Old Town Italian Restaurant in Clapham

My dad's request to have italian tonight prompted the search for a good italian restaurant that was quite nearby as he had some luggage with him. Immediately i think of La Trattoria Mooli's located near Clapham Common tube station! My husband and i have gone there several times and enjoyed the food there. We have even brought my cousins there. I call and turns out they have had a change of Management and now the new restaurant (still serving italian food) is called Old Town Italian Restaurant. Hmmm..I cant find their menu online but recent reviews made by others led me to believe that the menu had changed as well and the food offered was more "adventurous". I wasnt fully convinced so the search continued. In the end, i decided to try it anyway as i hoped the food was still good. So off we went.

We were warmly greeted by staff and promptly given the menu. There wasnt much choice of pasta dishes (which was what my dad wanted to have) and when the waitress came by to ask if we had any questions on the menu, i jumped at the chance to figure out what was what. The menu was filled with fancy italian which was abit daunting.

For starters, my dad ordered the homemade pate de foie gras and coppa di parma with tropea onion marmalade  (which was a special for the day)

served with a piece of bread marinated with olive oil

and ordered a wholemeal tagliatelle, veal sweetbread, raddichio trevigiano porcini mushrooms, naturale truffle oil as a main course.

I skipped starters as i had a heavy lunch earlier that afternoon (See post on Thai Square) and just ordered a portion of black ink bauletti filled with cuttlefish livernese valderama saffron vellutata (you see now why i had to ask the waitress) which when it arrived it look very similar to a chinese dessert that my grandma loves.

We were also given bruschetta with tomatoes with compliments from the chef. The bruschetta was a tad dry compared to what i am used to. It wasnt anything to shout about.

We also ordered some homemade bread for the table which consisted of bread with mozarella, with ham and the large flat piece is from Sicily.

For dessert, we both had the cheesecake with honey which came recommended by the waitress. In the end, i was quite disappointed as it was in effect a dollop of mascarpone cheese on top of some biscuit crumbs and decorated with a flat piece of chocolate and a flat piece of sugar..? It was not sweet at all except for the parts with honey drizzled and of course by eating that flat piece of sugar. I personally prefer the usual types of cheesecake.

Personally, both my dad and i though that the food was just ok, and the price wasnt really justified.