Putney Pies really great

Putney Pies is like a gastro pub with amazing homemade pies. The environment is unexpectedly interesting, there is an underground floor that looks like a tunnel and leads to a back garden facing the river. Upstairs the environment is nice too with old wood tables and pub feeling. There is soft music upstairs, and lauder downstairs. it's a perfect place for lunch or just drinks during the day and for a night out with friends in the evening. We had seafood pot pie and a steak and ale pie, they came with a side and they were delicious.

If I was the owner I would write in big characters outside "back garden river facing" to attract more people, the place is definetly worth and I would recommend it.

We spent 22 pounds.

It's dog friendly too!

Link: Putney Pies

Rate: 8 out of 10

 

Great seafood in Misano Adriatico, Italy

It's one of my favorite place for seafood in Italy. It's a family run restaurant always crowded with locals. The price is low, food is good and portions are generous.
Last night it was two of us, we had two portions of homemade strozzapreti with seafood and only one portion of mixed grilled seafood.
Pasta was great, full of baby clams from Adriatic sea, some prawns and some crabs with a few fresh cherry tomatoes to tight everything.
Grilled seafood was huge, there were 3 different big fishes, prawns and blue fishes from Adriatic sea.
It was really a shame two of the big fishes were not very fresh. Coming from the seaside makes easy for me to taste fresh seafood and I was a bit disappointed when I ate them. Everything else was fresh and tasty.
The service is poor, owners are friendly sometimes but rude when the restaurant is full and they are in a rush. There isn't any waiter a part of two if them and sometimes it can take 20 minutes before the come to take the order.
We spent 45€, we had also a quarter of wine and water.
Even if I was not happy with all of the mixed seafood this is still a place where I like going for eating good food, big portions for a cheap price. Recommended for dinner with friends and family.
Rate: 7 out of 10.

Link: Il coccio

Andover arms is just great

Why is this pub  in the top ten restaurants in London? When I went there a couple of years ago it looked to me like a traditional English pub with character in the heart of brakenbury village. I noticed an antique clock, a nice fire place and a warm and comfortable environment . It was not so popular at that time but now If you want to have dinner there you have to book even in week days. It's always crowded and the reason is the food is delicious and the price is affordable.

 I particularly like starters at the Andover arms. The last two times I went there I had crostini with anchovies once and grilled calamari and scallop in a delicious bed of mashedpeas an other time. I loved it. They also make a great French onion soup, amazing fish pie with melted cheese and fantastic chicken and chorizo pie.

For a starter and a main with a soft drink I spent 25£.
Staff is extremely friendly and dogs are allowed!
I highly recommend it.
Rate: 9 out if 10
Link:

Top 10 pizza in London

TOP TEN PIZZA IN LONDON

1. Princi in Covent Garden

Straight from Corso Como in Milan, Princi landed in London a few years ago. They have all Italian delicious dishes like pasta, lasagna and pizza of course.
The restaurant is divided in two, one side where you don't get table service and you can choose from a big variety of food and the other one is the restaurant area where you can sit to be served.
The design of the place is new and modern even if tables are quite small. There is always a long queue and recently they gave the possibility of downloading an app which tells you when your table is ready, that allows you to go for a walk while you are queueing.
Pizza doug is extremely soft, the quality of ingredients is superb, the best pizza to order is the simplest one, with buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes. They don't have a big choice of pizzas but it is the best pizza in London.
Environment: 7
Pizza: 10
Price: medium

2. Canta Napoli in Chiswick

Canta Napoli is a very small pizza restaurant in Chiswick just off the highstreet, it's very popular in the area, their food is great and the price is cheap. It's the typical Italian place where there is only one or two waiters  and they run up and down as quick as they can to serve all the tables in a reasonable amount of time.
They make pizza and other dished which are all great.
Pizza dough is very good and light and the topping is plentiful.
The environment is simple and the tables size is big enough to eat comfortable.
Environment: 6
Pizza: 9
Price: cheap

3. Franco Manca

Franco Manca is one is of the most popular pizza restaurant for Italians in London. All Italians in London know about it!
After the first successful restaurant opened in Brixton many years ago they opened many others all around London.
The dough is think and soft, tomatoes is high quality, topping is not always plentiful though. Their menu is straight forward and it's all about pizza. After eating you won't feel too heavy but it will keep a lovely taste in your mouth.
Pizza can taste slightly different in different locations but all of them good quality.
I tried the one in Westfield in Stratford, the one in Tottenham court road and the one in Chiswick which was the best one.
The environment is simple and nice, tables are comfortable. They also have a good selection of wines even though with pizza wine is not the best match.
Some Franco Manca make other dishes as well, like the one Chiswick, others don't, like the one in Westfield.
Environment: 7
Pizza: 9
Price: very cheap.

