Pizza Metro

Pizza Metro is a traditional Neapolitan restaurant. There are two branches in London - Notting Hill and Battersea. I visited the Notting Hill restaurant with some work colleagues and we ate ourselves silly!

Compared to Obika, an Italian restaurant I blogged about previously, Pizza Metro is a truly authentic pizzeria with no extra frills. On entering the restaurant you are immediately drawn to the giant stone oven manned by Italian chefs, as well as the mega towers of takeaway pizza boxes. The interior of the restaurant is typically Italian with terracotta tiles and roman murals.




The pizzas at Pizza Metro do not come individually served; instead they come a metre long pizza and served on a wooden board . A great way for sharing with friends or, if you are cheeky enough, perfect for accidentally picking up the wrong slice!

We had the Salsiccia e Sweet Peppers (mozzarella, Italian sausage, sweet peppers and rocket), but check out the rest of the menu: click here.


As an alternative to a dessert menu, sample deserts were brought out on a wooden board (they like wooden boards at this place!). I was pretty stuffed full of pizza, so I decided to share some ice cream. A huge error, because when the desserts arrived I got serious food envy! However, I did manage to steal a cheeky spoonful of tiramisu which, I have to say, was delicious.

This rustic Italian restaurant is clearly very popular.  It had a full house on a Wednesday evening.  To emphasise how authentic this restaurant really is, my Italian friend from Sorrento claims this her favourite Italian in London!  If that isn't a reason to visit I don't know what else is!

Rugby 7s: Twickenham

This year I had my first experience of rugby 7s. A bunch of us went to the London 7s, at Twickenham Stadium, and I absolutely loved it!

If you were wandering around South West London this weekend asking yourself: 'Why is everyone dressed as animals?' the answer was this year’s Rugby 7s theme - Safari.  Primark most definitely profited greatly from its animal print ‘onesie’ products - I am quite sure that at least 70% of ticket holders had made a purchase!

On the way to the stadium, one lady couldn't believe what she was seeing. She looked very confused and we explained to her about the event and theme. She eventually clocked and it became clear why she had been following a tiger all the way from Cambridge!

The rugby games were short and fast paced, which makes for easy watching, and it's easy enough to wander around to meet other people you know there too.

The train ride back from Twickenham was packed with chanting fans and crowd surfing. Yes crowd surfing on a train, as well as many party-goers finding comfort in the luggage racks!

I will be heading down to the Bournemouth 7s at the end of this month, so am looking forward to a lot more fun to come!

Gaucho Review

If you haven't been to Gaucho yet, start saving those pennies because this is somewhere I am telling you to go! Without a doubt, the other evening Gaucho served up the best steak I have ever tasted. It doesn't come cheap though, but here are the reasons why:

Service
On entering the restaurant's foyer, you are immediately greeted by an abundance of staff - doorman/security, maitre d’, receptionist, coat checker ......  the lot! There is no waiting around here. Once checked in, we were taken through the ground floor cocktail lounge, which looked very plush and sophisticated to the restaurant itself.  This is split across two floors, and we were guided to the lift where we were greeted by yet another member of staff who simply summoned the lift for us.

Unfortunately, we had a little tricky situation with the lift, but after much opening and closing of doors (and some hilarity!) we arrived on the second floor.  Here we were warmly welcomed by our waiter and seated at our table.

Cocktails

When you are treating yourself, it’s always fun and cocktails were, naturally, a must! I chose the Pommelina, an Argentine take on the Brazilian classic Caipirinha mixed with Cachaça. Cocktails are priced from £8.50 - very reasonable for such a sumptuous  restaurant.

Wine

What better way to complement your steak than with a deliciously smooth Malbec.  As an avid fan of Pinot Noir, I was pleasantly surprised that the lighter and fruitier red grape created an unbeatable addition to the steak. As in any restaurant wines vary in price – here from £35.00 to £200.00.  Not all wines are available by the glass.

Steaks

Gaucho is all about the steak! On receiving our menus, our waiter brought us a large wooden platter displaying the various cuts of steak available to us. They looked amazing!

Our waiter explained each cut of meat - rump, sirloin, rib-eye and fillet. Once we had decided on which cut of meat we fancied, we  then chose the weight, flavour (a variety of marinades are available) and how best to have it cooked.  Decisions, decisions! Either the cocktail was going to my head or I was suffering a serious case of information overload!

As amazing as the marinated steaks sounded, I decided to keep it simple with a medium rare 300g rib-eye steak. I was not disappointed!  The steak arrived perfectly cooked and today stands as the most mouth-watering dish I have ever eaten.

 

Side dishes

I had a side of sweet potato chips with chorizo which was a delicious change to the traditional American fries. However, if you like the basics then sautéed mushrooms and handcut chips are also available. Sides cost around £5.00 each.

Gaucho has definitely become a favourite of mine and I will be dreaming of returning to this restaurant very soon. As mentioned, this restaurant isn't a cheap eat. The average spend is around £50.00 per head for dinner and drinks, but you can easily exceed this with the addition of cocktails, starters and desert.  It is still a highly recommended restaurant.