Azzurro Review

May 12, 2015 by Rich - Foodie Reviewer

Azzurro Review

The week had started so well. We had just returned from a great weekend away in Brighton with friends, and what a weekend. If you’ve never been to Brighton and you love all things quirky and a little unconventional, waste no time and get your ass down there, it secretes uber coolness around every corner. Needless to say, the weekend consisted of great lunches, dinners and not forgetting the drinking, don’t get me started on the craft beer scene you’ll never shut me up!

As you can imagine I started the following week still buzzing from our sojourn in Brighton; well I was up until Thursday. I came home from work to a speeding ticket on the doormat. Yep, I had been clocked at the break neck speed of 47mph. If that was in a 30mph limit I would accept all the points and fines the local constabulary could throw at me, but it wasn’t, I was on the M25, it’s a bloody motorway! Apparently I was racing through a variable speed limit area, which had been changed to 40mph. Clearly I was not paying attention; it was 7.15am on a Wednesday morning, so give me some slack. But they had photographic evidence, so ok it’s a fair cop officer, I had been caught fair and square. I was going to ask Lou to take the points on my behalf, but we all know where that gets you, remember the Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce trial, they got 8 months for the very same!

This meant only one thing, its Thursday, its nearly Friday, I hadn’t had a drink or anything naughty to eat since Brighton, so come on Lou, grab your coat were going out. The thought of another, yes another, 3 points and £100 fine has driven me to this (any excuse really!)

So where did we go? I had been hearing some good things about Azzurro in Westcliff recently. I hadn’t been there for probably a good couple of years. Not for any reason, the food and service were always good; I guess we had just been tempted by other places. We had also heard through some of my foodie contacts (oh yes, I have foodie contacts!) the restaurant was under new management. So, a quick butchers on trip advisor, we love a bit of the old TA, and it looked alright. Lets give it a go.

Sure enough, when we arrived all the staff were new faces. A few other diners were already seated and eating, but the place was not packed, so no problem getting a table. The first thing you notice when you walk in is the addition of a lounge area with sofas by the bar. I thought this was great as you can sit there first, have a drink and ponder the menu prior to sitting at your table. We just sat down at our table straight away as I was starving. The menu looked good, and what’s even better is the new pricing structure. They have done away with each dish having its own price, its just £14.95 for two courses mid week, and £19.95 at weekends. Smart move I think. We’ve all been there haven’t we, your out with a group of friends, and somebody has the cheek to order the £10.95 prawn starter, whereas, somebody else has the £4.95 soup of the day! The bill arrives, you split it equally, but there is a mutter of protest; your soup friend feels put out, as he will be subsidising your Prawn friend. Mr Prawn on the other hand is looking rather miffed; he was hoping Mr soup wouldn’t have noticed. As a result, you pull out your iPhone and have to perform brain numbing mathematical equation’s to de-fuse the situation. Well, this is now a thing of the past at Azzurro, you can just order what the hell you want without fear of this situation; Prawns are on the starter menu, and soup for that matter!

So what did we eat? Along side the main menu they have a specials board, a selection of 4 starters and 4 mains. Dishes such as an open ravioli, mushrooms and panceccta for starters, T-bone steak or Skate with brown butter and capers for mains, they all sounded tempting. To start I went for the Insalata Caprese, a tomato, mozzarella, avocado and basil salad. Lou ordered the Smoked fish platter from the specials board. I must point out, some dishes do carry a supplement, which included the smoked fish platter, so this did add a little to the bill, but I’m not complaining as long as its worth it! For our mains I chose the sirloin steak (which carried no supplements I hasten to add, bargain!) Lou chose the swordfish with garlic butter and prawns. For sides we ordered chips! Yep chips, I needed chips; I had just been nicked for speeding after all!!

Lou’s starter included 4 different types of smoked fish, as you’d expect on a smoked fish platter, but also prawns and potato salad, no qualms over that extra supplement, this was a generous starter, and enough for me to have good go as well. I don’t normally order the sort of salad starter I had, I am a bit of a carnivore, but lets try a bit of variety I thought. I’m glad I did, it looked and tasted great; mozzarella, tomato, avocado and basil, a classic combo. Oh by the way, it was Peroni’s all round tonight, I did like the idea of a bottle of wine, but it was a school night, so lets be sensible. Although, The wine list did look tempting, dominated by Italian wine, but I guess you would expect this, it’s an Italian restaurant!

On to the mains, Lou’s swordfish steak was meaty and well presented, topped with a generous number of prawns together with the buttery sauce, very nice it was too. I chose to order my steak without sauce, yep naked. There are a number of sauce options on offer, but I was in an au naturale mood, and I’m glad I did. Cooked rare it was very good. You always run the risk of two issues when ordering a rare steak; the chef over cooks it, or it is cooked correctly, but, is as tough as old boots, giving your jaw a work out not intended! No worries here, it was rare and tender, perfect. The chips were nice and crispy too. On the side a nice ramekin full of tomato sauce and another with English mustard, well done Azzurro, you must have known my issues when it comes to lack of sauce.

Why oh why do I never learn, I shovelled my steak and chips away without any consideration for pudding. Lou stupidly did the same. By the time we were perusing the pudding menu it would have been impossible to stuff anymore in. I promise you all I will make more effort in future. The puddings looked pretty good and all homemade. The mandatory Tiramisu was there, along with other dishes such as a fudge cake and cheesecake, nice. We decided to lessen the impact on our waistlines and just get the bill. It arrived, and at £65.00 for two courses and few beers not too bad at all.

At Azzurro you are welcome to finish your evening in the bar area as well as start it, and that’s exactly what we did. We finished our drinks whilst relaxing on the comfy sofas. We were also lucky enough to have a good chat with the new owner, and enjoy a complimentary Limoncello. There you go, I am having a pudding of sorts! I love Limoncello, ice cold; I reckon I could drink a whole bottle of the stuff! Well, it sounds like these guys have got some great plans for the restaurant. Obviously they have started with the main dining area, soon the toilets will be refurbed, but to be honest, they don’t really need it! A much bigger transformation is planned out front. At the moment it still resembles the old Azzurro, but apparently it’s soon to get a new look, a bit more kerb appeal, so watch this space.

The new owners have only had the place since last November, and appear to have done a great deal in a relatively short period of time. The changes to the interior are very good; I love the addition of the sofas by the bar. Also the changes to the menu make it great value. The service is very attentive, which is so important, it feels like a real family run business, and that’s exactly what it is. Well done Azzurro, your great food and hospitality, certainly helped to numb the pain of my impending speeding fine and penalty points!