The Compass, Islington. Gastrogrub.

Those that know me know that little piggies, and any possible edible derivative of them, are things that I like very much. Possibly a bit too much in fact as I regularly dream of the day when a prosciutto Spa opens in London where I can be wrapped in slices of Parma and be fed tidbits of Coppa by some semi-naked Lothario dressed in a loincloth made... of pork loin...

Now, stick the words "ham hock" beside the word "rillettes" (yum, oozing salty goose fat!) and I pretty much start hearing wedding bells a-ringing and need to whip out my secret drool bucket I keep stashed in a back pocket somewhere.

Well, the drool bucket certainly made an appearance at The Compass where I devoured ham hock rilletes with picallili on fresh bread before demolishing half of my friend's silky, pungeant chicken liver, wild mushroom and truffle oil pate with cornichons (gotta love those cornichons...).

The Compass sits on a rather unassuming street, and in fact doesn't really stick out much. Inside is not exactly award-winning decor either, with simple, but tasteful wooden tables and a curved bar beside the open kitchen at the front. For being a Gastropub, its slightly lacking on the pub side of things as the whole room is devoted to restaurant seating. But they make rillettes with ham hock, so after my third glass of Tempranillo Cabernet from Spain and having licked my fingers clean of any possible trace of pate de foie, I was ready to forgive them. In fact I nearly assaulted the waitress with my over eager praise of the spreadable delight.

I enjoyed a crispy seabream with squash and cockles in a soft, creamy sauce, but looked enviously at Alberto's prettily pink roast spiced lamb with couscous and tzatziki.

I somehow ended up having a Laphroaig with my cheese, not entirely sure why but Alberto seemed keen on hitting the smokey stuff so went along with it.

Cheeseboard contained a totally unremarkable Isle of Mull cheddar, a lovely Colston basset stilton, and my favourite, the rather nutty Tunworth soft rind. With cranberry chutney.

Those who only fancy barsnacks can head in almost any gastronomic direction here from "chip butty" to grilled crab on toast or chorizo in wine. Had pay day been yesterday I could have gone into these further, but sadly, I'm a lass on a (pretty rubbish) budget.

The Compass. Hopefully you won't need one to find your way there. Pronto.

Song Que for your Supper

Lying half-way up Kingsland Road, fifteen minutes from Old Street tube station the mint green cantine-style interior of Song Que heaves with hungry diners. There are several other vietnamese restaurants and cheapo cafès along this road, but this is the only one with the serious queue at the door, and don't let that put you off, the waiter would free a table up for you if it costs him his daughter. This is no-frills, no trimmings, good-quality comfort food. Mains cost an average of £6 and are extremely generous. Flavours are bold and service is fast with some pretty witty banter coming from the staff. Don't expect to be fussed over and to lounge about once your plate's been cleared, there's others waiting behind you. Do, however, expect friendly and efficient service and a tasty and extensive menu.

Tried and tested:

Spring rolls - crispy and golden but a tad greasy for my taste
Vietnamese summer rolls - these were divine, full of fresh flavours and good texture
Pho Tai (rare beef noodle soup) - heart-warming and delicious, but could've been just a teensy bit more generous with the meat.
Pancake with prawn and chicken - light fluffy egg pancake with crispy beansprouts and very tender prawns
Grilled squid with ginger and spring onions - the squid was fresh and not at all rubbery
Chilli salted squid - this was a strong dish, popping with chilli
Lemongrass chicken with peppers - again, a real fiery kick of lemongrass and crunchy peppers for texture
There's jasmine tea and a varied selection of Vietnamese bottled beers as well as the regular beers.


Cost: about 14 pounds per head for two courses and a drink.


134, Kingsland Road
London
E2 8DY
Closed Sundays
Children Welcome

Get Ready for LobsterFest at Belgo!

Lobster, that fine fellow of a crustacean! Delicious served simply with melted butter, delicious cold with homemade mayonnaise, delicious full-stop... June sees the arrival of LobsterFest at Belgian moules-frites-bières chain Belgo and the Itinerant Epicure is signing up for the feast.

