Ruchetta

Published 24 Feb 2011 09:30 0 Comments

How very fortunate the people of Reading, Henley and surrounding areas are, having a restaurant of the calibre of Ruchetta, in Peppard within striking distance.

In a fairly unpreposessing building, you could drive past it in the blink of an eye, but behind the unremarkable exterior is an establishment of excellence.

On a midweek winter lunchtime the interior was warmed by the glow of a real fire, matched by the warmth of the cheerful greeting of restaurant manager, Marco.and his staff.

Olives, tapenade (with a hint of chilli) and divine warm and crusty bread were brought to the table which was expertly laid with gleaming glass, linen and cutlery.

Essentially the menu comprises an a la carte with antipasti (featuring Scottish mussels, char-grilled cuttlefish and buffalo mozzarella salad), a primi selection (winter root veg soup, spaghettini with Altlantic king prawns or baked rigatoni pasta with meat balls) and extensive fish and meat main courses. There is also a pizza selection and it has to be said that the foccacia with smoked mozzarella, onions, wild oregano and capers was absolutely the best, freshest and most delicious I have ever had the pleasure to devour.

You can tell an awful lot about an establishment on the basis of the quality of its pizza.

And from this teriffic start, the meal progressed, achieving new heights of delightfulness with each course.

The style of cooking at Ruchetta is based on Calabrian cuisine (southern Italy). And as an ambassador to that style, owner Antonio is capable of creating a torrent of gastronomic tourism to that area.

Over the winter months Rucetta has introduced a game menu and it was from this that I selected roasted boneless quail stuffed with Savoy cabbage and smoked pancetta served with Sicilian couscous. I opted for the smaller portion at £5.50 opposed to the larger one at £9.50. The mini quail, squealingly delightful, was cooked to a tee. Hurray to a restaurant that can offer small portions of a main course to folk with smaller appetites. At the other end of the scale you could opt for the full Monty fillet of beef all'aceto di Modena or at around £24. And the spinach? Simply the best.

If the remaining sweet treats on the 'Dolci' menu, including Panettone butter pudding, warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and other delicacies, are as lovely as the three flavours of sorbet I tried, (mango, blood orange and lemon), this alone is enough to ensure several return visits from every new customer.

Score out of ten? Off the scale.

Advice: Book.

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