Seen in the right light, Caffe Caldesi is a charming little Italian restaurant that's not a chain, that has friendly staff (who are largely Italian) and a restaurant that when the bill comes at the end of the evening will leave you change in your pocket for a round of drinks at one of the many local pubs. There was an energetic buzz about the place too with much coming and going. If I was in the area again and felt like a bowl of pasta, I would certainly consider returning to Caldesi.
I started the last paragraph of with the phrase 'seen in the right light', so what other light is there? Where I was perhaps disappointed in the experience is that the proprietor/chef Giancarlo Caldesi has a cooking school in the UK (at the back of the restaurant), had a cooking school in Tuscany (2005-2009) and has just opened a restaurant in Bray (Caldesi in Campagna), which made me think that Caldesi would be and should be a real food destination. Sadly it didn't live up to that notion, the quality of the food just isn't there to make it the go-to Italian in London.
The question then becomes, given their price point how do they fare? The answer is, probably reasonably well, but even here we have a few small caveats that we'll come on to shortly. Our recent trip to Zafferano highlighted some incredible Italian cooking but our bill was a lot lot higher so it's not a fair comparison.
Admittedly, at Caldesi, we did eat in the cafe-bar downstairs and not the finer dining restaurant upstairs that I was told 'had a more extensive menu' and I believe a more formal service. Nevertheless, even with the fine dinig option, we find it hard to believe that it could elevate itself to the levels of Zafferano given the food that we sampled downstairs, the kitchen is afterall the same for both. To be fair however, we didn't try the upstairs so I'm only surmising this point.
Our overall take then is that 'you pay your money and take your choice' as they say. This was a hearty meal with lots of food and a pretty reasonable bill at the end, but the food was okay rather than great. Most likely dish selection is everything and if you get a 'full house' of what they do best on the menu, you'll likely leave happy. The reverse is also true.
Moving onto the food, the starter was Fritto misto - deep fried calamari, white bait, and prawn with lemon and green salad. I had been told before going there that the pasta's good but beware of non pasta dishes and this seafood dish was certainly the disappointment of the evening. The calamari could have been quite frankly anything, having little to no taste and a modest chewiness and a batter that had the texture and taste of cardboard. The prawns were similar with no real essence to them. In a blind tasting, you'd be hard pressed to guess either of these items, you'd probably struggle to guess that they were seafood. The whitebait meanwhile did have a lot of seafood flavour but that was more pungent than fresh and caused me to wince occassionally while eating. There was a lot of food on this plate but none of it good; we're disappointed that the kitchen is sending this out. Surely this is not what his school is teaching would be chefs on how to prepare sea-food? Remembering what I had been told, I let this go and hoped the pasta would be an improvement and to be fair, it was.
I started the last paragraph of with the phrase 'seen in the right light', so what other light is there? Where I was perhaps disappointed in the experience is that the proprietor/chef Giancarlo Caldesi has a cooking school in the UK (at the back of the restaurant), had a cooking school in Tuscany (2005-2009) and has just opened a restaurant in Bray (Caldesi in Campagna), which made me think that Caldesi would be and should be a real food destination. Sadly it didn't live up to that notion, the quality of the food just isn't there to make it the go-to Italian in London.
The question then becomes, given their price point how do they fare? The answer is, probably reasonably well, but even here we have a few small caveats that we'll come on to shortly. Our recent trip to Zafferano highlighted some incredible Italian cooking but our bill was a lot lot higher so it's not a fair comparison.
Admittedly, at Caldesi, we did eat in the cafe-bar downstairs and not the finer dining restaurant upstairs that I was told 'had a more extensive menu' and I believe a more formal service. Nevertheless, even with the fine dinig option, we find it hard to believe that it could elevate itself to the levels of Zafferano given the food that we sampled downstairs, the kitchen is afterall the same for both. To be fair however, we didn't try the upstairs so I'm only surmising this point.
Our overall take then is that 'you pay your money and take your choice' as they say. This was a hearty meal with lots of food and a pretty reasonable bill at the end, but the food was okay rather than great. Most likely dish selection is everything and if you get a 'full house' of what they do best on the menu, you'll likely leave happy. The reverse is also true.
Moving onto the food, the starter was Fritto misto - deep fried calamari, white bait, and prawn with lemon and green salad. I had been told before going there that the pasta's good but beware of non pasta dishes and this seafood dish was certainly the disappointment of the evening. The calamari could have been quite frankly anything, having little to no taste and a modest chewiness and a batter that had the texture and taste of cardboard. The prawns were similar with no real essence to them. In a blind tasting, you'd be hard pressed to guess either of these items, you'd probably struggle to guess that they were seafood. The whitebait meanwhile did have a lot of seafood flavour but that was more pungent than fresh and caused me to wince occassionally while eating. There was a lot of food on this plate but none of it good; we're disappointed that the kitchen is sending this out. Surely this is not what his school is teaching would be chefs on how to prepare sea-food? Remembering what I had been told, I let this go and hoped the pasta would be an improvement and to be fair, it was.
Fritto misto - deep fried calamari, white bait, and prawn
The pasta dishes we chose were Rigatoni Tuscan Ragu and the Pappardelle Funghi. So followed two generous bowls of pasta and generous servings of ragu/funghi. I found the rigatoni to be well cooked and the ragu of Tuscan pork and beef to be smooth, flavourful and with the Parmesan, a great bowl of comfort pasta. The pappardelle to taste could have been cooked a little more and the dish overall better seasoned. Indeed, MrsCC commented after that the dish was a little 'one note' and on reflection, so perhaps was mine though fortunately it was a note I enjoy. It would take only a little more, maybe a few well placed herbs here and there, to lift the dish up a level or two but it was not to be the case. However, with both pasta dishes under £11, this still seemed to me decent enough value.
Pappardelle Funghi
Rigatoni Tuscan Ragu
For dessert, it was a trio of chocolate - white chocolate creme brulee, chocolate tart and Nutella ice cream. The creme brulee was decently crisp on top as it should be but heavy in the body so by the end of this, you really know you've eaten a dessert. It was still quite nice but it was a big thick custard rather than the best of its kind. The chocolate tart was also very heavy and I struggled to get through it. The ice cream at least provided a fresher cleaner taste in the mouth to finish. Again, at £7.50, not a bank breaker though more for the sweet tooth diner than the dessert connoisseur.
white chocolate creme brulee, chocolate tart and Nutella ice cream
The total bill though for the above food, a large glass of red, two Cokes and service was £62 which is increasingly the per head charge at many restaurants that deliver little more. I would continue to echo the advice I received and noted above, go there for the pasta and not for the other plates. Select the right dishes, enjoy the atmosphere and friendly service and Caldesi can undoubtedly deliver a thoroughly enjoyable night out at a great price. Sadly, despite the promo, it is not the very best of regional Italian cooking, for that, you'll need to go elsewhere but also dig a little deeper into your pockets.
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