10141 Your Favourite Italian Restaurants Outside Italy.

Mine is in New York:

[url=http://www.peasantnyc.com/]Peasant[/url]

I already mentioned it in another thread.

Any closer to home Gala???

A delightful place that's on Marlow high street........best is the Sunday lunch; great value at with 2 courses @ £12.50 or 3 courses @ £15.50.

It's small so can get very busy & too much with wazzed up Farquars and Jeremy's on a Saturday evening, but stick to off-peak or lunchtime & you're on to an excellent value winner -> [URL="http://donlorenzo.co.uk/"]Don Lorenzo - Cucina Classica Italiana[/URL]

[quote=Sally Donaldson;94371]Any closer to home Gala???[/quote]
Nothing memorable in Europe, in the UK I always prefer local food, as for me it is a treat. In Spain, I eat Spanish.... in France, French of course!

In New York City, Il Tinello, Del Posto, Babbo, Scalini Fedeli -- all magnificent, and I'm very picky about eating Italian food outside of Italy!!

I wish I had known all those wonderful tips for New York restaurants whilst I was working there regulary. :frown:

I'm talking about a few years ago - in the late 80's and early 90's and there was one little restaurant that we always made a 'bee line' for everytime we were in London. I can't remember what it was called [I]then[/I], but remember quite clearly where it was. So I chanced a 'Google'.Well the restaurant is still there and is now called "Cosmobo" but I don't remember if the name was the same back then
.
You used to be able to dine (usually packed in like sardines with a queue for tables, it was so popular) on the upper floors too. It was run by a family and 'Mama' did the cooking - I wonder now if it's changed hands.
Here it is:
[IMG]http://farm1.static.flickr.com/12/17576131_f4e56f7865.jpg?v=0[/IMG]
It's in Cosmo Place, a passageway between Southampton Row (just below Russel Sq.) and Queens Sq.

What a lovely picture Carole.
Whilst I still marvel at the history and charm of ancient Italian towns it reminds me of the formidable character that London posseses as well. :smile:

I pass that restaurant every so often Carole on the way to The Royal London Homeopathic Hospital in Great Ormond Street. Lovely spot.

Glasgow is full of Italians so there are several restaurants there. There's a great Italian restaurant and shop in Glasgow called Fratelli Sarti - [url=http://www.sarti.co.uk/]Fratelli Sarti Glasgow, Italian restaurants, authentic Italian Cuisine, pizza, pasta[/url]

Also Cafe Antipasti which is good for lunch - [url=http://www.antipasti.co.uk/]Glasgow Italian Restaurant Antipasti[/url]

Just found this link that Gala, Mathematician and possibly other visitors to The Big Apple might be interested in - The Top Ten Italian Restaurants there - [url=http://nymag.com/nymetro/food/homeent/summer2003/n_8733/]The Italian Top Ten - Tastes of Summer[/url]

[quote=Sally Donaldson;94484][URL="http://www.sarti.co.uk/"][/URL]
Also Cafe Antipasti which is good for lunch - [URL="http://www.antipasti.co.uk/"]Glasgow Italian Restaurant Antipasti[/URL][/quote]
have you ever eaten there? or in the london place which you previously reccomended (seem to remember you said the food was "apparently" good there in your original post, which kind of suggests that you were going by 2nd hand info ... web review perchance?).
Antipasti is stereotypical 'lowest common denominator' italian food. Shouldn't get a reccomendation here under any circumstances IMO.

Oh the cynicism eh??? I haven't eaten in Antipasti,for a good while and also I'm better educated now, well hopefully!!! lol What though do you think of Sarti's??? I should add again it's been ages since I have eaten there too.

sarti used to be excellent, then went through a long patch where they paid minimum wage to a lot of disinterested staff and the service/cooking both went badly downhill; almost at the same time, they started abusing the loyal customer base they'd carefully cultivated by opening the Gran Caffe and charging funny money (without raising the standard to justify it). They also removed the deli section from the old Wellington St. branch which lost much of its original charm. I pretty much stopped going after that (about 5 years ago?) but have returned recently as they've had a management buyout, and they've reverted to predominantly Italian staff (with a healthy smattering of Polish waiters, who are much more pleasant & motivated than the minimum wage scot's ever were) and generally put a little soul back into the place.

Hi Viccy if you read this - do you ever google for Sarti now that you part own it? bet you do :-), hope the MBO is going well! You'll not recognise 'Pigro' but you know me & the wife from the days of Insomnia/Music Academy!!

"Come prima" in Madrid is not bad at all. The pumpkin filled ravioli are really excellent. Here you have a review:

[url=http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/spain/madrid/review-181818.html]Come Prima Review | Madrid | Fodor's Restaurant Reviews[/url]

I hope Sally recommends more restaurants she has not eaten at if it gets Pigro out of his self imposed hiatus. :bigergrin:

These are the only ones that I know from personal experience and can subsequently recommend J+C. Thank God.

Quick Sally - before Pigro changes his mind and disappears again - find something else to recommend. Just make something up. :bigergrin:

Because my home cooking is largely Italian based I tended, when in the UK, to eat at Indian (none here in Abruzzo :(), Chinese, Greek, etc restaurants but, just occasionally, I would visit Topo Gigio in Cowgate, Peterborough. Nothing pretentious just good Italian cooking and reasonable prices.

A friend once told me of a new Italian restaurant opening in Huntingdon, it turned out to be a Frankie and Benny’s. I had not known you could ruin calamari till I made the mistake of eating there once.

when i was in london i used to eat in "bizzarro", it's opposite paddington station... main of the personal is italian, and the food is really like that my grandma do here in italy :yes:

dannie hi, See the menu is from the Abruzzo region. Prices too are cheaper than the other Italian restaurants in London mentioned above. - [url=http://www.bizzarro.co.uk/].:: BIZZARRO RESTAURANT ::.[/url]

[quote=Sally Donaldson;94628]dannie hi, See the menu is from the Abruzzo region. Prices too are cheaper than the other Italian restaurants in London mentioned above. - [URL="http://www.bizzarro.co.uk/"].:: BIZZARRO RESTAURANT ::.[/URL][/quote]
hi :smile:
when i was there i ate only pizza or pasta and it was very very good, for the prices, i don't know, because i've found it a little expensive, but i don't know, because i've found everything expensive in london (for the change euro-pound), we paid almost 20 pounds for pizza and water (about 30 euros), in italy i pay about 14 euros (about 10 pounds).
(even if yesterday i paid 22 euros for a pizza :eeeek: !!!!! but venice, my place, everything is more expensive)