi experience, thanks to that lettuce, I was keen to go back (we'd also had an amazing bean & pork shank dish which I wanted to try again).

I knew that this place got busy so we headed there for about 8pm as we couldn't book and I didn't want to queue. The seating outside had all been taken, but this was fine by us. Inside was deliciously cool thanks to those marble tables and the powerful air-con units.

We start with a couple of snacks including suppli al telefono; balls of risotto stuffed with mozzarella and then deep fried. They take their name from the fact that once you've bitten into these tasty balls the mozzarella spirals out of the centre resembling a telephone cord. We shared one and immediately regretted not ordering more as it was delicious, as was the stuffed and deep fried courgette flower. Again, why didn't we order more? Especially as they were only about €1.50 each!

However, it was probably for the best as the pizza was pretty big as was the bean and sausage casserole we'd ordered (they were out of the pork shank). Pizza was speck, Gorgonzola and mozzarella and although the Gorgonzola was a bit overpowering, it was delicious and a far cry from that lettuce we'd had 3 years before! The base was perfectly thin and crispy; just how I like my pizza. However, despite the lack of a stodgy base, it was still filling.

The bean casserole was really tasty, not as good as I remembered it (we did have it with pork shank not sausages last time, and there is the possibility that I had my rose tinted glasses on too...), but still good. The huge dish was a real challenge though and I struggled to get through a quarter of it, leaving the rest for Gav to finish (he wasn't complaining).

It isn't just the food that's good here, the atmosphere too; relaxed and loud with chatter. Waiters are busy but courteous and they bloody work for their money, as do the chefs who are constantly on the go rolling that pizza dough to perfection (watch them at work here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6o8Ze_BP4k). 

How to Eat in Rome - Part Two - Enoteca Corsi

My next restaurant of choice was a recommendation from Mrs Petticoat via Twitter. She had visited on her last trip to Rome and as I like her blog and what she has to say about food I took her recommendation of Enoteca Corsi seriously. Finding it received praise in David Downie’s ‘Food,Wine, Rome’ sealed the deal for me and I booked us in for lunch (not that I needed to bother as no one gave two hoots about our reservation on entering the restaurant – I say restaurant – more wine shop with oodles of tables for the hungry).

Anyway… after our meal at L’Osteria di Monteverde (and the vinos and spritz that followed after) we had a long lie safe in the knowledge that our holiday was all about the food and chilling out. The lie in did mean that we missed breakfast at our hotel (no loss as it was pretty poor), so we grabbed a coffee (I had a cappuccino, the ‘breakfast’ coffee and Gav had a café, or espresso to you & me) on our way to the Pantheon area of the city.

It was very hot and, on fancying a nice cold beer, we stopped at a bar/restaurant for a couple of Peronis. The plastic tablecloths and plastic picture menus should have set alarm bells ringing, but I was hot and bothered and in need of beer. So we sat and drank our beer, ate our peanuts and got stung for €8 a beer, plus 20% service charge for sitting outside. Balls. That doesn’t normally happen. We’re normally a lot savvier than that… 

And, as if to prove that point precisely, we then stumbled across a café bar which served wine at €1 a glass. Yeah baby! ONE EURO a glass. The cheapest we’d found it previously was €1.50 a glass (at the fabulous Bar San Calisto), so this was an amazing find for us. And ok, the wine wasn’t great, but it was wet, cold and didn’t taste of vinegar. Bargain.

Thirst quenched, and wallets only partly fleeced, we headed off to Enoteca Corsi. It doesn’t look much from the outside, and to be honest the inside ain’t the most glamorous of places, but that’s what makes these kinds of places so special. The focus isn’t on the décor or any high tech music system but on the food and the wine.

The daily changing menu is split according to prices with some pasta dishes at €8, salads at €10 and some larger meals for €13. There were also some sides and desserts for €5 each.  We decide to keep it relatively light and order one dish each, no sides.

I went for the octopus salad (€13) and was ever so glad that I did. It was like no other octopus I have ever had as it was amazingly well cooked. Seriously! It was cooked through, but so tender that it melted in the mouth. Served with tomatoes, olives, parsley, olive oil and a chunk of lemon it was fresh and tasty and the perfect option given the heat.

 Gav went for seafood pasta (€8). It wasn’t quite what he expected, as he had expected chunks of seafood and no tomato sauce, but on looking at the menu again I can’t believe we missed the words ‘pesce’ & ‘ragu’ in the Italian name of the dish. No matter. He loved it. Tortiglioni was very well cooked and the ragu sauce had minced up fish cooked into it. It was simply served; without any Parmesan, just a sprinkling of parsley and was all the better for it (cheese and fish is always a funny one anyway).

We hadn’t intended on having dessert, but we were comfortable and enjoying ourselves so went for it. I had a chocolate cake, which was actually a bit of a mistake as I should have had something lighter, such as the huge chunks of pineapple I saw being dished out. Ho hum. It was good, just not what I fancied in that heat.

Gav made a better choice with a lemon tart, but that’s only fair as I certainly won the best of the main dishes!

All in, along with half a litre of house white, it was around €40 which was a bargain considering the food (especially that octopus salad), the location (bang central in tourist land), and the friendly, efficient service. 

