And although England is full of Italian chains - Pizza Express, Zizzi, Strada.... to name a few, Carmela says she's never come across any specific Southern Italian restaurants.
The south of Italy is well known for being poorer than its Northern counterpart and is famous for making delicious food with simple, rustic ingredients. When Carmela found out about Paesan in Faringdon specialising in cucina povera 'poor food', she was dying to go. I'm obviously not one to miss out on a dining opportunity so I jumped at the chance.
The first thing to mention about Paesan is that it's very cool - lots of exposed brickwork and light bulbs.
The second thing is how reasonably priced the menu is. I was absolutely starving by the time I arrived late (due to the stupid tube breaking down in the middle of the tunnel at Borough) so I went crazy ordering numerous 'small' plates and a main of orecchiette.
This was then followed by focaccia...
Aubergine caponata with burrata...
Goat's cheese salad...
Prosciutto...
unpictured arancini and Orecchiette...
Carmela had calves liver with polenta
As you can see from the pics, there's nothing small about the plates at Paesan. Expecting a steep bill at the end I was amazed to see that mine and M's contribution including drinks and coffee was £27 each. Amazing.
Huge portions + great prices = 4 very happy customers.
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