lunch at Assaggi

[balex]

I had an excellent lunch at Assaggi in Chepstow Road. Above a pub, it has a rather infomal echoey dining room with pseudo-Rothkos on the wall.

It's very small with only about 12 tables, and I think it is very difficult to get a table for dinner.

excellent carta di musica and foccaccia to start off with, replenished several times

We both had a special antipasto

boiled octopus, a few potatoes and some sliced runner beans

which was excellent but slightly too soft, we agreed as we polished off the last bits.

tortelloni with sage and butter filled with a cheesey filling with a touch of gorgonzola

sfolgiatina di pesce: a sort of lasgne with a non-creamy filling of pureed fish

Both of these were excellent; but they only had 3 primi all made with fresh pasta, which I thought was a bit weird.

I was really enjoying this so I ordered a secondo of a fritto misto di mare, with squid, red mullet, large prawns, and a few deep fried

leaves of rocket and radicchio on top. Again very good.

Only flaw in the meal was some tasteless tomatoes in the salad of rocket and tomato that my companion had.

Finally a delicious panna cotta, and an excellent espresso.

Very friendly and efficient service; I liked that you could order your secondo after the primo in the Italian way.

Kind of boring wine list: we had a Fiano d'Avellino by Feudi San Gregorio that was delicious.

£50 a person which seemed quite reasonable for this sort of food.

I haven't been to many Italian restaurants in England, so I can't really compare, but by Italian standards it was good to very good.

[peterpumkino]

I think it is very difficult to get a table for dinner.

I haven't been to many Italian restaurants in England, so I can't really compare, but by Italian standards it was good to very good.

Difficult is an understatement.

And, no, most other Italian restaurants are definately NOT Italian. Assiagi is one of the very few exceptions in London.

[Andy Lynes]

no, most other Italian restaurants are definately NOT Italian.

If you search for this phrase and variations thereof on eGullet, the server crashes from the sheer number of returns.

[peterpumkino]

no, most other Italian restaurants are definately NOT Italian.

If you search for this phrase and variations thereof on eGullet, the server crashes from the sheer number of returns.

As it should!

[Matthew Grant]

What a crap restaurant. A special starter of white crab meat salad with olive oil and lemon came with what I'm pretty sure was a pre packaged salad and a completely flavourless oil (if there even was any), even the crab meat lacked flavour and was lacking in seasoning. Another starter of King Prawns arried with the accompanying sauces (I forget what they even were) bearing a film demonstrating that they had been sitting around too long. In fact I'd go as far to say that the dish was pre plated and when ordered they simply cooked the prawns and put them on top. Average asparagus with this dish too which is really saying something at this time of the year..

My Ricotta Ravioli was overcooked and one of the parcels had split and left its contents in the pan. The Tagliolini with walnuts and herbs was a little better but was overly herby, it may have even had the hint of dry herbs?

Leg of Milk fed lamb with raw fennel was merely OK, again the quality of the ingredients just not good enough for such simple cooking, Halibut fared a little better. Side dishes of minted peas and potatoes with rosemary were pretty dull.

A waitress came to take our dessert order (I presume as we didn't have a menu) and I asked to finish our wine first. They never returned to even try and offer us coffee. We left at 11:20 feeling unwanted and there was only one table left.

Overall very poor indeed.

Edited April 22, 2007 by Matthew Grant (log)

[balex]

Sounds horrible. I nearly went there last week: it seems like I had a lucky escape.

[Matthew Grant]

Avoid at all costs is my advice. There seem to be a lot of regulars in there, I can only presume that they get better food, either that or they are just seduced by the nice room and friendly atmosphere.