How to Eat in Rome – Part One – L’Osteria di Monteverde

Before travelling to Rome I tracked down a few local food bloggers for some tips of where to eat. After all, where better to look for some good old honest reviews? Some guide books can’t be trusted for their honesty and the only one I do trust (David Downie’s ‘Food, Wine, Rome’) was written a few years ago, and although it can still be relied upon for those classic die-hard Roman restaurants, I fancied somewhere new.

After studying  a few blogs, including Elizabeth Minchilli’s Eat Rome,  My Life in Two Parts and GT Food & Travel I booked a table at L’Osteria di Monteverde for our first night on the basis that service was going to be friendly, food was going to be good (and a bit innovative) and it was going to be reasonably priced. I’m pleased to say that my research paid off and we had an excellent evening.

Trudging up from Trastevere to Monteverde was a bit of an effort in 30°C heat, especially as it was up a bit of a hill (didn’t I leave those behind in Sheffield?) and by the time we entered the restaurant we were both a tad hot and bothered. Thankfully the place was air conditioned and we soon cooled down.

Far from being intimidated by the all Italian menu, we were pleased to find that we had hit on a local restaurant not some tourist attraction (I know, I know, a tourist wanting to get away from tourists – it makes no sense – but that’s just how it is). Having said that, although we knew what the pasta dishes were (the menu included all the Roman classics) and we could work out some of the ingredients, we did need a bit of assistance from the waiter. Thankfully his English was pretty damn good and he was pleased to take us through the main dishes in a helpful, but non-patronising manner.

Dishes ordered we chose our wine; a Frascati (hailing from the Lazio region, Frascati was the drink of choice all week), and this was a particularly delicious bottle. Priced at around €16 it was expensive for Rome, but more than reasonable for those of us who are used to British prices.

Proceedings kicked off with an amuse bouche of sea bream. Served on spoons, it was the perfect mouthful and although it was sea bream, it tasted of mackerel (of the tinned variety!). I missed how it had been cooked, but there was some tomato in there, which explains the tinned fish taste.

Wanting to experience the whole Italian dining experience without stuffing ourselves to the brim we decided to share an antipasto of steak tartare with truffle oil and mushrooms. The waiter insisted that he arrange for the dish to be split onto two plates rather than have us struggle over the one. This was a good idea, especially as on first mouthful, I know there was no way I could have shared my plate with anyone!

Fat, juicy chunks of raw steak were served in a tidy pile topped off with raw white mushrooms and sprinkles of Parmesan. Truffle oil wasn’t overly strong letting the beef do most of the talking and it was delicious. Simple and delicious. It was refreshing to see a beef tartare without the usual chopped onion, capers and the like… and the meat fared better for the chopping rather than passing it through the mincer.

We had also ordered a contorni, which I had thought would be served as a side with the secondi, but it arrived with our antipasto. It was a bit bizarre and it confused us no end, but strips of courgette with truffles and Parmesan would be good at any stage of any meal at any part of the day. The truffle was stronger in this dish and there was plenty of Parmesan making a simple dish of courgette truly luxurious!

On spotting those traditional Roman pasta dishes on the menu, I couldn’t resist a primi course. I hadn’t had an all’amatriciana before and as it’s a real classic, I was keen to give it a go. Rigatoni was cooked perfectly; al dente so that there was still a slight white ring inside the pasta on biting. The tomato sauce was delicious and rich and guinciale (think pancetta made from the pork cheek) was fatty, but crispy adding further texture. It was brilliant! After falling in love with carbonara on my last trip to Rome it’s fair to say that the all’amatriciana is my new passion and I will be curing my own pork cheek so that I can master this one at home.

Gav didn’t fare so well as his ravioli stuffed with aubergine was a little under seasoned and although the tomatoes and their juices served with those fat pouches of pasta were good, he could have done with a bit more as the flavour worked well with the creaminess of the aubergine.

Onto secondi and I went for the squid special. I liked the simplicity of the grilled squid served with chicory, but the squid was a bit overcooked for my liking. It wasn’t impossible, but was disappointing given the quality of the food I’d had so far.

Now it was Gav’s turn to win the best dish competition (doesn’t everyone want to win this competition?). His sea bream had been grilled on one side only, leaving the underside very barely cooked. It was served on a bed of pearl barely; something we rarely see being used, and why? It has such a great texture and we should use it more. It was good, by the way. Cooking the fish on one side is something I’d only previously seen in a sushi restaurant, but the technique makes perfect sense and allows for the best of both worlds in one mouthful.

By this point I was stuffed, full of both wine and food. Gav did manage to squeeze in a dolci. Strawberry sorbetto was a bit more elaborate than we imagined from the menu as it was served with some sugar work and apple. It looked beautiful, but I stuck to the alcohol and had some of the distilled white spirit flavoured with lemon on offer.

What a start to our holiday?! Apart from a couple of glitches in the squid and the ravioli, the food had been excellent and well worth the trek from Trastevere. Service had been absolutely spot on; friendly, smiley and chatty and we left the restaurant on a high.

Lovely.

(And for those concerned about Roman pricing… for the shared antipasto and contorni, a primi and secondi each, a dolci, 2 bottles of wine and 2 spirits we paid €114; again not cheap, but comparable to Sheffield prices).