La Bruschetta sits cosily between two converted 17th century houses in Thornbury High Street, washed in pale blue outside, the interior has made the most of its antique origins boasting the two original cellars which now house the restaurant’s wine stocks and dry stores.
Peroni is on draft at the bar, the perfect beginning to an Italian evening so we took two and were shown to a table in what is called the old dining room, having beautiful basrelief sculptures of Italy hung around the walls.
Whenever we visit Italy my husband’s ideal dinner is spaghetti vongole, followed by branzino (sea bass) and I jokingly said that we would very much be in luck if these two things were on the menu! Well, they were; taglionlini vongole to be exact, baby clams in light garlic, with olive oil, fresh tomato, herb sauce and chilli fl akes, and branzino mediterraneo, sea bas in fresh tomato, garlic and olive oil sauce. That took care of him and left me to find my zenith in the shape of the eponymous Bruschetta caprese, home-made bread, Italian buffalo mozzarella, tomatoes and oregano, followed by cannelloni con carne.
The wine list has been extended to include Spanish and New World wines as well as Italian, and we tried a bottle of Spanish rioja reserva, Marquès de Cáceres which was rich and satin smooth and without doubt compliments Italian food.
Three of the chefs are Italian but from different regions so each cooks the dishes of their own area in the authentic way. When the starters arrived all conversation between us ceased as the taglionlini vongole was demolished, occasionally the head came out of the bowl to murmur, heaven, or my goodness there’s still more, so all I could say was that my bruschetta was lovely too.
Our main courses lived up to all expectations; the branzino was served on a large long plate surrounded by sugar snap peas, thinly sliced carrots and olives. The cannelloni con carne was delicious, full of thick and meaty bolognaise sauce, baked and bubbling and it was my turn not to speak for a while. At the end of all this, we were told a charming story that Francesco, one of the waiting staff , makes their tiramisu to the traditional recipe of his mother and it is one of their most popular desserts. We had to try one, with a glass of limoncello and it was delightful, our compliments to Francesco’s mama I think!
La Bruschetta is a lovely restaurant, family friendly as a good Italian should be, and all the staff attentive and eager to please. Coupled with the great food I think this has got to be a winner
Jacquie Vowles
Whats on Bristol Magazine
La Bruschetta- the Italian spirit
Two months ago me and my husband popped in to the Italian restaurant in Thornbury La Bruschetta. Well, my lovely son Alessandro works there as Pizza Chef but, anyway, I would like to say that the cuisine is nice, the restaurant is fine and all the staff is friendly and funny. Like the Italian spirit at the end!
I was very pleased to spend a night in Thornbury!
Kind regards from Sicily
Submitted to Whats on Bristol - www.whatsonbristol.co.uk