Pasta Remoli, Finsbury Park
Last weekend my parents came down to London to stay with us. I hadn't seen them since I went on holiday to Krakow with them in June. So it was a long overdue catch up. On the Saturday night we decided to head out for dinner and I'd heard many great things about Pasta Remoli in Finsbury Park, so we gave it a try.
I'd actually previously been invited to a couple of tasting events that Pasta Remoli have held, but had on both occasions been unable to make it. So I was really keen to visit and try some of their North London famous pasta!
With another branch in Stratford, Pasta Remoli serve up fresh, mouthwatering, al dente pasta. Not only do they know how to cook pasta perfectly but they also allow you to get creative and make your own dish! Yes, that's right, you can create your own dish in three easy steps. Simply choose your pasta, your sauce and your cheese topping! To help make your decision, Pasta Remoli have a sample of each pasta on display next to the open kitchen. This not only looked amazing, and I'm sure helped lure customers through the door, but also helped provide an insight into the amazing world of pasta and just how many different types there are!!
After choosing a couple of appetizers - mixed olives and arancini (a must order!!) - we decided upon our mains. Both my mum and me chose a white sauce, consisting of chicken, mushrooms and peas. Mum chose the linguine pasta, whilst I opted for the pappardelle, a pasta I hadn't heard before but I'm so glad I chose. It's wider strips of pasta, much wider than tagliatelle, and tasted phenomenal with the creamy white sauce, topped with pecorino cheese.
Stew and Dad chose a tomato based sauce of Italian pork sausage ragu. Stew had his over pacherri pasta which are large tube like rolls of pasta, whilst Dad opted for tagliatelle.
Whilst the pork sausage ragu was delicious, with a fiery kick, we all agreed that I chose the best combination. The pappardelle pasta is to die for. I highly recommend it!
The portion sizes were generous and although we were feeling rather full, we couldn't leave without sampling some of their desserts too. I was weighing it up between pistachio gelati and cannolo, and ended up deciding on the latter - the classic cannolo Sicilano. This was scrumptious but a little too sweet for me. A couple of mouthfuls later and I was finding it too rich, but I'm not normally a sweet person. So please don't let this put you off!
Stew affogato al cafe which looked amazing - a glass of ice-cream served with a hot shot of coffee. Dad went for 'Grandmother's cake', which was a type of custard short cut pastry tart, and Mum chose the fruit tarte mini cake.
The bill came to just over £60 including 2 glasses of wine and 2 beers. Pretty impressive for 4 people, dining on a Saturday night in the heart of London!