Giulia

We promised ourselves a trip to Guilia, ever since we read the description in The Guide. However, it doesn’t have the best of locations for us. W12 is a perfectly pleasant area (lots of parks for sure) but if we go into town (about once a fortnight) we tend to stick to areas with other places to visit (or shops if my wife has anything to do with it). On this occasion the mouthwatering descriptions of the food and having no exhibitions or distractions planned; we gave it a go.

We booked for lunch and were sad to learn that we were the only covers on that day - a Friday. I asked Giulia was this typical? She said it was a little slow but they did have plenty of bookings that evening. I’m not complaining by the way. Giulia was attentive and great company. We’re off to Rome in October and Giulia (being Roman) gave us some restaurant recommendations (as well as swapping stories about our favourite - Roscioli).

I started with a pasta dish, the bucatini all’amatriciana. Seriously, this was better than almost all examples of this dish I have eaten in Italy. Fresh pasta, perfectly cooked, the sauce had the perfect tomato consistency and the guanciale simply gorgeous. As I waxed lyrical about the “pork cheek”, Giulia also pointed out that the pecorino cheese they used was genuine, top quality cheese from Lazio. My wife had the roasted beetroot salad, with Gorgonzola. Again, absolutely superb.

My wife had the fettuccine with porcini mushrooms for her main meal which, while good, did not live up to the stratospheric standards of the first two courses. She said it was a little light on the porcini flavour to be really great. I had the Amarone braised short-rib on a bed of creamy mash and “turnip tops”. The “loose” nature of the de-boned rib-meat, braised until it simply melted in the mouth. The mash was so very creamy and the greens had a light, anchovy flavour which really lifted them.

We had two desserts (my wife had one and a half to be honest) of chocolate millefoglie and the apple strudel. Both were excellent but my wife thought the strudel was a little light on the cinnamon for her tastes.

Last but not least - the wine. I understand that a lot of restaurants would struggle (if not close) were it not for the profits that wine mark-ups bring in. Understanding it, doesn’t mean I’m happy with it. Especially those London restaurants that inflate the price to such a degree, I consider it borderline criminal. Imagine my joy then, to discover a wine from the Bolgheri, that a prestigious Italian wine publication described as a “mini Sassicaia”. Il Seggio 2020, from the producer Poggio Al Tesoro lived up to its billing. A wonderfully rich blend of grapes that mimics the best of Bordeaux. Without, that is, the mouth-puckering tannins from the French wines. This wine was as good in every respect; other than the inflated prices the French seem to think top quality Bordeaux are worth. Il Seggio isn’t cheap, at £74 a bottle in Giulia but the UK average retail price is around £30, which makes the mark-up very reasonable indeed.

We shall return. Despite getting extremely wet on the walk back to Ravenscourt Park tube. Thoroughly recommended.