This is a restaurant that claims to be Halal in Stepney Green. I'm not sure who runs this but it's not the most authentic Italian restaurant and, unless you choose to limit yourself to Halal food, this restaurant is not worth travelling to.
I have visited this restaurant twice and I must admit I was happier with the food second time than I was with the first time.
I first visited this restaurant in late December and I had Risotto rice balls with bolognaise sauce and cheese as a starter and a main dish of Italian sausage and prawns with roast potatoes. The Risotto rice balls were made with basmati rice rather than risotto rice. other than that they were tasty enough but using the wrong kind of rice made a mess of the texture.
On the main course, the prawns were fine but the Italian sausage turned out to be a cheap beef breakfast sausage and I refused to eat it. to be fair to the staff they did agree a £5 discount because of this. I was left feeling very disappointed but, as I usually do where convenient, I did go back to the restaurant last Sunday to give it a second try 2 months later. A group of students I passed on the way told me the restaurant was very nice and friendly. I was disappointed to find that I was not even allowed to bring in my own wine. It's meant to be Italian after all!
This time round I had Brochette as a starter. It had tomatoes and onions with it on bread that was rather lacking in garlic but it was not bad. The main was A dish of Penne pasta with minced beef, beef slices, mushrooms and cream. this turned out to be a very pleasant rich dish that did have an Italian vibe to it at least. there was also plenty of it. for pudding I had a Panna Cotta which was actually pretty good, though I don't know whether it was bought in or made on the premises. the person serving did not know.
I asked for black pepper and parmesan cheese. it turned out that the pepper grinder was broken and I was told no one had asked for it. Very odd! I've never visited an italian restaurant and not been offered black pepper.
Given that there is a strong possibility that this is local bangladeshis playing at being Italian, this restaurant is not bad. I paid £17 for 3 courses and 2 glasses of lemonade which is not a bad price. Saying this, it's very very far from authentic and I wouldn't go there for a special occasion. if you insist on Halal food though, it may be worth a try if you want something different.
Staff were friendly enough, so I'd give this restaurant 5 out of 10.
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