The new Pizzica in Fulham

Pizzica is a small successful Italian restaurant in Fulham, the owner is from Puglia a region in south of Italy. A few months ago they opened a new restaurant in fulham road and I was very keen to try it.
When we arrived I immediately liked the environment, there are wood tables with a small flower on each of them, there is soft music and the restaurant is painted with warm colours. They make home made bread, the same kind of bread you would eat in Puglia and pizza. We ordered two starters, burrata and carpaccio. Both of them were quite good even if carpaccio was not a proper one in fact it was coppa which is a kind of salami from Italy. As main course I ordered ravioli with monk fish and asparagus and my friend ordered pappardelle with porcini mushrooms. I tried both of them, pappardelle was cooked with tomato sauce and probably butter, it's not easy yo make it right, sometimes it can be too dry but this one was perfect and delicious. Sadly I didn't like my dish, ravioli were crispy which doesn't make sense and provably seafood was not fresh as I can taste the fresh one. From my point of view a restaurant shouldn't serve seafood unless it's fresh from a monger fish.

We also ordered espresso and tiramisu as desert which was very good. We didn't drink any wine and the bill was 43£. Overall I was not impressed, provably I choose the wrong dish but I expected more, next time I want to try pizza there because it looked good.

Rate:7 out if 10.

Link: La Pizzica

Flowers from Provence

We had been attracted by this nice and small restaurant with flowering table cloths and an advert saying 13£ for two courses. After asking if dogs are allowed we got in down to the back with our puppy. I didn't read the name of the restaurant but flowers everywhere and paintings of lavender reminded me Provence, it was not a surprise when I found out its name is La Provence.
My starter was aubergine and olive pâté and as main I had sea bream on a bed of artichoke and fondue. It was delicious and I enjoyed it very much.
Other dishes were great as well. The dessert I had was homemade chocolate pudding with amazing chocolate fondue in the middle. The staff are very friendly and polite and the service is quick.
We also ordered espresso and we paid 20£ each.
This little cosy French restaurant was a beautiful surprise.
Rate: 8 out of 10.

Link: La Provence

Welcome to Brussels

I was in Brussels for a weekend and it was a great opportunity for finding a good restaurant and writing a review. Estrille was the restaurant chosen by me and my friends, I organised the venue for 12 of us and I'm glad I did.
The environment is fine and elegant with soft light all over the dining rooms, some walls are painted and some of them show raw bricks, arches connect one room to the other one. The staff is really polite and friendly, we didn't know anything about the dishes they serve and they have been very nice with us trying to answer all our questions. The food was great, everybody was happy, some of us, included me, ordered Carbonada which is a stewed beef cooked with beer and it comes with French fries.  I was not really happy about the side because I think it would have been better to serve the beef with something else but the meat was absolutely great, soft and tasy. Some people ordered duck breast which was a big portion and a good one.
Some had seafood and some chicken. I also had a starter which is duck pate with smell of orange, it was absolutely great. The bill was  a bit expensive but in my understanding restaurants in Brussels are expensive. We spent 40€ each and we also ordered wine and beer.
Rate: 8 out of 10
Link:Estrille

Good quality Japanese in Soho

After some time without reviewing anything I finally found inspiration. I was with friends, we were in Soho and one of us knew this Japanese restaurant called Binchio. It was quite late and we had to rush and make our order quickly so we decided to ask 4 platters of mixed grilled selection. The portion is not very big, the selection comes with a skewer of chicken, one with a big tiger prawn, one with salmon and then there are mushrooms, asparagus, pork. The dish is simple, well presented, high quality. I really enjoyed it and after eating it I didn't feel heavy but it left a good taste in my month.
The environment is modern and elegant, there are soft red lights and wood tables.
We spent 12.5£ pound each having ordered the selection and 2 portion of mushrooms and chicken rice.
Rate: 8 out of 10
Link: Bincho

Try Thai in Manchester

Try Thai is a very good restaurant in Manchester even if I'm not an expert of thai food I really enjoyed it.
The environment is nice, there are many people from Asia eating there which makes me think food is good.
Starters were great, I had crispy noodles with king prawns and it was delicious. As main course I had yellow curry with beef. The dish is just a little bit spicy but you can feel chilli only a minute after you tasted it, like a background taste. The portions were really big and I couldn't finish mine. They also have a good selection of wine and we ordered a bottle of Gavi from North of Italy. Everybody was happy with their food, a friend of mine had a dish with seafood and it looked amazing, I didn't try it but he told me it was tasteful. The only thing someone complained about was that all dishes were too sweet and actually mine was sweet too.
We spent 25£ each for four starters, four main and a bottle of wine. When I was going out of the restaurant I was glad to see there was a dog sitting next a customer.
Rate: 8 out of 10.
Link: Try Thai

Cesena, Italy

On a Sunday morning we went to Cesena and a local suggested us to have lunch at 3 Papi. This restaurant is located in Cesena main piazza, it opened more than 20 years ago and I think I have been there when I was child. I had tortelli pasticciati which is home made filled pasta with bolognese sauce, cream and parmesan cheese. It was delicious. Other people at the table had tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms which was very good, tortellini soup and capellacci. I think the only dish which was not great is capellacci, the filling was too little and they sauce not very tasty. All dishes were homemade and overall very good. If you go to Cesena I really  recommend this place.
Rate: 9 out of 10.

Week End in the countryside, Italy

One of the best places for eating in Italy is Emilia Romagna. If you want to find the best traditional homemade food you have to go to the country side. The "Week End" restaurant is located in a small town called "Osteria Nuova" and it is well known by local people for its cuisine. I hadn't been there for many years and I wanted to go again. Well the food was great. As starter we had piadina which is a traditional homemade bread typical from my region with different kinds of salami, ham, and a regional cheese. After I ordered ravioli pasticciati (homemade filled pasta served with ragu and cream sauce). My dish was delicious and my friends were quite pleased by their pasta as well. We also ordered profiteroles as dessert which was amazing. All desserts were homemade, and they also brought some ciambella, some limoncino and other liquors, for free, at the end of the meal.
The total bill was 75€ for 4 of us.
Rate: 9 out of 10.
Link: Week End