The preview menu is here:

STARTERS:

Lobster Bisque

£4.95

A rich lobster and brandy bisque served with cream and chives

Lobster Thermidor

£8.75

Half a Canadian 1lb lobster, grilled with a light cheese, mustard

and Orval beer sauce

Red Thai Lobster

£8.75

Half a Canadian 1lb Lobster baked with a lightly spiced and nutty red

Thai curry sauce

MAIN COURSES:

Grilled Whole Lobster

£16.95

A whole Canadian 1lb lobster, halved and grilled with garlic and Pernod

butter. Served with frites and salad

Surf & Turf

£16.95

Half a Canadian 1lb lobster, grilled with garlic and Pernod butter and

served with a 6 oz* ribeye steak, frites and salad

Whole Surf & Turf

£23.95

Whole a Canadian 1lb lobster, grilled with garlic and Pernod butter and

served with a 6 oz* ribeye steak, frites and salad

Lobster Salad

£16.95

A whole lobster salad with crisp spring onions, green beans and carrots

tossed in a light port and lemon dressing

Gufaa? Load of Guff

I'm not sure at what point the meal turned sour. Was it possibly the £9 for five half-charred poppadoms and chutney? Yes, I double checked my poppadom hadn't been lacquered in gold-leaf and no, the chutney hadn't been hand-milked from the breasts of mermaids either. It could possibly have been the rosé wine, which conformed so delightfully to that futuristic E.U vision of bored French viticulturists mixing dreg-ends of white and red bargain-bin plonk together in industrial-sized vats and shipping the resultant vinegar off to the ignorant "rosbif". 
Or maybe it was the 45 minute wait for a collection of identical dishes swimming in a ubiquitous lukewarm almondy goop: whether ghosht pasanda, korma or tandoori, you could bet it was going to be yellow and devoid of any kick whatsoever. 
The crispy burnt onion bits at the bottom of my dish were the elements that elicited possibly the only excited groan of the evening. The indignant look of the near-comatose waiter when we tried to remove the service charge from our exorbitant bill at least provided entertainment value, as did the grand debate on the possible provenance of the aforementioned "creamy sauce". Best not to think too long about it, and head somewhere else.

Gufaa

39 Upper Street
London N1 0PN
020 7354 5465

Polpo - aperitivo a go-go

Polpo touts itself as a Venetian bacaro in London. I've never been to Venice, so far be it for me to say how authentic it may or may not be, but frankly it looks just like an enoteca to me... It serves the Italian equivalent of tapas, "cicheti" the kind of small, taster dishes you'd find in any good wine bar in the major Italian cities.

The place is always buzzing, it's worth booking from Thursday to Saturday and don't expect to find a quiet table. The one truly authentic Italian element to this place is the noise level, and that's without the massive family christening parties with screaming babies.

I visited in the quieter hours after three, with a vague hangover that needed nursing. One Aperol spritz later and I was struggling to decide on only three dishes (these are hard economic times) from the menu as it frankly all sounds good.

I began with Spratti in Saor - marinated sprats in a citrussy, salty sauce served on small crostini. Gone in a flash, they whet my appetite perfectly. C. had the wild mushroom piadina, which was stuffed to the gills with a variety of funghi, although the bread was a touch chewy and dry.

For some reason that confounds me, I opted to follow with cotechino, essentially a type of sausage made from pork, fatback and pork rind, usually stuffed into a pig's trotter. I've yet to meet an Italian who eats this outside of New Year's eve where it is considered traditional and symbolic of good luck. It was probably since I'd missed out this New Year on my pig's trotter helping that I felt a twinge of nostalgia. It was, in fact, delicious. Nothing like the squidgy, boiled-to-misery salted mush I'm used to having in a drunken state towards midnight on the 31st, but delicate and handsomely flavoured with pine nuts and savoy cabbage and mustard.

