Casareccia Kilburn High Road, is awash with traditional London-Irish pubs pouring black and white liquid into vessels til day becomes dawn. Said watering holes are interspersed with fine looking kebab houses sporting enormous ‘elephant leg’ doner and succulent shish kebabs. I moved to this part of north-west London, which I am insisting on calling central-south-west London as I slowly wean myself away from my beloved Vauxhall-Stockwell roots, just three weeks ago and have already spied some intriguingly unorthodox potential eating spots. I look forward to trying them all, particularly the ‘choose your own’ thai stir-fry café sort of thing, in due course, once I have finished unpacking my boxes!
The day after I had moved into my new abode my landlady, a friend from work, took me to Casareccia, a woodfired pizzeria and pasta restaurant on the corner of our road. I clearly needed feeding up after a very late night move followed by an absurdly early start for my day job. Almost entirely surrounded by Guinness and kebabs, Casareccia does however face competition in terms of Italian fayre from the interestingly named ‘WOP- Wood Oven Pizza’ just up the road. Now, I have never been able to fully understand how a bad pizzeria can exist. The concept of baking dough with ingredients on is simple enough I have always thought. But in many places this seems to go awry and you can end up paying through the nose as well. Casareccia, however, proved to be a rare treat, the like of which I have not experienced in London since Pizzeria Castello in Elephant and Castle closed its doors for the last time. Found directly next door to the Tricyle Theatre we were treated to the traditional hospitality of our Afghan hosts. Welcoming, familiar and yet distantly respectful the staff were superb allowing us to take our time to order- which was a blessing as it can often take me at least ten minutes for to even open the menu. In fact when we asked the waiter what he recommended he told us that a fresh batch of pasta (at £7-8 a dish this was the cheaper option to pizza) had just been made and that he was looking forward to munching on a bowl shortly as he thought it to be better than the pizzas. It is this sort of honest information that seems so lacking from many of our faceless high street chain restaurants. Being a Westcountry boy I ordered what I like to call an ‘Italian pasty’- a Calzone folded pizza stuffed with tomatoes, mozzarella, ham, mushrooms, pesto, ricotta and parmesan (£12.95) washing it down with a bottle of Peroni lager beer (£3.60). The menu itself was a traditional Italian mixture of pizzas (£12 for 16 whole inches), salads, fine looking pastas and specials that included a very tempting mushroom risotto. The thinly crusted Calzone was stuffed better than a guy on Bonfire Night and was just what I was looking for. With a small terraced seating area at the front you can choose to eat near a bus lane or inside in a warm and homely wooden interior. Those attending a performance next door at the Tricyle Theatre receive a 10% discount which lightens the load a bit as I am still not convinced that £9-£14 for a pizza is a fair price. Although with them weighing in 16 inches it is possible to share one between two should you so wish. All things considered this was one of the very best pizzas I have eaten on British soil. Fact. 4/5 
Starters £4-5
Main £9-14
Bottle beer £3.60 267 Kilburn High Road,
London, NW6 7JR
www.casareccia.com/italian-restaurant
|
