Arancina, London
We stumbled upon Arancina while orientating ourselves around the neighbourhood of the service apartment we stayed in. Attracted by its cheery exterior and cute interior, we decided to peek in only to settle for breakfast. We ordered cappucino, calzone and an interesting breakfast item of fluffy scrambled (I think) eggs topped with parmesan on toast. The cappucino was so delicious, its froth strong enough to sustain for quite sometime the sprinkling of delicious chocolate powder and its coffee balanced between milky and strong, I craved for it immediately after I stepped out of the shop. My husband raved over his calzone, which he thought to be more refined that Graziella, and I loved my fluffy egg on toast. I am not sure how you can create such fluffy scramble.
We returned the next day for a light lunch as we thought we needed to sample more. This time round, the cappucino wasn’t so successful as the froth was flat. I concluded that the secret is in the maker, unfortunately. We ordered pasta (my husband ended up with a pasta he didn’t order but claimed it delicious nonetheless) which was done very properly with pronounced olive flavour, gentle garlic, and firm noodles. I was seduced by the colourful bean salad consisting of red kidney beans, chick peas (my favourite!), red onion, shaved carrots and other smaller bits which, in a mouthful, turned into an explosion of fruity olive within a mash of buttery and crunchy texture. This one I couldn’t wait to replicate at home. To share, we also had roasted eggplants with cheese and tomato sauce which was delicious, filling, and warm.
I for one am glad to ‘discover’ Arancina in the often expensive and superficial London. It’s such a nice little, unpretentious, and authentic Italian cafe which serves good food at such reasonable price. It was independent too (I think): the owner hovered around the two days we were there. If you happen to be around the neighbourhood, it’s definitely worth checking out.
Arancina:
19 Westbourne Grove
London, W24UA
Tel: 44(0)20 7792 9777
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Oddly enough we were mildly disappointed by the pizza at Arancina, although I’m willing to give it another chance (next Thursday to be precise when I meet an ex boss for coffee).
However the half car in the front window makes up for it all, being as it is a very old Fiat Cinquecento. In 1981 some friends and I were on a random holiday in Holland and we bought one between us for £20. We spent the next few weeks bombing around Europe in it, bought it back home and … well it disappeared one day from outside my parents’ house.
For that memory alone I’ll try Arancina again.
V: Ahahahhahahahahah! We didn’t try the pizza so I can’t really comment on that but I thought the rest of the stuff was pretty good. Lemme know if you do try again (For the memory, if nothing else
).
Comment by The Scribe of Rotten Hill — 9 January 2009 @ 4:22 pm