C. had the pork belly, with radicchio and hazelnuts to balance out the sweetness and add bite. Equally tasty. 

The big mistake? The fritto misto. Not that it was bad, it was crispy enough and not terribly greasy. But after narfing through all the rest, the portion just didn't seem so small anymore and the squid, inevitably, had that rubber band texture that I couldn't really stomach after pig's feet and, yes, another Aperol spritz.

Neverthelss, between the two of us, we pretty much polished our plates. No sign of a venetian either in the kitchen or in the bar though, which made me wonder at the tenuous connection to the city of water... But the wine list told another tale, with a great selection of big and lesser-known northern Italian producers. Shame the hangover had me stuck on the Aperol, but I shall return to get my nashers round a Tocai soon...

Prices are around £3-£6  per dish, three dishes makes an ample meal.

Polpo

41 Beak Street 
London W1F 9SB. 
020 7734 4479.

La Trouvaille - A Great Find in the Heart of Soho

A friend of mine introduced me to La Trouvaille a few months ago and since then, I seem to have wound up here once every two weekends, as if a large magnet lay at the heart of Carnaby Street and I was dressed in metal.

A slice of France in the heart of London there is nothing phoney or twee about this cosy retreat. The staff are all French, the wine list is serious, the food is simple and good with proper French dishes and they do a lot to promote organic wines from the South West regions of France through organised wine tasting evenings which are always very well attended.

I have only eaten in the downstairs wine bar which has a short menu perfect for sharing with friends. Prices are perhaps a little over what you'd normally pay but the food is of a high standard. £10.50 gets you a delicious and abundant assiette de charcuterie and two kinds of fresh baked bread. Or choose from a cheese platter served with truffle honey. The tartiflette, an indulgent oven-baked dish of potato slivers topped with creamy, pungeant reblochon cheese and cubes of bacon is perfect for winter.

The wine list offers plenty of choice by the glass and the staff are knowledgeable about the regions and types of wine and how to pair them.

If you drop your business card in their box at the entrance you're in for a chance to win an evening of wine tasting. However, you can also simply book a spot, although places go very quickly as it is an especially popular event. Hosted on Monday nights, each month will explore a different region or vineyard which specialises in biodynamic, organic wines. You'll learn about organic wine production as well as the characteristics of each tipple.
£15 gets you six wines and canapés.

This is a great place to take a date, or for a wine, cheese and charcuterie sharing with friends. It's perfect for unwinding after a heady shopping session on Oxford or Regent Streets as it is literally around the corner, but quiet and removed from the rush. One to add to your "slow food" London restaurant list.

La Trouvaille

12A Newburgh Street
London W1
020 7287 8488

The Celtic Connection - La P'tite Folie in Edinburgh

I may be a distant descendant of the Pictish warriors that made up Clan Gunn, and my mother might hail from the more insalubrious districts of Glasgow, but this couldn't stop the Jamieson family venturing as far as Scotland's capital only to wind up lunching in a Breton restaurant. There we were, falling over ourselves to impress the waiter with our gutteral "r" rolling, making those knowledgable grunts of satisfaction only fine connoisseurs can muster as we perused the wine list and freezing our backsides off as we'd been placed by the front door.

La P'tite Folie on Frederick Street is a small, intimate affair, but its airy high-ceilinged room means you don't feel you're sitting on your neighbour's lap. It bears enough gallic memorabilia on its walls to appear genuine rather than those "buy in a box" rustic Provençal places where you can barely take a step without bashing your head against a hanging empty wine flagon or low-flying Bayonne ham.

Dad ordered le steak frites, cooked "medium" - shudder! The meat was tasty and tender, despite being far too brown much for my liking (if it ain't still mooing, don't bring it to my table). The frites were nothing to write home about, but crispy and freshly made and overall perfectly satisfying.

I started with a mini steak tartare, topped with a quail's egg. It felt for a moment as if the sole purpose of a quail's existence on Earth was to provide eggs conveniently small enough to top miniature versions of this bistro classic. The meat was of excellent quality, with just enough chopped cornichons to add a bite but not overwhelm. The egg was just enough to soften the consistency and not transform the meat into beef mayonnaise.

