Good Italian restaurants are like hens teeth in Ireland. La Piccolo Italia has all the indications of being one of them. Good ingredients, careful and faithful preparation and the signs are good. You won’t find cream in the carbonara or garlic butter, but authentic food and a very good wine list should keep you happy.
La Piccolo Italia is located in the heart of Carlow town in the pedestrians area of Tullow St opposite Shaw’s retail outlet. Inside it’s a modern room with reclaimed wooden floors and stone plain cream walls, giving it an airy feel. It is owned by Adriano Iafrate and Elaine Meaney, a young couple with a real passion for the food and wine of Italy eager to make their mark on Carlow’s culinary scene. The restaurant is a 55 seater serving authentic Italian food with a team of experienced Italian chefs.
The menu is extensive and runs to several pages and is laid out in the Italian way, starting with Antipasti, followed by Primi and Secondi Piatti (first and second).
Starters include several soups, seafood salad, caprese salads and mussels in white wine sauce. The pasts courses feature ravioli with salmon, linguine con vongole rigatoni and traditional favourites like bolognese and lasagne. Second courses range across fish and meat and amongst the choices are baby octopus, king scallops fresh sole and king prawns. Meat include veal and steaks.
I went along recently for lunch with Deirdre and Abigail to try it out. The girls shared a prawn cocktail starter while I started with the linguine con vongole (mussels and clams with tomatoes, white wine and garlic). Abi chose the lasagne next while Deirdre had the Sogliola a sorpresa, fresh sole served with prawns, saffron and vodka, while I had a fillet steak with rocket, parmesan and a balsamic reduction. Sparkling water and two glasses of the Pinot Grigio, with a 7up for Abi completed the order. While we waited we were brought some home baked foccacia and a complementary glass of prosecco each, a nice touch that all their customers receive, not just the ones who may be writing about it afterwards!
The prawn cocktail and my linguine arrived. The PC was well made and the prawns tasty. The linguine however was fabulous, really fresh flavors, plenty of seafood and perfectly cooked pasta. This high standard continued into the next course. Abigail’s lasagne was traditional, made with meatballs, mozzarella, basil and cottage cheese. Excellent. My steak was cooked medium rare, the balsamic of a good quality, but in this case Deirdre had chosen most wisely. Her sole was perfectly cooked, the prawns juicy and the sauce of vodka, lemon, saffron and herbs was delicious. We were all fairly defeated by the time dessert came along, but forced ourselves to try praline hazelnut caramel cream in a chocolate cup served with savordi biscuits for dipping. Homemade heaven!
This is an excellent restaurant already, and they are striving to get better, which is a great sign. Last year we reviewed Via Veneto in Enniscorthy, and Paolo reckons it’s probably the best Italian in Ireland. La Piccolo is following in the same vein. Why don’t we get this in Dublin. If you live locally you have to try it, if you’re in Dublin or elsewhere, it’s probably worth a one hour trip for great food at excellent prices.
Because we were driving we didn’t get to try their wines, apart forn the Pinot Grigio. The list is well chosen and runs from under twenty euros up to serious offerings like a Sassicaia 2002 for €159.00. The wine list is exclusively supplied by A Taste of Italy. (winners of the newcomer of the year award 2008 in the Irish wine guide 2008).
