AFTER a frenetic spending spree at Colchester’s late night Christmas shopping event, my family headed to the city’s popular Noodle Bar to be deservedly - and very politely - turned away for the lack of a reservation.
Making our way down High Street, we instead stumbled into Mangiare, which says it aims to offer you the best authentic pasta you’ve ever had, using only fresh ingredients and homemade sauces.
The restaurant’s concept is that you order your food using a touch-screen tablet, an enjoyable novelty - but a little time consuming for a first-timer as everyone at the table scrolls through the menu - before selecting their preferred dish and then which type of pasta - spaghetti, tagliatelle, fusilli or rigatoni - they want to go with it.
There’s a good selection of pasta dishes, from which I opted for spaghetti carbonara with extra parmesan cheese (£12.90) - a classic pasta of pancetta cooked with egg, grana padano cheese and cream.
While perhaps not quite the best pasta I’ve ever had, it was excellent - it was fresh, creamy and they did not scrimp on the portion size or the extra cheese.
It was washed down with a refreshing pint of Italian beer Menabrea, which was a little on the expensive side at £6.50.
My wife opted for the tagliatelle with salmon cooked with saffron sauce, peas, chillies and rocket (£15) - described as delicious - while our compatriot opted for a lasagne (£12.90) with Bolognese, béchamel, grana padano cheese and oven baked with mozzarella.
My young son enjoyed a children’s bolognese spaghetti (£5.95) with beef and pork mince slow cooked with onions, tomato, garlic, carrots and celery.
The portion size was again very generous - much of it we asked to be boxed up to take home.
While Mangiare doesn’t offer starters there are some very good side dishes, including Luganega salsiccia (£7.50) - a pan-roasted black pepper pork sausage served with rocket cherry tomatoes and balsamic glaze - and rosemary focaccia bread (£4.50).
Having arrived late at the restaurant and taken our time to order, we opted to forgo dessert - the only two options being lemon cannoli and Tia Maria tiramisu - and made out way out - before the doors were hastily locked behind us.
I found the whole experience to be rather enjoyable - if partly for the novelty of ordering on the tablet.
There’s a trendy, modern look to the restaurant, but it retains a welcoming, relaxed atmosphere, but more importantly the pasta is very good and affordably priced.
I look forward to a return trip to sample the homemade tiramisu.
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