| Ambiance: |  (2.5 / 5) |
| Service: | (3.5 / 5) |
| Value for money: | (5 / 5) |
| "Pizza: | (0 / 5) |
Astoria was another accidental discovery, which I found with Ben during a proposed China town crawl. I wasn’t initially looking forward to the prospect of chicken beaks and mini frogs but I definitely wasn’t intending on eating at an Italian. However, as usual – bargain hunter me was immediately drawn in by the big 50% off sign, which later clarified that it’d be 50% off EVERYTHING which was the ultimate deal clencher, and when going inside we noticed the big wood fired oven at the back and this sneaky find just got better.
The menu was just brilliant – it had a whole section dedicated to mozzarella so we ordered buffalo con crudo (a whole mozzarella with parma ham), with some artisan breads. I usually find bread disappointing in restaurants but this was an absolute exception. We were given a basket of sundried tomato and pesto ciabatta and rosemary and garlic focaccia. Both were perfectly moist and delicious. We were going to go for a secondi piatti but luckily the oven had broken so we were saved from ourselves, so we had a pizza to share instead – ‘salsicce e patate’. What is this big deal with putting potato on a pizza? Surely there’s enough carbs in the dough?! Definitely not one for a diet… And, I went for one with a Bianca base, something I can’t get my head around. Ragu is just so good!
The pizza came out, and it was pretty impressive – it was big, the base looks a perfect light brown colour and they weren’t sparing with the topping. I don’t usually like fennel but the fennel sausage they served was a brilliant accompaniment to the rosemary potato. As for the base, it was possibly the best dough I’ve had. Ben described it as tasting like pancake – I think meaning it was light, fluffy, with a slight chew and was just so moreish. I could’ve easily eaten the base by itself. I only asked for the balsamic vinegar because I think the pizza needs a little sauce (bring back the ragu!) and she came over and sprayed the pizza with balsamic vinegar! That’s something I’ve never seen before!
We had a glass of Sicilian white with the mozzarella and I had Moltepulciano d’Abruzzo for the pizza. You can’t really go wrong with the latter, but there were a lot of wines to choose from so you could have tried out something a little different if you wanted. The wine list was all Italian sourced, which I really liked as I think it’s great if a place remains authentically tied to the cuisine on offer. So, after 2 glasses of wine and 2 courses – the bill came to £23 (including service charge). Pretty ridiculous!
Recommendation:
Would I recommend this? Yes – to anyone! And I’d definitely go back, which is rare for me! Even if I had to pay full price, which is saying something!
Extra Information:
Address: 45 Wardour Street, Soho, London, W1D 6PZ
NTK: Try the pizza! The dough is delicious, and you can watch it being made in front of you.