I continued with haddock poached in white wine au beurre blanc. This was frankly a tad disappointing as the fish was clearly right off the boat that morning, but had been slightly overdone giving a rubbery quality that didn't match the smooth sauce. It was full of flavour however and well matched with the lemoniness of the beurre blanc. Potatoes and mange-tout accompanied the lot.

Mum got the pick of the bunch with her confit de canard poached in red wine, the meat was falling off the bones before she even picked up the fork and the punch of the wine enhanced the sweetness of the duck. The mussels she started with would have been more exciting with the garlic butter and toasty breadcrumbs they were supposed to come with, but that's what Weight watchers will do to you, make you deny the joyous sins of BEURRE in all its forms - mum shunned the garlicky normandy butter salé and the result was a bowl of acceptable, but tame Moules Marinières.

We washed the whole lot down with a bottle of Chilean Cabernet Sauvigon then proceeded to dessert. I had crème brulée which was good, but not more. Dad had a dubious looking mint sponge which I admit to not trying (funny how that damn small quail's egg tipped me over the edge of the cream/dairy/egg content of the day).

All in all the meal was proper french food the way I remember it, with not a whiff of phoniness, of trying too hard or with dodgy wall stencils of men in berets wheeling baguettes about on bicycles.

They also have a branch in the West End at Tudor House, with a slightly tweaked menu and an expansive wine bar for the pre-theatre crowd.

La P'tite Folie

0131 225 7983

61 Frederick Street

Edinburgh

0131 225 8678

Tudor House, 9 Randolph Place

Edinburgh

What's the Beef on Brussels?

Just returned from a jolly jaunt in Brussels, catching up with a good friend of mine and her boyfriend in their gorgeous "apartement Bruxellois" in the quaint frenchified Place du Chatelain. I quickly made it abundantly clear that in a city such as this, it wasn't the art galleries I was wanting to explore, but rather the endless opportunities for absolute food sin. Much like french cuisine, the Belgians rarely shirk from copious amounts of butter, cheese, meat and cream. Add to that some excellent seafood and indulgent chocolatiers on every street corner and you have yourself a neat slice of foodie pie. I enjoyed my first steak tartare, which bizarrely is called "filet american" over here, although I fail to imagine many Americans raving about a huge portion of raw beef sitting on a plate. The beef is hashed finely with spices and onions, giving it a slightly sweet flavour, then topped with salty capers and, blissfully, homemade creamy bearnaise sauce. Eat with a generous serving of hot, crispy Belgian frites and you'll soon be weeping tears of joy into your frothy Duvel beer. I ate this at Les Brassins, a quaint, backstreet, authentic eatery with a small, typical menu, rude waitresses and a crammed bar with excellent choice of ales. Sublime!



New York Times review of Les Brassins here!

