Telephone number: 0118 934 2698

Website: N/A

Date of visit: 17 April 2011

Approximate cost per head: From £15 for 2 courses. Pasta and pizza main courses under £10

Comments on wine list/beer: Peroni  @ £3.50 a bottle. Basic wine list. Barolo available at over £30 a bottle

Cuisine: Italian – especially  Pizza and pasta

Summary:

This is a “neighbourhood” looking restaurant by the main cross road in Twyford, near Waitrose. They have their own car park – just behind. Our High Street used to be full of “trattoria” like this before the chains squeezed them out. I recall Mama Mia in Reading and Henley in the 70s and 80s – after the song but before the musical. They do good basic food at a very reasonable price.

I have driven pass it many times and thought that I’ll pay it a visit as I was taking my daughter and her friend en-route to a rugby match (as spectators).

The inside is very strange, pink with marble top tables and walls adorned with theatre masks.

On the day we went, they had a Sunday buffet lunch – roast chicken. The a la carte menu was available. I do not like restaurant/ pub roasts as the vegetables and roast potatoes tend to be soggy for being kept in a warmed up tray.

The a la carte menu is mainly pasta and pizza. They do have a page of starters with all the usual favourites and a page of non pasta main courses- steak and fish but no veal.

We opted for the garlic bread (£3.25) and calamari (£5.95). The garlic bread was a proper small flat loaf with a foaccia  texture, smeared with garlic butter – just the way I like it, not a baguette or a pizza base.

The calamari was again excellent – best squid I had for a long while – from a non Chinese restaurant. You get rings and tentacles.

For main courses we had 2 lots of spaghetti carbonara and one lot of rigatoni amatriciana. The portions were large and the girls could easily have shared a portion between. I had the amatriciana which was good and rich but could do with a little more chilli – for me anyway. The pasta were all cooked el dente.

The total bill including drinks came to just under £42 (no service charge). I am very impressed!

E

PS There is a small fountain in the porch hence Fontana.

Telephone number: 0118 90708078

Website: http://www.jamieoliver.com/italian/

Date of visit: 10 May 2010

Approximate cost per head: £15 for 2 courses

Comments on wine list/beer: Basic wines list with most wines around £15-25

Summary:

Jamie’s Italian has taken over from what used to be Chillies on the Kennet Canal in the Oracle complex.

When I tried this place a week ago, customers were made to queue outside – I didn’t – even though the whole of upstairs was empty. This time, I was invited to go upstairs even though the ground floor was half empty.

The building is circular and has a glass wall on the side facing the Kennet. Inside, they have a counter which is lined  with bottles of wine and crates of vegetables as well as legs of Parma ham and salamis. However, unlike Carluccio’s they do not sell deli products. They only sell mugs, tea towel and books etc.

The menu is dived into antipasti, pasta and main courses. Today’s special is chalked up on several blackboards.

We had tomato bruschetta to start with – it was not what I expected. Instead of it covered in tomatoes, we had sliced of tomatoes covered with cream cheese on 2 small slices of toasted bread – wrong order? Then we had starter portions of ravioli and truffled tagliatell with green side salads and a bowl of polenta chips. They are all priced at £4-£6. The polenta chips were chunks of deep fried polenta – very crispy but tasted of  nothing – to be fair, polenta tastes very bland and I usually jazz it up with grated cheese or bacon. The two pastas were ok. We also had a bottle of Primitivo 2008 (£16.25). The whole bill came to £40 – no service charge included.

I have heard lots of goods reviews about the place but to me, it trades strongly on Jamnie’s name. It’s very similar to Carluccio’s and in the same price bracket. For a similar amount of money, you can get a better meal at Pepe Salle (Queens Walk, Reading) or if you want to blow money, go to Caldesi in Bray. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong about the place its just NOT special. Its not a cheap version of the River Cafe where Jamnie was trained.

E

PS they do not take bookings. Just turn up and try your luck.

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Telephone number: 0118 959 7700

Website: www.pepesale.co.uk

Date of visit: 10 March 2010

Approximate cost per head for 2 courses: £20

Comments on wine list/beer: Peroni on tap. Very good value Italian list with a  good selection of Sicilian/Sardinian wines. The manager, Marco, is a real foodie ad he knows his wines. Ask him for a recommendation. He usually offers something around £20.

Summary:

Pepe Salle has been around for near 10 years. Its previous incarnations (different owners) were French and Portuguese. Both lasted only a couple of years.

I used to come here a lot when I was working across the road. This is my first visit in nearly 12 months.

The first impression is that there is no change. It is still brightly lit with the restaurant on 2 levels – separated by 4 feet of stairs. The “downstairs” dining room is bigger and tends to be noisier as the sound bounces off the walls and the tiled floor.

