A wonderful Italian restaurant that manages to combine the intimacy of a local eatery with the authentic and fresh tastes that define a top-tier establishment.
The staff were uniformly warm and friendly. The waitress who served us was chatty but not intrusive, and had no qualms about recommending her favourite dishes. It was a quiet night, and Fabrizio himself popped out regularly, and was very game for engaging in a little bit of food dorkery.
I ordered a minestrone soup for starters, which was simple, delicately seasoned and fresh. It had a real lightness that I rarely find in minestrone. My friend ordered the brushchetta as a starter, and greatly enjoyed it.
For a main, I had breaded veal with spaghetti in a tomato sauce, and my friend ordered a pizza with aubergines (grilled, not friend, as Fabrizio was eager to tell us!), parma ham and mozzarella. The hearty portion of veal was tender and delicate, and the tomato sauce lightly covering the spaghetti was ever so slightly tangy and definitively rich.
I couldn't resist stealing a couple of slices of my friend's pizza. It looked so regal, with generous lashings of sweet/salty parma ham and moist slices of aubergine. The dough was light, crispy and fresh. Fantastic. Apparently, they do pizza by the meter if you so wish, and I saw a few extra-long takeaway boxes leave the door while we dined.
Unfortunately, time constraints meant that we had to skip dessert, though the home-made tiramisu sounded tempting.
If it sounds like I don't have anything bad to say about Fabrizio's, you'd be right. I can't fault it at all. My only concern was that it wasn't very busy when we were there, and thus there is a selfish motivation for writing such a glowing review. Having "discovered" it, I have to make sure it's busy enough to keep going, so that I can go back and enjoy many future fantastic meals. read more