Rick and Treat in Padstein - Cornwall

Cornwall was a week of gastronomic bliss. Aside from discovering the delicious Mill House Inn at Trebarwith Strands near Tintagel (review coming soon!), we dined at one of Rick Stein's umpteen million establishments in and around Padstow, which, love him or hate him, have done nothing but bring money, tourism and a good sprucing up to this exquisite little village overlooking a sandy estuary dotted with sailing boats. We chose the Rick Stein Cafe, which is the lower-range priced offering, but still a proper restaurant. The place was informal, cosy and family-friendly with kids enjoying proper grown up food without the stuffy environment and hawk-eyed waiters. A small, shady garden outside can accomodate about 15 people. Despite the relaxed cafe feel, the menu is serious, making the most of local, ridiculously fresh fish and boasting cornish ales and cider alongside the wines. I started with the salt and pepper prawns which were crispy and spicy on the outside but soft, sweet and fleshy on the inside and although I licked my fingers profusely afterwards, it wasn't because they were oozing grease. The helping was generous for a starter, eight prawns for a price that usually sees you being served four. We continued with devilled mackerel which was absolutely divine. Mackerel is not a fish that has me slobbering at the gills, like, say a roast monkfish or chargrilled black bream, but this was popping with flavour simply because of how fresh it was and how unfussily it was prepared. Served with a bright red tomato and white onion salad I couldn't have asked for more. Francesco get his chops into a lather over a steaming bowl of grilled fillet of haddock with laksa noodles and sambal blachan, a malaysian condiment which contains a large amount of chillies and toasted shrimp paste which created a creamy smooth, sweet curry taste with a pungeant kick right at the end, perfect for fleshy, plump haddock. My wine was nothing spectacular, although I did order the cheapest thing off the menu. Francesco's local ale, produced up the road (by Rick Stein, of course!) was a far better choice, especially as he was having curry. Puddings came next. Francesco's profiteroles were sadly the one disappointment of the meal. Stodgy and sickly sweet they lacked the lightness of touch an experienced french chef might have brung to it. On the other end of the spectrum, my sunken chocolate cake with excellent cornish cream was the dessert equivalent of Mills and Boon sex. Had I been wearing one, my bodice may have ripped, both from the fat content and the shear excitement. All in all, we paid £53 for two for michelin-quality food in a bright, pretty cafe. Beats a pasty, I'm afraid to say.

Leicester Arms Hotel, Penshurst SURREY

I usually visit the Leicester Arms on Boxing Day when villagers of Penshurst and the surrounding area flock under the awnings of this cosy country retreat clutching mulled wine and excitedly await the start of the Hunt.

I've always enjoyed my visits here, especially in winter where the log fires, squishy old arm chairs and wonky oak beams combine to create that oh-so-cherished country pub atmosphere you expect in a dainty, sparkling hamlet such as this. 

This is the first time I've actually had a three course meal here, in a large, airy restaurant at the back, traditionally furnished with large glass-paned windows giving over a view of the pub's pretty gardens and the valley below. 

The Sunday menu is pretty much meat-and-two veg, with few surprises and rather unimpressive vegetables. Portions are very generous however and the slow-roasted meats did fall off the bone in soft, satisfying chunks as well as being steeped in rich, homemade gravies. 

I made the mistake of ordering the crispy fried prawns with sweet chilli sauce, a daft choice considering our position (far from both the sea and a decent fishmonger). The prawns were watery and tasteless, the batter oozing oil and the sweet chilli sauce out of a Blue Dragon bottle.

Dad had the duck and orange patè, which although not made on the premises, was delicious, creamy and served with a thick red onion chutney and hot, crispy toast.

For mains, Dad had the roast beef, two rollicking great slices that hung over the edge of the plate glistening with gravy and an overly tough and crunchy yorkshire pud. Mum and I opted for slow-cooked lamb shank, mine was both slow cooked and over-cooked (I know, should be impossible), by which I mean that the edges had become gnarled, hardened and chewy, yet inside they were absolute perfection!

Roast potatoes were HUGE and soft, squidgy and oily. Carrots and beans watery and insipid. So far, not winning.

Then we got to the puddings! Hurrah for puds!

My Rich chocolate sponge with Bailey's and Belgian Chocolate sauce was light and fluffy with just a hint of gooey, rich interior and a thick, slightly honeyed sauce (the Bailey's I presume). 

Mum's Dark Chocolate pot was worth licking the plate for, silky smooth and not too much.

Dad's rasberry tart and custard went down a storm, and since he was unable to comment as he was too busy shovelling it into his mouth, one assumes it was as success!

Presentation was simple but elegant. Had I only come for dessert, I'd be happy as Larry! 

Drank a very scrumptious and fruity red Urrugunda from Chile too...

Sahara - Eritrean Restaurant (ROME)

Sahara - Eritrean Restaurant

43, Viale Ippocrate

Rome 00161

tel: +39 06 4424 2583

Rome boasts a fair number of Eritrean and Ethiopian restaurants, but this one has both the better interior (and exterior terrace) and spicier, better presented food. Run by an Italian and his Eritrean wife, this bright and sunny restaurant offers diners a choice between elegant seated area or more traditional wicker basket tables and low pouf seats, and, in the summer under a lantern-lit canopy on the terrace. 

