There’s something about Italian food that ALWAYS feels Summery, no matter the time of year.
The tomatoes, the herbs, the garlic, the wine. Yes, I get the same feeling from Spanish food, but Italian’s also add cheese. So you know… winning.
Erica and I have both been to Italy this year (she’s been TWICE, the lucky lady!), so when Prezzo invited us down to try their new summer menu items, we couldn’t resist!
The Starters
We started with a couple of glasses of chilled white wine, and an Italian sharing board. (Because why have one starter when you can try five, right?)
The calamari was good – but I’ve had better. The pesto mayo it came served with was delicious though.
The crispy crab bites were OK as well, but nothing special.
Grilled flatbread with hummus topped with a spicy tomato sauce. Simple but delicious. Same as the rather lovely charcuterie selection!
Mozzarella in carrozza: breaded mozzarella served with tomato salsa. The cheese was perfectly melted and it worked so well with the tomato… this was probably my favourite of the starters!
The Mains
Erica ordered the rather fabulous-looking asparagus and mascarpone panciotti. Fresh pasta stuffed with asparagus and mascarpone, served in a mint butter sauce with peas, spinach, lemon and cheese.
It was soft and summery and utterly yum.
I also went for pasta: the pappardelle with wild mushrooms – and I think I won the battle of the dinners this time!
The pasta was perfectly cooked, the mushroom selection was varied and plentiful (I hate ordering a mushroom pasta and then only getting three pieces of actual mushroom in it!) and it came served with peas, spinach and asparagus, in a creamy, truffle and mushroom sauce.
I really really recommend this one!
It’s actually making me hungry thinking about it. Currently Google mapping (yes that’s a verb) where my closest Prezzo is and trying to calculate the pros and cons of heading over there for lunch…
The Sides
Alongside our deceptively huge pasta dishes (which neither of us managed to finish!), we also ordered a couple of sides to go with them
Some of you may recall that about a billion (two) years ago, I went on a restaurant tour of Victoria station.
I ate all the food in all the land, and one of our visits that night was to Prezzo. I still remember how much I loved their truffle fries, so I insisted that Erica and I order a portion. (Double carbs are a thing right?)
Hot, crispy fries, infused with truffle oil and topped with grated bella lodi cheese. Perfection.
We also decided that we should probably have some veg, so ordered what we thought was a crab salad. Disappointingly, it turned out to just be some greenery topped with the crab cakes we’d already tried from the starter plate, and some little pepper pearl things.
So that’s a no to the salad, but a big fat yes to everything else!
Final Thoughts
All the dishes we tried (except for the fries) were new dishes that have just been added to the line up for summer 2016 – and we were really impressed!
The starters were a bit hit and miss, but the mains were absolute perfection and I’d definitely go back again for that mushroom pasta.
It’s all really great value as well, so perfect for a casual weekday catchup with friends. I wouldn’t call it quite special enough for a date night, but the service is friendly and fast enough for a pre-theatre dinner as well.
Overall: it’s a thumbs up from us for the summer menu!
PREZZO
[pipdig_stars=”3.5″]
*We were guests of Prezzo for this visit.
All opinions, words and photos are mine! :)
