Cantina del Ponte

Had a night out tonight at Cantina del Ponte (yet another D&D place) with 5 bestest buds. I've previously eaten on the terrace next to the river, although it was a bit cold for that tonight.

We booked on a toptable deal and the offer menu was rather good. Almost all of us chose the same meal:

bresola con rucola e slasa al gorgonzola
cured beef, rocket, blue cheese dressing

Unfortunately the rocket overpowered the salad. Mind you the blue-cheese dressing was not particularly strong so it wasn't hard to mask its flavour

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faraona con pastinaca, cavolo nero, aglio ed alloro

pan fried guinea fowl, roast parsnips, black cabbage, garlic and bay leafGreat hearty winter dish. Beautifully cooked guinea fowl: crisp skin and moist meat. The Parsnip chips were an excellent accompaniment. I'm not entirely sure what serving a bay leaf on the spinach actually added.

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torta al cioccolato e polenta, mascarpone alaa vaniglia
chocolate & polenta cake, vanilla mascarpone

The cake was rather more solid and dry than I was expecting. There was also some kind of candied citrus peel involved, which was a most unwelcome addition.

Annie had the penne con crema di castagne e rucola (penne, chestnut cream & wild rocket) for her main and that was delicious. The chestnut cream sauce (note: must find out how to make it) was phenomenal and the rocket was a perfect accompaniment this time.

The service was excellent, as I've come to expect from a D&D place. Even though we were in there from 7pm on a Thursday night it was very quiet but the atmosphere did pick up as more people arrived. Somehow we were the loudest table (this is a recurring theme when I eat out with this bunch of bandits).

We had three bottles of house red and a glass of port each. The bill came to a very respectable £35 each. All in all a very good night and I would definitely recommend the Cantina for a quality Italian meal.