Restaurants / Reviews
Pasta Ripiena – restaurant review
The pop of a Prosecco cork heralds the arrival of a VIP guest on Saturday lunchtime at Pasta Ripiena: the grandmother of the two co-owners
“It’s one small step for nan,” says Dominic Borel as she makes her way to the table nearest the open kitchen, where brothers Joe and Ben Harvey are both behind the stoves.
It’s certainly a family affair here, with the Prosecco popping for good reason: this restaurant deserves to be celebrated.
is needed now More than ever
Cousins Dominic and Ben are behind Pasta Loco on Cotham Hill, and for this much-anticipated new opening they have recruited Joe who has previously worked as a chef at Bell’s Diner in Montpelier and Bellita on Cotham Hill.
Soon after midday on Saturday, the focaccia had just come out of the oven and Dominic was peeling off a sign on the door informing hopeful diners from the previous evening that they had been fully booked: the print-out helpfully giving hints on what other city centre restaurants those who missed out on Pasta Ripiena’s opening night could sample.
The slats of wood lining the ceiling of Pasta Ripiena are similar to Loco as are the framed photos on the walls, but here the kitchen – as nonna knows – is far more open.
Another difference is that while Pasta Loco changes its menu twice a day, Pasta Ripiena will let its own choices bed in for perhaps a couple of months, each with a strong seasonal focus.
After the cured meats and cheese selection on the menu (either £4 or £5 each) there are four starters and five main courses listed as ‘pasta ripiena’: a specific type of stuffed pasta.
From the starters, the roast lamb belly with barely a hint of fat was served with broad beans, charred chicory, anchovy mayo and salsa verde.
The roast lamb belly (£7.50)
It was a beautifully executed dish – with contrasting textures and tastes – but it was only the warm-up for the main event.
If the black truffle, porcini and ricotta mezzaluna does not have poetry written about it in years to come, there is no justice in this world.
Don’t worry about getting to the end of the review that you’re currently reading. Go to Pasta Ripiena now and order this. Camp outside if you have to. It’s that good.
Also including wild mushrooms, roast tomatoes and sage butter, it was quite exceptional.
Pasta Ripiena’s black truffle, porcini and ricotta mezzaluna (£12.50)
Ricotta, spinach and Amalfi lemon (£9)
As if by magic, more focaccia arrived towards the end of the meal with the instructions from the waitress to use it to mop up the liquid left on the plates. I didn’t need any more encouragement.
The other dish on the table was as deliciously seasonal as they come, with peas the size of marbles and Wye Valley asparagus accompanying pasta filled with ricotta and spinach.
But here’s a tip: three-year-old daughters are not big fans of a plate so green it would make the ground staff at Wembley Stadium proud.
“I don’t like peas,” Lois told me in a direct homage to Eat Your Peas by Nick Sharratt.
Oh well, all the more for me, as the small dining room slowly filled up with other diners fortunate to sample this new restaurant before the word really gets out there about this new gem in the Old City.
Panna cotta (£4)
Tuscan chocolate torte (£5.50)
To finish, we ordered a wibbly wobbly pistachio and extra virgin oil panna cotta that would do masters of the genre, Box E, proud; and an outrageously rich chocolate torte with hazelnut and mascarpone.
These are the only two puddings currently on the menu but they are certainly not an afterthought.
As with everything here at Pasta Ripiena, they are deceptively simple but done in just a way to make you smile and want more, much more.
Dominic, Joe and Ben had a lot of hype to live up to with the opening of this new restaurant and they have managed to hit the ground running immediately.
More corks will undoubtedly soon be popping as they garner all the plaudits that both Pasta Loco and Pasta Ripiena now deserve.
Pasta Ripiena, 33A St Stephen’s Street, Bristol BS1 1JX
0117 329 3131
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