The Good Food Guide 2011
The name means 'the kiss', and the warm embrace offered at this corner-site, family-run restaurant in Highbury is that of Sardinian cuisine. A cool interior with tiled floor and cafe'-style tables is the setting for dishes such as carta musica crispbread served with Sardinian sausage, mushrooms and pecorino, malloredus pasta with swordfish, aubergine , tomato, garlic and chilli, or a native fish stew, combining monkfish, swordfish, prawn, clams and mussels. There is a full pizza menu too .
Square Meal 2010-2011
Larger & brighter than many of its Stoke Newington counterparts, this clutter-free pizza & pasta joint produces simple food, simply brilliantly. Within a stone’s throw of the Emirates Stadium, it attracts a pre- & post-football crowd on match days & is ably supported by appreciative locals the rest of the time. All & sundry merrily tuck into crisp pizzas & pastas with lots of seafood on the agenda – perhaps tagliatelle nero with prawns, clams & rocket. In addition, the kitchen also turns out trattoria classics such as chicken milanese or fegato veneziana. The owners & staff have graciously forsaken sunny Sardinia for weather-beaten Blackstock Road, but the lack of UV rays doesn’t seem to bother them as they zip about delighting customers. Portions are big & prices small – especially if you plump for the perfectly gluggable Italian house vino.
The Good Food Guide 2010
The glass-fronted Sardinian restaurant and pizzeria draws a lively local crowd. Pizzas themselves are several steps up from what s offered in the chains- try a saporita- with Gorgonzola and bresaola- but it's the specialist della Sardegna that attract the rye, with their useful introduction to the islands cuisine. Malloreddus pasta with Sardinian sausage, garlic, tomato and chilli might be followed by sea bass baked in foil with clams, cherry tomatoes and White wine.
Harden’ s 2010
"Convivial" and " cheering”...serve up some "delicious" Sardinian fare...
Harden's 2009
"Cheap, cheerful and with great pizzas" - pretty much the whole story on these '"invariably busy" north London sardinians.
The Good Food Guide 2008
Staff are ultra- friendly, making a welcoming place for both families and Italian football fans to gather. The cuisine is mainly Sardinian. Try the Crespolina Bacio (spinach and ricotta pancake) to start, or the minestrone soup if you're particularly ravenous (it's huge).
For mains, there is an extensive list of pasta dishes with a choice selection of meat and fish dishes. The ravioli Zola (ricotta ravioli, cherry tomatoes and rocket) is surprisingly light and yet spicy.
Seafood pastas are presented on huge dishes with what looks like the cast of “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” nestled appetisingly under unfeasibly large portions of pasta. The pizzas are mammoth, so either share one or get the staff to pack up the leftovers for breakfast.
