Profound Prezzo

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Restaurant review of Prezzo

Another wonderful evening out this week but this time to Prezzo – the modern, Italian influenced restaurant – which turned out to be quite an unanticipated but exquisite meal. Obviously I wasn’t expecting an amateur performance from the food but the flavour and panache of the dishes was something I couldn’t quite prepare myself for. The atmosphere of the restaurant set the tone perfectly:

 Originally a very elaborate house, now converted into small, separate dining rooms, the restaurant provided the intimacy of dining at home without losing that restaurant buzz of a busy night out.

Unfortunately, despite a very friendly welcoming member of staff, our main server was a bit distant and lacked the proper seasoning of good personality, however the fantastic food she served more than made up for this minor defect. After analysing their extensively appetising dinner menu, I finally selected a delicious starter “Baked mushrooms” (£5.50), a dish consisting of mushrooms “Stuffed with grana padano and mozzarella cheese, garlic, onions, mushrooms and breadcrumbs”.

 I thought the dish was beautiful although the flavours may not have been quite pungent enough – the essence of the cheese, garlic and onion seemed somewhat marred by the bread crumbs. However, I often find that using mushrooms as the base of a dish like this can sometimes allow the natural, wonderful flavour of the mushrooms to be lost whereas the mushrooms (6 in a portion) in this dish were spot on – soaked in their own gorgeous juices, saturating the mouth with every bite was absolutely delicious, particularly as this kind of tribute to the flavour of a mushroom is so rare.

For my main I had “Wild mushroom Girasole” (£10.75) which was served “With buffalo mozzarella, basil pesto, cherry tomatoes and fresh rocket”.

I felt this main was perfect! The ultimate Italian pasta dish! The pesto was salty but not overpowering, complementing perfectly with the juicy, sweet cherry tomatoes. The girasole (basically large ravioli) themselves were fantastic – obviously homemade with a wide collection of rich mushroom treasures stuffed inside. What I also enjoyed about the dish was the fact that there wasn’t too much of it – quality rather than quantity was obviously the priority which I find is always the best way to serve pasta, particularly at this high standard – flavours are much more important than feeling stuffed and bloated so instead I finished the platter with a sense of deep satisfaction and contentment.

For my dessert (I know – how cheeky!) I had “Honeycomb smash cheesecake”, an old favourite of mine and my brother’s who described it as the world’s best cheesecake! (£5.25) The cheesecake was “blended and topped with crunchy honeycomb pieces coated in chocolate”.

This wonderfully rich, creamy cheesecake was quite simply pudding at its best. Every mouthful felt like a soft taste of luxury as the cheesecake was so incredibly smooth and velvety. Not only had it got a lovely short biscuity base, it also had exciting little nuggets of chocolate covered honeycomb which added an extra dimension and crunch to this already splendid dish.

Overall, the whole night was a wonderful success – with everyone left feeling full yet satisfied. I shall be returning, I’m sure, very soon to see what more culinary delights Prezzo can conjure up!

Pictures: http://www.prezzorestaurants.co.uk/restaurant/Harpenden; Own taken in restaurant (15 Leyton Road, Harpenden, AL5 2HX) 

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