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Piazza Taormina Bistro, Chiswick

The new Italian on the block

Piazza Taormina Bistro sits on the old Charlottes Bistro site on Turnham Green Terrace.

We were welcomed by the manager Federica, and the chef Massimililano, along with our waitress Gaia who gave us a background to the chef, and how the generations of his Sicilian family have influenced the menu.

We ordered the Tasting Menu, along with some dishes from the main menu to get a full understanding of the dishes on offer.

We were served an amuse bouche of Parmesan arancini, sat on delicious olive tapenade to start off the culinary experience.

We then were presented with the entrée of salmon and avocado; a wonderful light and delicate dish to get your tastebuds ready for the next course.

The starter on the Tasting Menu was kiwi extract, marinated prawn knell, and crunchy celery. This dish almost had a ceviche vibe to it with the prawn, and the marinade was  akin to light gazpacho consomé.

We also had the steak tartare, which was accompanied by Piemont truffle oil, fried egg yolk, and burrata. This comfortably sits in the top few tartares I have had. The richness of the fried yolk combined with the flavoursome fillet worked well, with then the creaminess of the burrata separating the flavours and textures.

The next course on the Tasting Menu was mixed pasta, aubergine cream, beans, feta and chilli. This dish worked well as the pasta dish in a tasting menu, because although pasta, it was light. The aubergine cream had the feta passed through which acted as a flavoursome ‘sauce’ with then the al dente pasta giving the dish the texture.
I can see this dish working in its own right as a larger lunchtime portion, finished off with some baked prosciutto chips.

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On to the mains

On to the mains then, and the Tasting Menu offered up a luxury Chateaubriand with a compote of red onion and fig, with pear poached in Barolo wine.
The steak was cooked in a sous vide, retaining the moisture, and was as tender as you’d expect, a really great cut of meat.
The compote and pear complimented the steak perfectly, with enough acidity to cut through the richness of the meat.

We also had the swordfish linguini with cherry tomatoes and basil sauce. This was an extremely well cooked dish. The fish wasn’t overcooked (an easy thing to do with swordfish), and the sauce wasn’t too overpowering like some pesto can be. A really fantastic combination of flavours.

On to the final course of the evening, and the Tasting Menu served ricotta parfait, pears and cardamom. For me, this takes the crown of the best dessert I have had this year, and sits in the top three desserts I can remember eating. The parfait was something else, it’s sweet and creamy, yet solid texture, sat atop the finely diced pear in a sweet cardamom syrup - simply divine!

We also had the strawberry tiramisu. Personally, and my girlfriend agreed, it could have had a bit more of a coffee flavour to it. The dessert was nice in its own right, but if you love a tiramisu with a coffee hit, this is much more subtle. This comes down to personal preference though.

We also had a couple or Espresso Martinis which was a perfect way to close such a fantastic evening.

Along with the amazing array of dishes, we also had the wine paring throughout which the Sommelier had clearly worked hard to source the wines that best complimented Massimiliano’s food.

The service was impeccable, with our waitress Gaia being extremely knowledgeable about the food wine, and showed genuine passion in what she does.

I can not recommend this restaurant enough. The team are welcoming, and the food is phenomenal.

Chiswick is lucky to have an array of great restaurants, and Piazza Taormina Bistro has definitely earned its stripes to join that club.