Pleasures of keeping it simple
Last Friday night, keys to the cells at the Old Bailey went missing for six hours. A good result might be more customers for this recently opened Sardinian restaurant which deserves more business than it was getting when I ate dinner there the Friday before.
It is simply decorated establishment - a meaner person than me might even say uncomfortably - and the choice of music is execrable but the heart and soul is located in the kitchen. Two wooden platters for sharing, one based on meats and cheese, the other on fish, kick off the menu. We could have tested their buying acuity but tried instead the cooking ability in a dish of the day of grilled porcini with Parmesan and another of stuffed calamari.
The porcini, the king of mushrooms, so much better fresh than dried, were fabulous. A vegetarian craving meat would be satisfied. Just flaking on the cheese rather than subjecting it to heat was the right thing to do.
"Wholesome," said Reg about the squid. It was not intended as faint praise.
He commented on the freshness of the stuffing comprising chopped squid, meat and pungent herbs. Determined to follow the Sardinian path - easy and rewarding to do in the wine list - my main course was malloreddus alla campidanese, which is a small grooved pasta shape sauced with spicy sausage meat in tomatoes. It was fine and filling but I rather wished I had ordered fregola con zucchine e gamberi, the large, cous-cous shaped, more flavourful grain served with courgettes and prawns in mussel stock.
A simple thing done well is a gratifying find in a restaurant. The description applies to paillard di vitello, a grilled beaten-out veal escalope served with delicately cooked spinach and cubes of properly sautéed, ie not deep-fried, potato. For dessert we chose tiramisu - well, you have to, don't you - and it was exemplary, heavy on the flavour of coffee.
The two waitresses were amiable and efficient and very fairly took it in turns to put on their overcoats and go outside to smoke. The Christmas menu at £28 for three courses is tempting and good value and a bit of ding-dong merrily on high would soon make you forget about the hard chairs, table runners and paper napkins.
Terranostra
Old Bailey, London, EC4M 7HS
