Casareccia - Kilburn, North London

In bed already at 7pm with a cup of tea, I might be turning 20 in a few weeks, but this is a little ridiculous!

Since Rob got himself a cheeky one month trial of the taste card (http://www.tastecard.co.uk/ - this gives you 50% off, or 2 for 1 in over 3500 restaurants in the UK for the yearly rate of £69.95), we decided to put it to the test in Kilburn. We were going to see Little Comets (epic band, fully recommend checking them out), so were in a little bit of a rush.

Casareccia was very easy to find, only a few minutes walk from the overground station. We had a table booked for 5.30, however the restaurant was pretty much deserted at such an early hour. The restaurant looked great, really rustic and family-run, with a great atmosphere, even though it was empty.

We were seated quickly by the slightly stressed-out waiter at a tiny table at the edge of the restaurant, with a good view of the open kitchen! Our drinks orders were taken quickly, although you either had to have red or white house wine by the glass, or otherwise buy an entire bottle which was a little ridiculous.




Our starters, I had chosen asparagus topped with melted goats cheese, on a bed of wilted spinach. It looked absolutely fantastic, and was delicious.! Asparagus is notoriously difficult to get right, but this was perfect. The combination of goats cheese and the spinach was beautiful, I enjoyed it! It also was the perfect size, not too filling, but enough to really give you a taste of the flavours in the dish.

After a short wait, our main courses arrived. As soon as I walked into Casareccia, my eye was drawn to the chefs spinning the pizza dough, so my heart was already set on a pizza. I had chosen the parma ham and rocket topped one, and it did not disappoint!



The base was the perfect thickness, and the toppings were perfect. It was a little too big for just me to eat, but it was still nice... UNTIL..

I found a hair. Baked into the mozzarella on the top of the pizza, I was less than impressed. Safe to say Ramsay would have been outraged, and probably would have throttled the chef! Alas, I am still far too polite for my own good, and just cut round the infected section of pizza and left it. I'm sure if I had mentioned it to the waiter, they would have been more than apologetic, but I couldn't bring myself to kick up a fuss! Rubbish food critic, right?

The rest of the meal was nice, the restaurant began to get really busy. It had a really good atmosphere, and even though it was packed, the waiting staff were still really attentive up until we left.

So, in conclusion:

Food:
The food was well cooked, and absolutely delicious, if you ignore the added hair in the pizza. The chefs were not wearing any sort of bandana or cap, which strikes me as being unhygienic, especially since it was an open kitchen.

Service:
The waiting staff were fantastic. Our first waiter, who may have been the front-of-house manager, was a little stressed, especially once we mentioned the Taste card, but it was all good.

Overall:
Good little restaurant! Very good value for money, a little disappointed about only having two types of wine by the glass, but for a small restaurant, I guess it was a little understandable. If you exclude the hair in the cheese, it was a really good meal!