A real taste of Italy
Behind the creative and inspiring new menu is a real celebration of Italy and its many wonderful ingredients. Every dish oozes real Italian authenticity from first mouthful to last morsel.
For example, most of Bella Italia’s pasta comes from the ‘Agnesi’ family, the oldest pasta maker in Italy.
San Vincenzo’, a family-run business in Calabria in Southern Italy, provides the Southern-inspired cured meats and salamis with true Italian flavour and the Northern- inspired cured and baked meats are from the ‘Fontana’ family in the north of Italy.
Limoncello adds a twist to new Bella dishes from ‘Dolce Cilento’ based in the heart of the Cilento National Park near the Amalfi coast.
And, a favourite for many, the Gelato, comes straight from ‘Gelateria Callipo’ in Pizzo, known as the ‘Home of Gelato’.
We visited the Stratford restaurant in Wood Street to sample the new menu which features a host of exciting new dishes including. . .
Two different Antipasto boards; Bella Italia’s new ‘Ripiena’ (Italian for ‘filled’) pizza, with a crust oozing real mozzarella and garlic butter. Cute Heart-Shaped Pasta Parcels with four cheeses in a basil pesto sauce and topped with semi-dried Pachino tomatoes; a slow-cooked and succulent Lamb Shank in a garlic, red wine & rosemary sauce, served with mashed potatoes and green beans and the truly indulgent Limoncello Meringue Pie.
The menu is indeed both more enticing and more extensive than before and our meals were fresh and tasty, favourites among them being the Ripiena pizza – in a generous sized portion – and, for the more sweet toothed, the shot desserts – a choice of three from five mini desserts of Ameretto Chocolate Pot, Tiramisu Mousse, Mini Pannacotta, Strawberry Cheesecake and Banoffee Pie.
And for the younger guests who, let’s face it, are the hardest to please, the new Kids Menu is a delight with choice of portion sizes and popular choices with some new ideas thrown in.
If you’re looking for something authentically Italian with that little sprinkle of something special - and a friendly, personal service – a trip to Bella Itallia these days should not disappoint.
For more information on the new menu visit: http://www.bellaitalia.co.uk/
