Gino’s Italian Kitchen

It’s another tale of advice taken at a snail’s pace, today. I’d had a Twitter tip to give Gino’s Italian Kitchen a try, many moons ago, but it’s in a part of town I rarely find myself during the day. I was glad to finally visit.

The focus of the place is as a cookery school. It’s set up as an open demonstration kitchen, with some informal cafe seating. This lent itself well to open and cheery banter throughout, with chef Angelo at the heart of the fun.

I was greeted with the words “we do pizza and pasta”. This sounded good to me, so I gave a little nod. “You want half and half?” Again, this sounded good. “Some minestrone while you wait?” I wish ordering was so easy everywhere I went.

Grabbing some fresh pasta dough, Angelo went about rolling it out, then asked if I’d prefer spaghetti or tagliatelle. I was happy with the latter. Amatriciana seemed like a good sauce option. Fresh pizza dough was similarly rolled with a simple margherita topping applied.

While these items cooked, I tucked into a chunky minestrone, which packed lovely flavour and a good range of textures. It was a firm thumbs up.

The main course was simple, fresh cooking at its best. It was the kind of no-nonsense, high flavour stuff that warms the soul.

So overall, I was completely charmed by Gino’s Kitchen. I can think of few more enjoyable and uplifting ways to spend a lunchtime than in eating good food, lovingly prepared and served with warmth and joy. This place radiates that in spades. I’d strongly recommend a visit.

Scores
Blythe scores Gino’s Kitchen
4/5 for food
3.5/5 for presentation
3/5 for setting
4.5/5 for service
giving an overall 15/20

I ate: minestrone; half pizza (margarita), half pasta (amatriciana)

I drank: water, espresso

I wore: striped shirt

Total bill: £13