Angelo's

28th July.
Last weekend, we went for an unscheduled visit to Al Fresco, and this weekend in a short lived escape from curry, I booked Angelo's. They do not have a web site, but the information on TripAdvisor is sufficient:http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186338-d2363686-Reviews-Angelo_s_Italian_Eating_Place-London_England.html

This is another local place for local people, and contrasts starkly with the Al Fresco in most ways. No photo's as I did not have a camera, and my phone battery was dead, but my description should help.
It is a small place on the High Road in Whetstone, in a small parade of shops/businesses. It attracts locals of a slightly less flashy nature than Al Fresco. The front of house is run by the lady of the house, and those on tripadvisor seem to know her better as Carmela. She knows us by sight, but she greets everyone as a long lost friend, and lets you understand that this is personal. It is a family run business, and they used to have a place in North Finchley, but this more out of the way place is busy. In fact I have tried to get a table for two here on a Saturday night as a same day booking many times and failed. You have to book in advance for the weekend, as it is small (holds about 25-30 tops), and they don't seem to be in the business of extracting as many covers as possible. I probably got in because it is the start of the summer holidays, and the first full day of the Olympics where the Team GB hubris is starting to disintegrate, but no one knew that the day before.
The food is typical old fashioned Italian with lots of veal, and other favourites.
I had the stracciatella soup (which is a Roman egg drop soup, and you don't find it everywhere) followed by calves liver. Ruth had a prawn cocktail followed by Veal in a cream and mushroom sauce.
To my way of thinking the soup is tasty, unusual because of the added egg and Parmesan at the last moment.
My liver was tender and tasty and was accompanied by sauteed courgettes and potatoes (possibly a little too greasy for my taste). Ruth said her cocktail was good, and I tasted her veal which was soft and cooked to just the right amount. We finished off with a shared pannacotta with blackcurrant dressing, which was very rich. The meal was accompanied by a bottle of pink pinot grigio.
The whole meal scored a 10/10 on the CHOF scale, meaning it was served hot, and was sufficiently hot that one had a wait a minute to eat it. 9 is as hot as one would want to eat something.
This is not a fine dining experience, and apparently the place operates as a cafe during the day, but it is a friendly honest place and we have found that the food is consistently good. The place is basic in appearance with a few pictures on the walls, a list of daily specials, and a cafe like work serving counter. It is not as noisy as many modern Italian (and other) eating places, and we have found it a good place to dine in company. Portions are big, and frankly we should not have even shared a dessert. Pricing is average, and the bill was almost exactly the same as the similar meal at Al Fresco (a shade under £60). The difference was that we came out of there with a feeling that our presence had been welcomed, and we were expected to return. Many of the people in there were regulars. It is interesting that even in these times of austerity, there is no shortage of people eating out in London, and you still need to book on a Saturday night.