The waitresses all wear traditional white linen robes with colourful headresses and, dazzling smiles aside, are polite and efficient the service is speedy. There are plenty of vegetarian options, including a tasty, if slightly sweet couscous and spicy hot lentil or chickpea purèes. Meat abounds, mincet abish is tender ground beef very lightly cooked in butter and simmered in ginger, cardamom and white pepper. Zighini, Francesco's favourite is a stew made either with beef or lamb and its pungeant sauce has a spicy start but a rich sweet finish, the name itself is that of the particular spice mix of about 25 different spices used to rub and stew the meat in. 

Most of the dishes are served on injera a sort of light, fluffy very wide pancake made of tef, a grain similar to millet, and you scoop the food up by tearing off a piece of injera and dipping it or wrapping it around the various tidbits on your injera. Its fun, and feels good to dispense with the niceties of (and unnecessary) cutlery. Only word of warning is it's very filling, so unless you're into eating loads of bread with every meal or are absolutely ravenous, don't order a starchy starter, or dip into the breadbasket before your mains!

There are South Africa wines on the menu, nothing dazzling, but perfectly suited to the hot, spicy dishes on offer and just what you'd expect from a decent, budget ethnic restaurant. It is possibly in the Eritrean food department that Rome offers its best shot at ethnic cuisine, because frankly, the other imports are sorely lacking in quality!

Fonduteria Lucifero - (ROME)

Fonduteria Lucifero

Via dei Capellari, 28 

00186 Rome

This tavern-like restaurant offers every type of fondue imaginable, from swiss, to chocolate, via bourguignonne, including the mouth-watering Piemontese special: A Tomino cheese fondue laced with the highly prized White truffle of Alba, which, in the week we dined there, was checking in at a cool 6 euros per gram. 
This is not a place to bring even open minded vegetarian friends, unless they want to be stuck munching on the delicious but limited range of vegetable appetizers as you wrap your teeth around any one of the delectable cuts of beef on the menu, all of which can also come sprinkled with a few shavings of said truffle… This is a strictly meat and cheese parlour.


We started with a generous antipasto of less common and therefore more interesting salamis, good quality mozzarella (both unusual for a relatively cheap Roman eatery) and a full platter of grilled, roasted, fired and stuffed fresh veggies all of which are laid out nicely on the bar as you walk into the joint. 
The portion was just right to leave room to actually finish the main course rather than feel guilty over leaving half of it.
Despite the host not showing us the wine list, claiming it was as long as the Bible and he could offer us the Reader‘s Digest format from memory, we didn’t get rumbled on the wine and enjoyed an excellent Nero D’Avola which conformed exactly to the type of wine we had asked to drink and at E 17.50, knocked the socks off value-wise of the usually acidic house wines most other places offer at around 11 euros a pop.


The only black note was the music, there’s enough good ambiance in the place to be able to do without any at all, or at least something befitting the simple whitewashed cavernous walls and checkered tablecloths, rather than the commercial radio pap, however, we were at the only table in the vicinity of the speakers and would’ve been quite undisturbed in any other part of the restaurant. I finished full, content, merry and not in the least bit stuffed or under the impression of having filled my gullet my face with ten tons of cow. All in all, a jolly night out!

GUSTO - gastronomic complex in historical centre of Rome

Residing in a fascist-era former government building behind the sleek, minimalist Ara Pacis exhibition space Gusto occupies several buildings on various floors, more of a brand concept than just a restaurant, combining chic Italian style with a laid-back dining atmosphere, intimacy and good modern Italian cuisine. What's the catch? The expensive prices. The food is good, but not deserving of a price-list more akin to a high-end eatery or set-lunch michelin star menu. Plus the wines by the glass in the restaurant start at 8 euros, despite the fact that many bottles on the menu are affordable and you can get a very good glass of wine almost anywhere in Italy for half of that.

