Last night, I went out with two of my best friends for a meal. We wanted something that suited a vegetarian and wasn’t too expensive but crucially, didn’t mind three girls gossiping for several hours over some nice food.
No chic fast food places for us who provide nice food but do tend to hover and glare if you don’t ‘eat and f*ck off’ as my friend put it. So we decided on Amalfi Restaurant (21 Old Compton Street).
This is a glorious traditional Italian restaurant in the heart of SOHO which doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. It has candles, it is warm and at some point, I could swear it had checked table clothes. Very homely in a comforting way.
The menu was therefore a pleasant surprise as in addition to the Italian classics (like ragu and pomodoro), they serve Stozzapreti Puglies (a glorious dish of sausage, broccoli, pancetta, chilli butter and cheese) ad Rigatoni Siciliana (roast aubergines, and peppers in a garlic basil sauce topped with ricotta) as well as other innovative dishes.
Pizzas, carni and even some insalata were well represented and smelt delicious as the friendly staff wandered past our table delivering orders.
They also do ‘Antipastini’ which are small dishes to share as you have a couple of glasses of wine in the bar area – excellent idea and tastes pretty good too! And, the wine list is brilliant with some well priced bubbly which we naturally had to sample.
Now faced with a menu of food – good Italian food that I haven’t tried before – I decided on my somewhat unorthodox approach. My friends chose the Siciliana and Stozzapreti but I chose a starter of Funghi Timo E Crema (Wild mushrooms in a cream, garlic and thyme sauce) on polenta as well as zucchini frite, roast new potatoes and broccoli.
We all shared the sides and I got to try everyone’s dishes. Yum.
Can’t recommend the restaurant enough if you want a cosy Italian dinner in the centre of SOHO .
L xx
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