My friend Kate and I have a long-standing preference for eating Italian when we meet for lunch. It began years ago when we, for a couple of years or so, met once a week to practise our Italian. We then had a trip to Rome. Since then, I have to confess the Italian speaking has largely been ignored, but we still like to eat Italian when we can. Our favourite local place is Corto Italian Deli, but as they no longer have indoor seating, we prefer to find somewhere a bit warmer to sit, eat and talk when the weather is colder. It’s turned quite autumnal in London over the last couple of weeks and so, even if the sun is shining, it’s a bit chilly to sit outside for long, so I pondered where we might head to for our latest lunch date. 

I pass Bella Vita quite often on my way back from the train station or the local Waitrose. I’d never eaten in there though. I took a look at it online and the menu and suggested to Kate we try it. Neither of us want to eat large lunches and we tend to share some antipasti, perhaps with a salad. Having not been there before, I’d no idea if it was necessary to book a table for lunch midweek, but did so just to be sure. Kate and I arrived at the same time. It’s a family run restaurant and the owner, who greeted us, was very welcoming and friendly and showed us a couple of areas of the restaurant where we might sit. We chose to go down to an area in an open lower-ground floor where there were a few tables. 

There was a reasonably priced set menu for lunch, but we really didn’t want a lot to eat, so settled on ordering small versions of both a meat antipasti (£9.95) and a vegetable antipasti (£8.95) to share. We also ordered a bottle of Pellegrino sparkling water.

When the antipasti arrived, served on two boards, they looked wonderful. It was all beautifully laid out and very fresh looking. All the meats were freshly cut and delicious.

The veggie version had some grilled vegetables – courgettes, peppers, aubergine – and some artichokes and slices of mozzarella. Both boards came with a couple of pieces of toast.

All the food was lovely and we slowly made our way through it as we chatted. It was a perfect light lunch.

At the end we ordered cappuccinos to finish.

The final bill came to just under £17 each.

It was a really nice place to sit and enjoy a light lunch. The staff were so friendly too and seemed only to want us to be happy with everything. I must go back another time to try some of their pastas or main courses, but meanwhile it’s great to have found a lovely warm and friendly place to enjoy an Italian lunch when the weather outside is inclement!