Hatch End Restaurants

HATCH END RESTAURANTS
Al Dente
Black Pepper
Fellini
Hatchets
Hatch End Tandoori
Mango
Rotisserie
Sazio
Sea Pebbles
Sugar Snap
Van Antoni

Pub
Moon & Sixpence (Wetherspoons)

Sazio
Tuesday
Eating with my son.

Recently opened. We'd previously eaten in their other branches in Pinner and Rickmansworth.

Attentive service. Gleaming new. All shiny black surfaces and dark mirrors like the Rotisserie nearby.

New and gleaming clean.

My son thought it was very smart. I liked the white oblong paper napkins laid out diagonally with cutlery on top. Tres chic.

Menu suited my son who loves pizza. I'm a chicken or veal and potatoes person. I found the menu a bit like Ask - too much pasta with pasta shape pieces of mangled meat, not enough of a complete piece of chicken nor a whole baked potato.

I chose chicken with saute potatoes and rocket. The chicken was in one piece but looked like pieces stuck together, as if the poor chicken had been beaten to death.

To my amazement it tasted lovely and I ate every scrap.

My son had the early evening two course special, a starter of garlic bread followed by pizza of ham and pineapple. Too much bread for me.

The baked cheesecake sounded good but I ate out Thursday and Sunday. I'd have opted for a fruit salad, aiming at my 5 portions of fruit a day, but they did not have one. All the desserts contained sugar which I try to avoid because my late father had late-onset diabetes which is caused by an over-sugary diet.

I wanted to sit longer. So I ordered another double espresso. I put in a packet of brown sugar.

Yes, time for a bit of a diet. At least we finished before 8 pm, so I have time to walk it off during the rest of the evening.

The bill for two was about £36. Eighteen pounds a head. And my son had a little of the pizza left over to take home.

Mascalzone Edgware

Jolly, echoing Italian
Large so we could always get a table. Though we tend to book.
Our dark-haired waitresses admitted she is not Italian but Romanian.

Best dishes
Starters:
Melon and ham. Large portion.
Smoked salmon.

Main courses:


Desserts:
Cassata Siciliana. Delicious green marzipan coating. Looks small, but one portion usually satisfies two of us.

Worst dishes:
Main courses:
Bread-covered veal. Meat the same thickness as batter. Unlike Wiener shnitzel. Batter cooked to a crisp. Not healthy.
Granny sent it back. Replaced by thick piece of salmon. No charge for the rejected meal. They still have our goodwill.

Bill for three, around £76 including service charge so about £25 a head including a couple of drink (red wine, rose wine, by the glass) and three coffees.
I drink double espresso before the meal so it doesn't keep me awake all night.