Monthly Archives: February 2012

Bournemouth’s Best Italian Restaurants

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Bournemouth’s Best Italian Restaurants

They say there is really no such thing as one Italian style because their cuisine is extremely varied and influenced by the best culinary styles from so many regions. Popular Italian cuisine has influences from Roman, Greek, Norman, Gaul, Goth, Germanic, Turkish, Slavic, Hebrew, Frank, Arab and even Chinese civilizations.

1. Ristorante Barolo
Location: 586-88 Wimborne Rd, Bournemouth (01202-547-213)
Situated just outside the city centre of Bournemouth, Ristorante Barolo is one of the best, if not the best, Italian restaurants in town. It is well-known for its traditional Italian cuisine such as pizzas and pastas, prepared in a deliciously home-made style. The waiters are always friendly and eager to please, and even the owner is usually at the door to welcome visitors. At night, live music fills the air, including an original Italian song or two.

2. La Strada
Location: 20b Exeter Rd, Bournemouth (01202-558-902)
La Strada is close to the Bournemouth International Centre, situated atop the hill near Bournemouth Pier.

The menus comes either as an a la carte menu or seafood menu. Everything on these menus is prepared with the freshest ingredients around. The day’s specials, regularly written on a blackboard up front, are always a culinary delight. And during lunch time, you may even get a special rate. Two words of caution, though: call first. The place is so popular on certain days that you won’t find a place to sit.

3. Valentino’s
Location: Exeter Rd, Bournemouth (01202-293-332)
From the entrance alone, you can immediately tell that this is an authentic Italian restaurant: there’s a shrine out front to the iconic Italian Casanova, Rudolf Valentino, after whom the place is obviously named.

All types of people patronize Valentino’s, whether they’re locals, students or travelling tourists. The best things on the menu are gnocchi and veal offerings, which their chef prepares in his own unique way.

4. Sal e Pepe Ristorante and Pizzeria
Location: 43 Charminster Rd, Bournemouth (01202-291-019)
With its red trim, large windows and green awning, you can tell from its appearance alone that Sal e Pepe is a classic Italian restaurant. The interiors are tastefully decorated with candles, Italian photos and faux Roman columns. Their menu features quite a large number of Italian offerings, including all the standard fare as well as several seafood dishes and novel fish entries such as monkfish and prawns. The restaurant serves lunch and dinner daily, weekdays to weekends. The day’s specials are listed on a blackboard up front.

5. Alcatraz Brasserie
Location: 127 Old Christchurch Rd, Bournemouth (01202-553-650)
This popular brasserie, located at the Bournemouth Centre, is famous for its spinach, Alcatraz pizza and ricotta tortellini. Their in-house coffees and desserts also have quite a following, especially the mouth-watering flute limoncillo and a special blend of cocoa and hazel nut ice cream known as tartufo. Al fresco dining is available at the restaurants patio area.

6. La Piccola Italia
Location: 23 Holdenhurst Rd, Lansdowne, Bournemouth (01202-551-510)
Since it was built in 1981, La Piccola Italia has enjoyed a reputation as one of the leading Italian restaurants in all of Bournemouth. Situated near the Lansdowne on Holdenhurst Road, this restaurant is widely patronized by both tourists and locals alike. They have an excellent a la cart menu as well as a wide array of pasta and pizza offerings. Reservations are recommended.

7. La Gondola
Location: 9-10 Christchurch Rd, Bournemouth (01202-558-079)
If you’re looking for the quintessential Italian restaurant, you might find what you’re looking for at La Gondola. The restaurant’s interiors are dominated by the colour red, except for the walls of the dining area, which are white and filled with photographs featuring various scenes that are distinctly Italian. On any given day, you will likely find a number of locals and students in the place, eager to enjoy such popular dishes like veal pizziaola and cannelloni al forno as well as occasional specials such as gnocchi al pasto or pollo con banana. The prices here are very reasonable.

8. Amaretto
Location: 272 Old Christchurch Rd, Bournemouth (01202-317-007)
For home-made Italian cuisine of the highest quality, the Amaretto restaurant is the place to visit. Located just a stone’s throw away from Bournemouth Centre, Amaretto has a unique feel brought about by its distinctly Mediterranean interiors and soft, live Italian music. Dinners have a choice between a seafood menu or an a la cart menu as well as enticing daily specials. Perhaps the most popular items on the menu are the desserts, which are always fresh every day.

 

Vegetarian Restaurants in Barcelona

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Vegetarian Restaurants in Barcelona

Barcelona is a great place to find food with the eclectic mix of kitchens from around the world inviting you to try anything from Cebiche to Kow Neow, as well as the fantastic local specialties too numerous to name. The Spanish have an obsession with meat, and Pork in particular (they sell the brains in the supermarket, right alongside the trotters, ears and tails for God’s sake!) and most restaurants will offer you cured hams, roasted of grilled meats or at least have a very meat orientated menu – which is not much fun if you’re a Vegetarian or a Vegan.

I’m going to give you the lowdown on Vegetarian and (mainly) Vegan options if you’re visiting Barcelona. If you don’t know the city well, it’s of pure co-incidence that these restaurants are all fairly close together, considering the size of Barcelona, and the scope it has for restaurants.

First up is Juicy Jones.

Juicy Jones has a couple of establishments – both in the old town. The one just off Las Ramblas, on Carrer Cardenal Casañas behind the PC City computer store is more of a Juice Bar, whereas the onelocated on Carrer Hospital is a little bigger. Juicy Jones offers the freshest ingredients for some fantastic concoctions and always a varied menu. Well worth a try.

Just two streets up from Carrer Hospital is Carrer Pintor Fortuny, and this is the location for two of the restaurants on the list. First is Organic, which is on the corner of Xuclá and as the name suggests, serves all organic produce and is very central, just a minute’s walk from Las Ramblas. Organic has another establishment on Carrer Hospital, at Plaça Sant Agusti – just a minute’s walk from Juicy Jones above.

Walk a little further into the Raval neighbourhood, following Pintor Fortuny, and on the opposite side of the road is BioCenter – another great spot for Vegan and Vegetarian munchies.

The shop bearing the same name on the opposite side of the road also offers produce and goods if you’re renting a self-catering apartment, for example – along with other main supermarkets like nearby Carrefour and el Corte Inglés at Plaça Catalunya.

Finally we have Sesamo, which is located on Carrer Sant Antoni Abat, at the end, right next to Sant Antoni Market. This is a small, but popular place and serves “comida sin bestias” or “food without beasts”!

One last place worth a mention is “Fresco” which is an all you can eat buffet with various locations around the city centre, and although it’s not strictly Vegetarian/Vegan, there’s a huge salad bar for starters (go back as many times as you like), and there is almost always some vegetarian alternatives, such as pasta with pesto and cheese sauces, etc. I thought it’s worth a mention as it’s very good value for money – and healthy to boot.

David Brydon has been living in Barcelona for 9 years and writes about Apartment for rent Barcelona and regularly contributes to this great Barcelona Guide.