Since this establishment was set up in the early 1980's, things have moved on for Italian restaurants in the UK, and the modern style with harsh surfaces and fewer cream sauce dishes, and possibly no veal have become more popular. This is an old established favourite that has been here as long as I remember, and is very popular with the locals, in fact so popular, that you might not get in without a booking, and would definitely need to book for a Saturday night. I am guessing that very few things except the prices have changed since the 80's. It is people who want this style and type of food that are regular patrons, and with good reason. I wish there were more like it.
We went there the day before Valentines Day thinking that it would be pretty empty, but it was not. There was hardly an empty seat in the place but it may have been people who could not get in the next day.
There is a big menu of traditional dishes which can be viewed on their web site http://dafrancorestaurant.co.uk/index and a board of daily specials.
Interesting to note that whilst there is lots of pasta, there is no pizza. This may be deliberate. There is a fair choice of wines at average suburban prices.
For starter, because I was feeling greedy, I ordered the linguine alle vongole which was described as coming with clams, garlic, white wine and tomato. This is often served with the clams in their shells, this was more of a sauce.
This was a huge portion, (and for £1.95 more it could have been a main course). It was steaming with a CHOF of 9. The sauce prevented tasting the individual clams, but it was well cooked tasty and may be a bit too much for a starter portion, but I was not complaining.
For main course I had Scaloppine Crema e Funghi which is an old fashioned veal dish with a cream and musroom sauce: one of my stable favourites, where I know I cannot go very wrong.
This was accompanied by spinach and french fries (my choice). Again this was a CHOF of 9 and was exactly what I was expecting. Looking back on the picture, it looks as if the veal may have been drowned in sauce, but this was not a problem, and I would not criticize: it is what the customers want, and I am one of them. I did not have room for desert, and stuck a spoon into my wife's traditional grandmother's pie with apricot. Service is friendly, but when the place gets full, things slow down a little, hopefully because everything is cooked to order.
I don't know why we don't go there more often. Possibly because on a number of times when I have phoned there was no availability. If you want hot old fashioned Italian this ticks the boxes: not everyone will see it that way, and I remember last time I came here, I brought an old friend who was somewhat disparaging of the old fashioned approach. Everyone to their own, and this one suits.
The bill for two and a half courses each and a bottle of wine came to £67. That was a little more than we were expecting, but there was nothing outrageous that had taken place. I guess I am just having to move my goal which said a meal for two (non ethnic e.g. Indian, Turkish) costs £50 to nearer £65. Makes the central London places seem not so bad.
No comments:
Post a Comment