Well well, what do we have here? Another smart little Italian restaurant on the Glasgow scene that doesn't exclusively serve up your typical Spag Bol and Carbonara. This makes me very happy indeed and long may this current trend continue!
Osteria Del Tempo Perso is about the quirkiest name of just about any restaurant in the city, literally meaning "The Tavern of Spare Time". The name alone grabbed me, its rather poetic and its gotta be better than a place called "Mamma Mia"or the like.
I didn't know much about this place, but I had heard rumblings that the sister restaurant in Edinburgh did some fine cooking. It turns out the restaurant dates back to 1861, however the name was purchased more recently by a family in central Italy (Frosinone) in 2003 that aimed to recreate some of the old traditional recipes from long ago.
Well fast forward a decade or so and these guys have now started to invade Scotland too, opening up their latest restaurant in the Merchant City of Glasgow. Being a massive lover of Italian food I was keen to give it a go and I purposefully starved myself that day in order that I could squeeze at least 4 courses into my belly.
To begin we opted to share a focaccia for the table. We went for rather imaginative sounding mortadella with pistachio cream. It was superb. For me you just cannot beat the taste of mortadella on freshly baked bread. It was great to tuck into this as we looked over the menu and wine list. And when I say wine list, I may as well say wine directory!!! Literally pages of fine and quality wines. If you are a lover of the old vino, this place is for you.
We opted for a bottle of red from the Campania region and it was poured into what can be described as a giant wine glass decanter. Any place that serves wine from a decanter must know a thing or two about wine and service, and it was at that point I started to feel a bit posh, hehe ;)
To begin I went for a classic parmigiana. It had a really nice firm consistency, not overly sloppy with a really good amount of aubergine. The tomato sauce was nice and simple, not overly flavored which was good. I wasn't over fond of the rather cheap looking mozzarella cheese strands on top, but perhaps I was just trying to pick faults in the dish. It was also a very generous portion which was satisfying my rather empty belly.
Next up I decided to go for one of their specialty pasta dishes. The Mezze Maniche (half rigatoni) with Italian saliccia (sausage) and saffron. The pasta is cooked to order, with no pre-cooking, therefore it generally takes a bit longer to prepare. I am more than happy to wait for my pasta as I like it 'al dente'. It was again a very simple dish and very delicately flavored. The light saffron sauce complemented the fennel flavored sausage wonderfully.
If all that wasn't enough I ended the night in style with a Millefoglie with chocolate and chantilly cream. When it arrived, it looked pretty darn impressive, but when I started diggin in, I realised they had basically "de-constructed" it, and so it lost its bite and it didn't quite work for me. I'm not sure if I was just overly full by that point, but it just didn't float my boat. My dining chums on the other hand thought it rocked.
It should be mentioned that "Osteria" is ultra laid back. The waiting staff chilled, the cooking done from scratch, such as the pasta, so do not expect to nab a quick bite to eat and then head out. Instead, relax, take your time and enjoy a nice bottle of wine. Even all the hundreds of clocks that adorn the walls and shelves stand still, so just take your time and go with the flow.
I think considering the restaurant has just opened its doors, I had an excellent meal and I'm sure its only going to improve as they embed themselves in. Its really refreshing to see proper Italian restaurants opening in Glasgow and trying to do something different so this get a massive tick from me! read more