The Gusto company itself runs a cookery shop, an enoteca (wine bar), retaurant and pizzeria, an osteria (similar to a trattoria), a cocktail bar, formaggeria (cheese tasting bar) and finally a fish restaurant. These all adhere to the crisp white walls, oak tables and exposed metal design ethic but each conveys its own ambience geared to reflect the product it is selling. The cocktail bar prides itself on its selection of martinis, inlcuding the famed Bond favourite, the "Vesper"which I admit to being rather partial to. At aperitivo expect to find baby squid, marinated anchovies, mushroom tapenade and home-baked foccaccia brought to your table by any one of the handsome, part-time model waiters. 

We dined at the restaurant, a two-floor affair with small rooms leading in to each other so as to enhance a sense of warmth and keep the noise to a minimum. You'd hardly know there was a large pizzeria downstairs heaving with Friday night work groups and hungry 30-somethings but the delightful smell of fresh baked bread fills the room. 

I had a sformato al nero di seppia e crema di patate allo zafferano to start with, a smooth, sweet golden potato veloutè with a rich and creamy mousse of potato and squid cooked in its own ink. The flavours were spot on, as was the consistency. We drank a pouilly fumè there were no Italian white wines by the glass (not that i'm complaining about what we drank which was very good, but i'm sure a tourist to Rome would want the option of a local wine by the glass). 

Francesco chose a millefoglia of aubergine, which was tasty enough, but not worth the price. Food like this can be made at home, and being all vegetable you really can't justify the 9 euro charge unless you're sitting in a real gourmet establishment. 

For primi I had spinach tortelloni stuffed with buttery rich burrata cheese, a sort of soft mozzarella with a fondant cream-rich core, pacchino tomatoes and deep-fried basil leaves. THe pasta was excellent, the flavours fresh and the cheese just enough not to be filling, although the sauce was a bit watery and the deep-fried basil simply didn't taste of anything, and looked rather like wilted leaves as they were transparent and disintegrated at the touch of the fork. 

Francesco had ravioli with cacio e pepe, the consistency was perfect, creamy, pungeant and peppery as good cacio should be. A working class roman trattoria classic well adapted for the restaurant scene. 

For dessert we shared a dark chocolate soufflè with strawberries and peach cream. No denying the chocolate was rich and indulgent and yummy, but I was expecting a runnier fondent centre and the two little slivers of strawberry were pretty bland. THere wasn't much of a peach flavour either as there literally were two dots of the stuff on the plate. But overall, we somehow finished the whole lot very quickly and were still licking our lips for more...

THe secondi sounded wonderful,  although we simply weren't hungry enough. I would return again to try them, although I do believe the restaurant is a bit too pricey for its overall quality and the wine al bicchiere list needs revising. You can't bully people into choosing a whole bottle because its cheaper if you want to be taken seriously as a wine bar/enoteca as well. 

I haven't eaten at either the osteria or the pizzeria, although I have heard very good reviews of the pizzas. One little black spot was the sight of a Coeur de Lion cheese in the window of the formaggeria. I know that the aim of the cheese tasting bar is to showcase the variety and wealth of Italian cheeses primarily, and I also know the great rivalry between France and Italy on ... well... just about everything culinary, but frankly it's insulting both to your customers and to the French to offer Coeur de Lion as your token french cheese seeing as it's simply a low-end supermarket camembert of very little flavour. You wouldn't put "invernizzi" packet supermarket mozzarella on the cheese list of a posh Italian cheese-tasting delicatessen or serve it in a high-end restaurant. This made me pretty angry as I assumed it was part of an ongoing campaign to convince the Italian public that the French can't make cheese, when of course, the French make outstanding, world-famous cheese that can easily rival the best Italy has to offer.

Altogether, Gusto was tasty, with well-balanced and interesting variations on Italian classics and good, efficient service. The prices were too high and the wines-by-the-glass list a little bit restrictive but I would come here again to try the mains and the pizzeria. If they were not absolutely magnificent I might reconsider.