AT last Chester’s long awaited café culture is here.
On any given day – warm or cold – you will see city-goers and tourists sipping on their lattes and lapping up the buzz of the city centre streets, no more so than on Bridge Street.
After more than two years of upheaval the road returned to its former glory and venues which started life as London’s top cafés have branched out and sought a new home Bridge Street.
My first visit to a Carluccio’s café was in St Christopher’s Place, at the back of Oxford Street, just a short walk from my university building.
The bustling café was quite out of my league and budget at the time, but a coffee and a pastry were the perfect afternoon treat before a long afternoon of lectures.
For my first visit to the Chester branch of the Italian venue I visited shortly before the teatime rush on a reasonably quite Wednesday afternoon.
The light and airy interior had all the qualities of a good café – fresh and other food products for sale, the waft of fresh coffee and the most mouth watering display of freshly baked goods.
We were shown to our table which had cushion booth-type seating on one side and were delighted to be offered a teatime deal, Menu Fisso, which included two courses for £9.95, three for £12.75 and a large glass of Sicilian Sicani for just £3.50 if you wanted it.
Opting for a post-work glass of Sicani red wine our late lunch/early dinner meant our stomachs were ready for a full hearty meal.
The menu, which featured Italian classics such as puttenesca (penne with tomato sauce, olives and finely chopped veg) and a chicken dish was limited but perfect for what we wanted.
For starters we both opted for the tuna fishcake which was accompanied with salad. They were about the size of your palm and obviously handmade. The portion size was perfect to whet the appetite for what I knew would be a filling main.
Coined as a ‘carb-a-phobe’ by my friends I was glad to see there were carb-free or at least low-carb options available.
However, the chain, which was founded by antonio Carluccio in 1991, is grounded in the true essence of the Italian ethos: great quality, authentic Italian food at sensible prices.
Wholesome pastas dominate the main menu but there are lighter options which any modern woman (or health conscious man) would recognise as a treat.
The diet went out the window and we chose the gnocchi gorgonzola and mushroom risotto.
The gnocchi was cooked perfectly and there was no sign of the typical starchy residue that some chefs have a tendency to overlook at certain restaurants. Some can also go overboard on the gorgonzola, which in itself is a strong flavour. But Carluccio’s had it down to a ‘t’.
The risotto was al dente, as expected, and the mushrooms were exotic and further enhanced by a strong garlic infusion and a fresh sprinkling of herbs to bring out their full potential.
The options for desserts was divine, as were the pastries on display, and of course the Italian favourites of latte and cappuccino.
The beauty about this café, cum diner, cum deli, cum shop, cum bar, is that a panettoni and a bottle of olive oil – a taste of Carluccio’s if you will – is available to buy to take away and that’s exactly what we did.
Chester’s café culture is truly revived by the coffee shop giants and small independents, but in my opinion Carluccio’s sets the benchmark
as a supreme example of what is good about modern dining.