Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
F O O D & D R I N K<br />
Go Italian in style<br />
After 25 years in business, Birmingham’s San Carlo restaurant is still leading the<br />
way when it comes to authentic Italian fayre. Amy Norbury discovers more<br />
When it comes to Italian food here in the Midlands, one<br />
Birmingham restaurant has paved the way and set the<br />
bar for dining in true Italian style. San Carlo has earned<br />
its reputation over the years by pioneering exceptional<br />
ingredients, with fresh, seasonal delights flown in<br />
from the best produce markets across Italy to ensure<br />
authenticity of flavour.<br />
As the original Birmingham restaurant - which has<br />
spawned sites nationwide and even internationally over<br />
the years - celebrates its 25th anniversary, J’AIME was<br />
invited along to discover exactly what it is which keeps<br />
diners coming back for more.<br />
The restaurant enjoys a prime spot in the heart of the<br />
city centre, and on the Friday evening of our visit the<br />
atmosphere was buzzing as diners packed in to enjoy<br />
what is billed as the best Italian cuisine for miles around.<br />
We were shown to a quiet table for two downstairs,<br />
near to the kitchen and with a little more breathing<br />
space than many of the tables, which are packed tightly<br />
together in true convivial Italian style.<br />
Aperitifs were duly ordered - a classic peach Bellini,<br />
£8.90, for me and a Birra Moretti, £3.30, for my<br />
husband - to sip while we perused the menus. It was<br />
definitely a wise move to get the drinks ordered swiftly<br />
as the menus - that’s plural - are some of<br />
the heftiest tomes I’ve ever encountered in a<br />
restaurant. The whistlestop tour of the best<br />
in Italian regional cuisine takes in antipasti,<br />
grill specialities such as the tomahawk steak<br />
and a broad range of mouth-watering meat,<br />
pizza and pasta recipes. And that’s before<br />
you get onto the separate daily specials menu<br />
which includes a further 15 starters, chef’s<br />
recommendations and a wide selection<br />
of seafood dishes including fresh lobster. I<br />
have to confess that I didn’t even look at the<br />
extra blackboard specials, for fear of menu<br />
blindness.<br />
If you can’t find a dozen dishes to tickle the<br />
tastebuds here then you never will - and that’s<br />
the problem. There were so many delicioussounding<br />
options that narrowing it down to just the one<br />
was a task in itself.<br />
But we persevered and, after much deliberation over the<br />
merits of each individual dish, decisions were made.<br />
To start, I had toyed with both the lobster ravioli<br />
and the fegatini di pollo - chicken livers sauteed with<br />
chestnuts and marsala - but plumped for the gnocchi<br />
34
Change language