Hello! I hope you have all had a good weekend, whether it was a busy one out and about or a relaxed, cosy stay-at-home one. Ian and I popped down to visit my parents, hence the lack of posts over the past few days.
Yesterday, we went to see the Liverpool derby in one of the local pubs, then cheered my brother on playing football (and saw him score a corker of a goal!), followed by an Indian takeaway, drinks with friends then home for the boxing match.
Today saw us head home via Clarkes Village where I made a good dent in my Christmas shopping and we are now pottering and getting ready for another busy week!
Since we moved to our current house, I think Ian and I have done a fairly good job of acquainting ourselves with the local pubs and restaurants (!) and in doing so have found some gems. When I read a review recently of Pizzeria Amici, down the road from us in beautiful Bradford-on-Avon, I was slightly perplexed. I had no idea this place even existed and when I had a look for it on Google Street View I realised it was so well hidden that I had walked past it several times without noticing it was even there! The reviewer raved about their authentic pizzas cooked in a wood-fire oven so I knew we had to try it for ourselves.
On Thursday, we wrapped up warm and headed out to this lovely little restaurant. Upon entering, you will see there are only 7 or 8 tables and we got the last available one. The décor is simple, warm and cosy, and we instantly felt very welcome there.
Despite its size, there was a good menu with lots of delicious sounding pizza, pasta, risottos and salads on the menu and special boards.
We started with a bottle of fruity house red and a sharing plate of breads, olives, salad and various Italian meats. The salad had an amazing dressing on and we like to just pick at nibbles like this!
For our mains, we both opted for pizzas.
Mine came with tomato, mozzarella, gorgonzola, caramelised onions and pesto. Sounds amazing right?! This is where I feel a bit mean because I wanted to love this combination but the onions were so ridiculously sweet, and they piled on so many of them, that it completely dominated the other flavours. I know it’s nice when a restaurant is generous with the toppings but I think it’s all about balance! Once I had skimmed off some of the onions, I really enjoyed this pizza. The base was amazing – so chewy yet crispy and the pesto was fresh and vibrant with a hint of mint in it.
Ian’s pizza had tomato, mozzarella, anchovies, olives and capers on it. For me, this was just way too salty but he enjoyed it!
The pizzas were both huge so the waiters very kindly boxed up our leftovers for us (which I enjoyed for lunch the next day!) while we perused the dessert menu.
Ian opted for an amaretto espresso but I had room for a pudding. There were so many gelato options but I liked the sound of the mint sundae which was a gorgeous mint ice-cream, topped with a little chocolate sauce, surrounded in dark chocolate and served with lashings of cream. The mint flavour meant it wasn’t too sickly and I loved this variation of mint choc chip!
Overall, we had a really great night at Pizzeria Amici. I didn’t love it quite as much as I was hoping to but I am very keen to return and try out their pasta, especially as I saw my absolute favourite, spaghetti vongole, on the menu! The service was very good and it was well-priced for a midweek treat, as well as knowing you are supporting a local business rather than another chain…a lovely local pizzeria!