It is a pretty small restaurant with at best maybe 24 seats and no matter when we go, it is almost always full, which is great to see in a surburban restaurant in these credit-crunched times. The menu is largely pasta and risotto, but there are usually a few meat and fish specials, such as tagliati or sea bass. I always find it hard to go past the pasta and in particular the Malloreddus and Papparedelle al ragu - both excellent.
Upon arrival, we were greeted by the super-friendly, very Italian waiter (and I'm sure he is the owner) with some foccacia, crispbread and olives. The foccacia is new since last time and is dense and chewy with plenty of garlic. The olives are marinated in olive oil and fresh herbs and are so more-ish, I have a tendency to eat far more than I should, knowing the portions of pasta that await.
We started with sharing the antipasto plate, comprised of various salamis, breasola and proscuitto crudo as well as some excellent pecorino and ricotta with honey. Everything on the plate is of excellent quality and is is light enough to compensate for all those olives I ate.
I tried to branch out this time and chose the Salmon Ravioli with Courgette and Prawns in a tomato sauce. The pasta was perfectly cooked and tasted fresh, but I found the salmon filling a bit too 'fishy' and the dish was overall far too rich. They have reduced the portion sizes since we were last here from insanely ludicrous to just slightly more than you reasonably need, but with such a rich filling, I found it a bit much.
Kyle opted for the always reliable Malloreddus with Italian pork sausage mince and as usual it was excellent - subtly spicy and porky. The Malloreddus are a typical Sardinian pasta shape, which I have seen likened to gnocchi. It is, however, more like pasta and is a great shape for soaking up the sauce.
We finished off the meal with a complementary glass of limoncello, which is very sweet and only mildly lemony (a shame really, because more lemon than sugar would mean that I could get to drink Kyle's!) before undertaking the long walk back to our flat . . . about 30 metres away.
Little Sardegna is an outstanding local restaurant. The service is consistently brilliant (even when you're not there, the waiter says hello when you walk past) and the food is excellent and very good value. At £35 for both of us including a bottle of the house red, if you can get a table, this is a reliably good Italian neighbourhood restaurant.
Food: 9/10
Wine: 8/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 8/10
Overall: 9/10
Little Sardegna
170 Blackstock Road
London N5 1HA
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The restaurant is great Ppease check the website www.littlesardegna.com.
ReplyDeleteHave just come across your blog from Doshermanos blog and what a revelation. This is something we should have done when we arrived 8 years ago from Toowoomba as we are huge foodies! Of Little Sardegna, we had dinner there about 3 weeks ago and service was super friendly, though felt the cooking was a little too homes style without that restaurant quality, ie, something that I could make at home. To be fair, our favourite local is Il Bacio and have been a fan since our first visit to their Stokie branch many years ago and Little Sardegna is not in the same league. The Carta musica and Malloreddos are standouts. Though I do admit maybe the atmosphere is a little sterile and the other complaint I have (And I have this with most restaurants) is that in summer the red wine is served too warm, like drinking bath water sometimes. Apologies for the long comment, though has awakened the foodie in me and might have to do something about all the reviews I've written for friends and put them on a public forum..
ReplyDeleteHi 'anonymous'. How exciting to have inspired someone! We've only been here a little over two years and I started this in January this year - I wish I had started it earlier. It is great, because it makes you think about all the foodie things you do.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the food at Little Sardegna is fairly basic, but the service and atmosphere is so lovely, that it makes up for it (although we don't go all the time). Sounds like you live in the neighbourhood?
Yes, we started off living in Red Square in Stokie, then moved to St Thomas's Rd, then to Aubert Park and now Riversdale Rd where we bought 3 years ago. We love the area as it is so handy for everything. I'm going to attempt to start my blog or website this weekend while watching the cricket, though do currently run a social drinking website www.alphabetclub.org which we have nearly finished, might have to start at A again?
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