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 Several dishes are not available but have been replaced by fine-sounding alternatives.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:- 🌛🌛🌛🌛.

416. Events, Dear Boy, Events. 2024. Part 2 July To December.

 See Blog 400 (January to June).

7 July - The Good Food Guide announces the inclusion of 4 West Midlands restaurants in its pages - Adam’s (Birmingham, rated ‘Very Good’), The Slamwich Club (Stoke-on-Trent, rated ‘local gem’) and Sam and Jak (Cirencester, rated ‘Good’) and Docket in Whitchurch, rated ‘Very Good’).

14 July - Laghi’s in Five Ways announces that it will close in 10 August after serving Italian dishes for 7 years as well as having hosted a recent collaboration with Stuart Deeley, Executive Chef of Smoke at Hampton Manor.

14 July - The Good Food Guide announced three new West Midlands additions to its website - Txikiteo in the Jewellery Quarter, The Venture In at Ombersley and Little Dumpling King in Stoke-on Trent.

24 July - Only 3 West Midlands restaurants are named in The Good Food Guide’s list of Best 100 Local Restaurants - The Kilpeck Inn in Herefordshire, Chapter in Edgbaston and Tropea in Harborne.

4 August - The Good Food Guide finally adds Simpsons to its list of recommended restaurants with a startlingly ungenerous ‘Good’ rating as well as adding the Italian-style Trentina located in Mary Street in the Jewellery Quarter which it rates to be a ‘Local Gem’.

16 August 2024 - Good Food Guide adds The Bell at Selsley in Selsley near Stroud in the most southerly part of Gloucestershire, not far from the border of the West Midlands and the West Country.

28 August 2024 - The Michelin Guide includes Albatross Death Cult as one of only 6 British restaurants in its August list of recommended restaurants.

13 - 15 September - The 30th anniversary Ludlow Food Festival is held in Ludlow Castle. This was the very first food festival in Britain and many others were to follow suit but few had a medieval castle in which to stage theirs.

16 September - Alan Pressly takes over as Head Chef at the still Michelin-listed Forelles restaurant at Fishmore Hall in Ludlow. He succeeds Nicky Hull-Saldhana who took up the post on 25 June after Phil Kerry had resigned at the end of May and two further head chefs (one stayed at Fishmore for just three days) had passed through the kitchens.

18 September - Angela’s Trattoria opens in the site of the recently closed Laghi’s off Five Ways (Angela is the 83 year old grandmothers if the owner of Laghi’s. The style is Italian and Angela oversees the production of the pasta.

Angela

20 September - Brad Carter announces that he is no longer involved in the project to open his first London restaurant at Undercroft in Hanover Square -

25 September - The Michelin Guide includes Native in Tenbury Wells (located at the site of the former Penson’s) as one of 14 restaurants in its September list of recommended restaurants. Executive Chef Ivan Tisdall-Downes.

11 October - Good Food Guide adds Upstairs By Tom Shepherd to its list of recommended restaurants and rates it ‘Very good’.

14 October - Glynn Purnell announces that he has closed Purnell’s with the last diners having been served on the evening of Saturday 12 October.

17 October - The Birmingham Post publishes a page-sized article on the closure of Purnell’s and the threat to the hospitality industry in Birmingham.

23 October - The Michelin Guide posts a Tweet about James Sherwin’s Wild Shropshire restaurant in Whitchurch.

24 October - The Birmingham Post publishes an article in which Andreas Antona speaks of his fears for the future of the hospitality industry.

25 October - Tom Shepherd announces the appointment of  Michael Blades as HeadChef of Upstairs By Tom Shepherd in Lichfield.

30 October - In response to the Labour government’s budget measure which massively raise employers’ national insurance contributions for employees as well significantly raising the minimum wage, Alex Claridge of The Wikderness tweets an angry message about the actions of the Labour government -

25 & 26 November - Two sous chefs at Simpsons, Evan Holliday and Jordan, fail to make it to the semi-finals of the 2024 BBC television competition, Masterchef The Professionals, having successfully won through to the ‘Knockout’ round.

Evan Holliday

Jordan Johnson

27 November - Michelin publishes its November list of new additions to the Guide and none are Wesr Midlands region restaurants.

28 November - Hampton Manor announces that Executive Chef Stu Deeley has left employment at Smoke though he will return to prepare a New Year’s Eve dinner for guests staying at the manor. Smoke is to close in February 2025 and reopen shortly afterwards as Kynd, overseen by Chef Director of Grace and Savour, David Taylor. Deeley is planning a short break around the time of the birth of his third child before commencing a new project.

1 December - The Good Food Guide added Folium (‘very good’, food rated as ‘exceptional’), Native (Tenbury Wells) (very good) and The Bookshop (Hereford)(good). How, one wonders have the inspectors not managed to include Folium in the guide before now?