For starters, we had gamberoni arrabbiata, avacardo e fungi and the special of the day, oyster mushrooms cooked in garlic butter and served on crisp thin bread (carta de piano)

 http://www.italianfoodforever.com/iff2008/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=464:sardinianflatbread&catid=47:cbreads&Itemid=65 .

The mushroom was cooked just right – still el dente and juicy not shrivelled up or chewy.

For main course, we had ravioli ricotta, mallorreddo (small spiral pasta served in a sausage meat and spicy tomato sauce) fegato al balsamico (calves’ liver) and spaghetti bottarga (spaghetti with shaven mullet roe cooked in garlic butter).

Pepe Salle is a Sardinian Italian restaurant; their best dishes are mushrooms and pasta. When in season, Marco regularly forages for wild mushrooms. I have had great English porcini mushrooms here. Their pasta is always cooked right and comes with great sauces. My regular dishes are the ravioli and spaghetti bottarga.

The whole lot was washed down with two bottles of vermentino di gall – crisp and fresh at £18.90 a bottle.

The bill for 4 including bread and side salads came to £126.60 (excluding service). The food here is still as good as ever. They remain my favourite Italian.

Eddie

Telephone number: 0118 940 4474

Website: www.stgeorgeanddragon.co.uk

Date of visit: 27 December 2009

Approximate cost per head: less than £20

Comments on wine list/beer: Fairly extensive wine list with coverage over Europe, Americas, Australia and New Zealand. Wine by the glass is possible on certain wines. Beer is supplied by Loddon.

Summary:
This restaurant/pub is sited on the Thames just outside Wargrave – on the way to Henley. During the summer weekends, the place is packed.

The inside of the pub is a huge room with square tables for dining and round low tables for drinking and dining. When you book, be sure to ask for a square table as the round ones could be a bit low.

The food can best be described as an upmarket US diner with quality food. You can have salad, pasta, pizza, fish, steak, chicken etc….

Between us, we had the pizzetta which is a thin crispy pizza bread topped with shaven parmesan cheese and rocket. For main course, we had the salmon fish cakes, haddock & chips, burger and spit roasted chicken. The meals were served with fries (thin) – no salt (great). Vegetables were extra: from £1.95 for peas, cabbage and leeks.

On Sundays, they also offered a selection of roasts but I couldn’t sight anyone eating the roasts near us. The special of the day also offered scallops which looked very nice on the next table. The other tables were eating: pasta, pizza and & chips. The main courses were all priced at around £10 plus and the starters around £7.

This is a place where you can get a decent meal and the range of food on offer would cover most tastes. This is not haute cuisine.

The wine list had no vintages which suggest that you would probably get the most recent vintage. The price range from £15 to just under £40 with a pink Moet & Chandon, Amarone and a Chassagne Montrachet at the top end of the list. The Moet is good value for money as its only 100% mark-up whilst I would stay off young Amarones which tend to be very sweet (good as a desert wine). When they are aged (15 years) and browned out, they are great with game.

Ample parking outside the pub.

Eddie

Web address: http://www.italiancont.co.uk/

Date of visit: 17 November 2009

Opening hours: dawn till dusk , 7 days a week.

Telephone number: 01628 77011o

Summary:
Carmelo and his wife + relatives still manage this gem of a store in “north” maidenhead. It does not look much from the outside but ……..

This is the retail outlet of Camelo’s vast wholesale empire (up the road) which supplies Italian Restaurants in the SE of England.

You can still get milk, potatoes and domestos here (similar to your local Indian shop) but then he also sell a range of goods that you cannot get anywhere else.

To start with, the deli will sell you a variety of Italian ham, cheeses, salami and polish meat products. You can also get fresh Italian sausages which when mixed (with the casing off) with minced beef makes excellent meat balls with your pasta. Check out the end bits of prosciutto (Parma Ham) as they make excellent stock.

He sells both fresh and dry pasta and you can get several sizes of spaghetti (normal to angel hair). There are also a great selection of olive oils.

His “off lisence” is another treasure trove – you can get XO brandy and Krug champagne but its his collection of Italian wine that is truelly amazing. He sells tignanello (Antinori) – a great Italian red that is rated by Parker at one of the great wines of the world at just over £40 a bottle – comapre with French first and second growth, this is a steal.

He also stocks a great range of grappa and beers. You can get the usual and unusual beers such as Cypriot and Mexican. In case you want to do cocktails, he also has a whole range of “support” ingredients.

In his frozen goods department, you can get bacallou croquets and octopus – by the way, frozen octopus is actually better than fresh octopus and its more tender.

He also socks a range of spices, fresh herbs and squid ink. You can also find diabetic (sugar free) jams and biscuits.

When in season, he sells Italian vegetables and fruits – white peaches, swiss chard, radiccio……..

Be nice to him – he is the one behind the till and you will get a discount on your beer or wine (by the case) and one of his expresso.

Eddie