Mozzarella & more

Last Friday, I went to check out Mozzarella & more on King's Road, the latest opening from 'Made in Italy', a family-run group sharing their love for southern-Italian cuisine. The restaurant was made up to look like a traditional trattoria, with their fresh fish proudly displayed in the window and their vegetables and meats hanging over a deli counter filled with delicious-looking food. It was very popular, with a good buzz of people, and the charming staff made for a great atmosphere.

I was pleased to have some proper olives, boquerones and good bread to whet my appetite, before tucking into an amazing platter of mozzarella, burrata, ricotta, caponata, artichokes and Parma ham. The cheeses are made locally, at a kitchen in Battersea, so they were wonderfully fresh - I loved the creamy burrata especially. The bread was great topped with caponata and rich ricotta, or simply dipped in olive oil and balsamic.

Crispy prawns and squid were well done, with a nice, light batter and a chilli mayo, but I wasn't so keen on crunching through the prawn shell.

The highlight of the meal were ravioli stuffed with crab and Amalfi lemon ricotta - the subtle lemon aroma really complimented the fresh Devon crab meat. They were served with a beautiful cherry tomato sauce and fennel for a nice crunch of texture.

Dessert was a tough choice, with a mouth-watering array of cakes and puddings - a different selection every day, depending on what the chef felt like making! I went for the 'caprese al limon', a fantastic lemon cake with a distinct almond flavour and soft spongy texture - very good.

Everything on the menu sounded tasty, so I hope to go back try some more of their homemade pasta, local cheese and fresh fish. Delizioso!

Sticks'N'Sushi

Last night, I went to Sticks'N'Sushi to try out their re-designed menu. The set plates are now humorously split into sections ranging from Economy Class through Business and First Class to Private Jet, with funny sarcastic comments - nevertheless, jokes aside, all of the food looks stunning and it's clear that everyone gets the same charming service.

We started with iras-shai (or 'welcome' in Japanese), which was like a Japanese/Danish take on mezze: edamame hummus was wonderfully refreshing atop wafer-thin black bread; Danish cheese was combined with seaweed to produce a crispy and very moreish snack; a sweet and salty miso dip accompanied yasai (vegetable) sticks. It's beautifully simple but so delicious, just like the tomato salad which although modest-looking turned out to be a real delight with a great dressing which included soy sauce, ginger and spring onion.

The sushi was very good too. We had traditional gunkan (battleship), a special type of nigiri with a nori perimeter which allows loose ingredients such as roe to be included in the sushi. The halibut was excellent, fresh-tasting and delicate, but my favourite was the spicy tuna - not too spicy, with the interesting added flavour of quail egg yolk which broke as it was eaten, and black tobiko for a balance of texture.

The 'coal crab' maki looked really cool, with black rice and towering tempura of softshell crab. The batter on the crab was perhaps too thick and crunchy, but with soft avocado and a delicious spicy sauce, still made for some great sushi.

We finished with sea bass yakitori which was highly impressive. No messing about with unnecessarily complicated sauces, these were served with seasalt and lime, allowing the full taste of the fish to come through. Complimented by the smoky flavour and crisp skin from the coal grill, these were divine.

Yet again I was very pleased with my meal at Sticks'N'Sushi, and hope to return soon!