Rustico Stockwell: probably amongst the best restaurant pizza.

14th December 2014
This was a celebratory lunch for my daughter, who may be defecting from Stockwell to come back to near her roots in north London. As she is almost faultless in her choice of restaurants (except they are sometimes a bit on the pricey side, and are sometime not used to older clients), I guessed I had little to worry about and came out thinking that I had had one of my best pizza experiences.
The restaurant is well reviewed elsewhere, and has a website, somewhat overstated, on http://www.rusticolondon.com/ . It is not obvious from the street, and you have to know the address, as you would not see it in passing. Wedged between two convenience stores, it looks as if it is only just being built.

Who would have guessed? It is quite small inside, and I would not consider turning up there, especially at a weekend, without a prior confirmed booking.

The front of house is staffed by someone who looks as if she could have been a retiree from the pages of Vogue, and the small team of informal staff wait on the few tables (see the gallery in the website above). It has been made to look rustic in a contrived fashion.

For starter, I had baked aubergine.

It was excellent, and tasted of cheese, tomato and aubergine, and was very hot, a 9 on the scale.

I then had the Cappriciosa pizza, topped with a mix of meats, vegetables and sausage.

This is not your average round pizza, but is as you see, on the proposed rustic wooden platter.

Suffice it to say, that it was excellent in all respects, being hot, tasty, fresh authentic tasting and sufficient in quantity that desert was not needed. A 9 on the CHOF scale also. Other pizzas sampled by our party were judged to be excellent.

I would unreservedly recommend Rustico for pizza. I cannot comment on other aspects of the menu. 

Cafe Mona Lisa, Whetstone: local cafe with restaurant potential

12 Dec 2014
The Cafe Mona Lisa has been around for years, and is a cafe by day, and restaurant by night, but does close fairly early. No web site of its own, but other information here:http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/directory/1150/74382.php
I have been going here also for years, and originally it had no license, and you could bring your own, but now they have a license, and sell average wine at average prices.
I have only been there for dinner, but my wife and her friend are regulars for lunch and speak highly of it. They are known to the staff, so we are treated well when we go there.
The menu is driven by the specials board, which changes daily, and there is plenty of choice. The layout is fairly cafe open plan, and whilst not on full view, you can see your food prepared. This is not high level restaurant food preparation, and I guess I have never been interested enough to keep a close eye on proceedings.
For starter I chose the chicken soup which I presume was home made. It came with baguette and butter, but was unremarkable.
For main course, I had the special roast leg of veal with accompaniments.

As you can see, this is a fairly substantial portion, although the meat was a little fatty and bland, which is a characteristic of some roasts of veal if the animal is young. I guess I should should have thought about that before ordering, as it was hot at 8.1 and otherwise faultless. I think I will probably go for one of the pasta dishes next time, because there will be a next time.

The place has a friendly atmosphere, and gets busy. It closes quite early, so it is probably advisable to book. 

This is an honest place, seemingly offering what its customers want: straightforward food at straightforward prices. We will almost certainly be going there again, but the next time I will choose carefully. The prices are reasonable, with a main course costing between £8 to £12, and mostly will no need for accompaniments. There is also a set austerity menu, limited in choice but worth a punt.