448. Angela’s Trattoria Revisted.

 

    A rapid return visit to Angela’s Trattoria, this time with a lunch companion, confirmed all my highly positive impressions I experienced during my recent previous lunch at this splendid Italian restaurant (see Blog 445). 

   Sadly, it was very quiet there. I do hope the restaurant gains momentum with lovers of good food, especially those who have a desire to eat Italian cuisine. Here we have about as authentic as possible an Italian cuisine as can be found in Birmingham and the West Midlands; delicious food presented in a comfortable, relaxed atmosphere.

   By way of antipasti, my lunch companion and I chose the shared platter of Italian cured meat and cheese - a very pleasing and enjoyable selection- we are both mortadella fans and this was very good and among the cheeses we enjoyed the Gorgonzola. The platter included a bowl of giadiniera, the sweet, acetic taste counterbalancing the gorgeous, rich cheeses as did the thin slices of pair and the black grapes. The platter was served with some nice focaccia.

  This was a lovely way to lead into the pasta/ pizza. My lunch companion chose a simple buttanesca - tomato, oregano, olives, capers, garlic, onion and chilli which he revved up with anchovies for an additional £1 - he was delighted with his pizza and found the crust to be very admirable.

   I, meanwhile, opted for another bask in Angela’s sublime pasta - this time tagliatelle with a lamb ragu - the meat beautifully cooked and full of the pleasingly robust flavour of sheep. This was highly memorable and highly desirable. As a man who has never been enthusiastic about Italian cuisine, this (along with recent visits to Tropea) had set alight my desire for more of it. News headlines - “83 year old grandmother chef converts old bloke to Italian cuisine”. 

  Angela wandered through the restaurant a couple of times and was pleased to see our enthusiasm for what she is doing with the restaurant. Long may she reign. We both had a winding down dessert/coffee in the form of affogato and went away very contented..

Rating:- 🌞.

6 December 2024.

On 5 December 2024 Simpsons announced that Giacomo Stella, its Wine Director and sommelier, who is a very recognisable figure in Birmingham’s dining out scene is leaving his post at tge restaurant to return to Italy.

445. Angela’s Trattoria.

 

  Luca Laghi closed Laghi’s, the restaurant he had opened seven years before at Five Ways, on 10 August 2024 stating that, “…in the current climate we are unable to keeping going” (see Blog 416) but the restaurant was reopened on 21 September under a new name - Angela’s Trattoria - named after, and under the stewardship of, Angela, Laghi’s marvellous 83 year old grandmother. We may recall that Stu Deeley, Executive Chef at Smoke at Hampton Manor in Hampton in Arden, had a run of several weeks as pop up Executive Chef at Laghi’s earlier this year delivering to us, Stu Deeley At Laghi’s, and putting aside the Italian nature of the cuisine on offer in preference for a more general modern British approach very much in Deeley’s own easily identifiable style (see Blog 386). 

  

  We may also remember that in the summer of 2023, a menu by Angela was highlighted for a short period  - ‘Mamma’s menu’ - and I thoroughly enjoyed my visit there on 17 August 2023 when I lunched on an excellent bruschetta with mozzarella and tasty fresh salad, a profoundly delicious dish of perfectly textured cappelletti, prepared by Angela, with beef ragu and enjoyable pistachio ice cream. I often hoped that Angela would return following that and now she has.

 

  And there she was in the flesh moving around the restaurant, in and out of the kitchen, acknowledging the guests, already a legend in her own lifetime. But was her food going to live up to my fond memory from August 2023 and consequent expectations? In short, the answer is Yes.

  The decor has been revisited and very attractive and pleasing to the eye it is, too. The restaurant is bright despite the eternal scaffolding clinging to the exterior of the building. It is a comfortable and pleasing place to visit. The restaurant manager is friendly and welcoming, relaxed but ‘proper’. The wine choice is limited but the Primitivo sold by the glass is delightful. There is a regular paper menu rewritten on a very proper-looking blackboard and a specials menu. Several dishes are not available but have been replaced by fine-sounding alternatives.

  I opted to start with a generously sized pumpkin arancino made tasty and a lovely creamy carbonara sauce with guanciale. This was very pleasing but look forward even more so to my pasta dish. This did not disappoint in any way - it was a perfectly textured maccheroni with a silky cream sauce shot through with spicy Tuscan sausage and peas. Would that I could  eat a portion every day.

   

  For dessert, affogato, and then a kind complementary tot of a spicy house liquor.

  Laghi’s, with Angela’s lifetime skills behind it, is back at serving food at a higher level than ever.

  I dined at Angela’s in the early evening to provide me with a preshow meal and an excellent place it proved to be - just a short distance from Symphony Hall and the Rep and the time it took to meal very comfortably fitting in with the time I was due at the concert which was by the now immortal Bellowhead - an evening of fine traditional Italian food and and traditional English folk music with a modern touch. Bellissimo..

Rating:- 🌛🌛🌛🌛.