4. Rosso Pomodoro

Rosso Pomodoro is a popular chain of restaurants from Milan, there is more than one in London as well, I know the one in Chelsea, in Notting hill and my favourite in the heart of Covent Garden. It's quite big, the service is good and pizza is great. The dough is not very think, topping is good and plentiful usually. You can choose between a wide choice of pizza and they also serve other Italian dishes in a seasonal menu.
Environment: 8
Pizza: 9
Price: medium

5. Donna Margherita in Clapham Junction

Donna Margherita is one of Italians favourite Italian restaurant, they are original from Naples where pizza was born and that's why they serve good seafood dishes and fantastic pizza. You can get authentic and genuine italian food and good service. It's always crowded and you need to book in advance.
Pizza dough is thin and topping is good quality and good quantity. Price is reasonable for pizza a bit expensive for other dishes.
The place is small and environment is warm.
Environment: 7
Pizza:8
Price medium

6. Fratelli La Bufala in Covent Garden

This is a chain from south of Italy, very popular in Milan but also other cities.
Pizza is very good with thick and soft dough, good tomatoes and good mozzarella. Topping is rich too.
They also serve other great dishes from the southern Italy traditions.
The downside of this restaurant is that service is not that good and quite often they ask you to sit in a very small table even if it is four of you, even if they place is big and not full, that makes the expirience a bit unconfortable.
Environment: 7
Pizza: 8
Price medium

7. Santore' in Angel

It is a very popular pizza restaurant with Italians, it is located in a lovely pedestrian area in Angel. Pizza dough is thin and ingredients are good. They mainly serve pizza al metro.
The restaurant is small and comfortable.
Environment: 7
Pizza: 8
Price medium

8. Bianco43 in Greenwich

Bianco43 it's a cosy small restaurant in Greenwich high Street, specialised in pizza and italian traditional dishes.
They have small tables, the environment is nice and staff is friendly.  Pizza dough is very good and that's what makes it special.
Environment: 8
Pizza:8
Price: medium

9. La Porchetta in Muswell Hill

This place is like you would expect an Italian restaurant to be. It's noisy and fun, all staff running and talking laud to each other. If it's your birthday they will switch the light off and start playing laud happy birthday song. Pizza is simple and good, you won't get the amazing quality you can find at other places but you will always end up you dinner satisfied. They also serve other pasta dishes which is ok but the best dish is pizza.
The restaurant is quite big comparing to other restaurant in London, and usually lively and crowded.
They also have good traditional deserts like tiramisu and profiteroles,
Environment: 7
Pizza:8
Price: cheap

10. Portobello in Notting hill

It's a big pizza restaurant in Notting hill, they use to have a special "all pizza you can eat" menu. They also serve other Italian dishes. Service is not great but pizza is worth.
Environment: 7
Pizza: 8
Price: medium

Alla Stazione, Misano Adriatico, Italy

If you ask me for a restaurant where to take your date out I would suggest you this place.
If you ask me for a restaurant where you can eat great food and big portions I probably woulnd't.

At Alla stazione restaurants the environment is fine and elegant, food is homemade and good quality.
I had homemade green seafood gnocchi with clams and seabass. I enjoyed it but the portion was not really generous comparing to other restaurants in Romagna coast in Italy.
I also had a tiramisu which was homemade, I liked it the only thing I was not happy about is that biscuits were too dry, I prefer when they are dunked in coffee and then covered by mascarpone cream.
Other people enjoyed their food, it was 6 of us and we spent 100 euro for 2 pasta dishes, a seafood starter, two pizza, a salad, water, wine and 4 deserts.

Rate: 7 out of 10
Link: Alla stazione

Jasmin in Sheperd's Bush, open until late

Elegant and good Thai restaurant in Shepherd's bush open till late.
Nice and friendly staff, nice wood decorations remind Thailand.
We had a mix of starters, all of them very good, and as a main I had soya noodles. They came with mixed fried vegetables and chicken. I enjoyed the dish and everybody else did. The most interesting dish is chicken on the fire which is showed below. A friend of mine ordered it and he said he really enjoyed it. The bill was cheap as well!
Rate: 8 out of 10.

Link: Jasmine in sheperds bush

Mozzarella bar

I have heard about this place a couple of times recently and yesterday I finally went there. The environment is new and stylish, quite dark even too much and air conditioning was quite high.
We started with a portion of mixed crostini which we shared. There were three pieces of bread quite small, one topped with a nice pâté, one with ndujua which is a chili pâté made in south of Italy and the last one and other pâté which I'm not sure about. Crosini were good but a bit overpriced considering the small portion.  I had quite high expectations of the pizza but it didn't really matched them. My pizza was topped with speck, the base was very soft but too floury, the top was generous but there were some big pieces of tomatoes which I didn't really like, I prefer when pizza is topped with passata but there was chopped tomatoes sauce instead.
We also had tiramisu which was really good. We ordered some wine as well. Overall the restaurant is good but if I want to eat a good pizza it wouldn't be my first choice. We spent 28£ each.
Rate: 6 out if 10