Terranostra

The rather lovely B, G and S have invited H and me for lunch at the recently opened Terranostra. This is our second attempt as unfortunately I had to cancel due to yes, you've guessed it, sickness again but I have recovered (if no-one objects to my rasping cough - nice!) and this a delicious treat on this ever so frosty day. Terranostra have a quirky take on the Christmas décor, they’ve gone for turquoise and chocolate brown with beribboned baubles hanging from the ceiling. Festive but oh so modern!

The menu is modern Italian and I start with the classic Carpaccio with Rocket, Parmesan Shavings and Truffle Oil. All very accomplished, I have to say.

The others chose the impressively laden wooden platters of Parma Ham, Salami and Pecorino Cheeses and seemed pretty happy with their lot.

For the main course I fancied pasta for a change so I plumped for the fresh Sardinian pasta with Pesto Sauce but obviously didn't bank on the entirely unnecessary addition of nasty little bits of tomato. They offer to make a new one which is a little tedious as then everyone would probably finished whilst I'd still be tucking into by de-tomatoed pasta. So instead plan B was to extract each horrible little fleshy cube onto a proffered saucer. I have to admit it didn't really make it the finest plate of pasta I'd ever enjoyed. But I accept there was an element of my tomato dodging and doesn't necessarily reflect their pasta-making abilities.

There was some very peculiar confusion over the dessert order. Between G and I we wanted a simple bowl of ice cream. But how this got misinterpreted is all a bit of a mystery but after some swapping I had some Italian chocolate ice cream.

Terranostra has some definite potential; there are unquestionably a few points that need to be tweaked however. For example the ladies toilets are the coldest place ever, it’s actually quite curious. It is like you open the door and instead of stepping into a bathroom you have opened the doorway to Narnia and it’s snowing! In fact I wouldn’t have been surprised if I’d turned around and seen the Snow Queen washing her hands at the sink – except she couldn’t have done. No that would have been tricky, as the sinks were sealed up! I just of course went next door into the men's but that's hardly ideal is it? Well it's early days yet and the food is tasty, that's the important thing and I'm sure the rest will follow.