Restaurant Reviews: Italian Lunches & Prosecco

What better way to spend Sunday than to go out for lunch, drink some Prosecco and watch some rugby? Well, Scotland could actually win for a change, but apart from that ...

So a couple of quick reviews! Last week we were at Centotre on George Street, and today back to our old favourite VinCaffé

Centotre

We hadn't eaten at Centrotre since it opened many years ago, but we wanted to treat friends for lunch and thought this would be a good choice before heading off to a pub to watch the rugby.

Drinks first: Prosecco Col del Sas Extra Dry @ £26 per bottle: still too sweet for my taste, but good at lunchtime. Our good intentions vanished quickly as we drank 2 bottles ...

And now the starters: Mozzarella was ordered and came without the promised tomatoes (which were definitely on our menu but do not appear online ...). With no argument, tomatoes were added. The Bresaola was very nice, as was the Bruschetta.

For mains most of us selected the veal. This was good, but we had to ask for lemon, without which the dish would have been bland. Once again the service was great though, and lemon slices were brought from the bar. The sirloin was also good.

Eager to get a seat somewhere for the rugby, we skipped dessert.

Conclusions: the meal was OK, but I was very disappointed not to be offered fresh parmesan - I can't remember the last time that happened in an Italian restaurant. And lemon with the veal would have been nice.

As a quick aside, we ended up in Hudsons bar, which was not only an excellent place to watch the rugby (read: we got a seat and it wasn't that busy!), but they also had a fantastically dry prosecco at £17 a bottle. Unfortunately I can't remember the name, but if you are in the area ...

VinCaffé

We go to VinCaffé for lunch at least once a year, usually at Christmas. We also try and avoid the conveyor belt feel and bland menus often associated with Valentines day meals. So a table was booked, and it was confirmed that nothing at all special was happening at lunchtime - just the usual menu. Perfect!

For starters we had deep fried cauliflower and peppers, and fishcakes, washed down with a glass of Ferrari Prosecco. Both were excellent!

My main course, accompanied with a glass of La Poja Allegrini, was Pasta with pork Lucanica sausage, tomato, mushrooms and cream - seriously good pasta, and complemented perfectly by the wine. My hubby elected to try Quails with polenta and roasted butternut squash, with a glass of Gaja 1999. Incredible wine, and apparently the food wasn't bad either!

Only 1 dessert: a delicious lemon and ricotta cheesecake.

Once again, VinCaffé does not let us down. The food was excellent, compared to the food at Centotre which didn't quite hit the same standards.

And as for the rugby ... it's just a shame the Italians couldn't finish the day off perfectly (we'll not talk about yesterdays result ...)