Tuesday 21 January 2014

OBICA MOZZARELLA BAR, SOUTH KENSINGTON

If you read my blog regularly, you will know that my favourite Italian restaurant is Gola (Gola) and I rarely ever go to any other Italian restaurant as they are never as good. However I did make an exception last night and I was very pleasantly surprised.

I am a huge fan of burrata cheese (creamy mozzarella) - I remember the first time I ever had it - Miami 2005 - and my love is still going strong!! Whenever it is on a menu I will have it and so nearly wet myself when I realised there was a restaurant where they serve burrata in several different ways.

Obica Mozzarella Bar is a casual Italian restaurant concept based on using the best Mozzarellas di Bufala Campana, with traditional Italian recipes and high-quality Italian handmade products. It is prepared “in sight” like in a sushi bar - the hams, cold meats and mozzarellas are displayed and assembled like you would expect the sashimi and rolls to be in a Japanese restaurant. The restaurant is modern with lots of glass and simply decorated as the emphasis is on the food.

Pascal & I had reserved a table through top table (Top Table) but as it was 7.30 on a cold Monday night, the restaurant was pretty empty, however it soon started filling up rapidly. We chose a table by the window and ordered a couple of drinks and looked at the menu - I was at a loss at what to choose.

We ordered a lovely bottle of wine - a Chianti - it was so delicious, we ended up ordering two!


There is plenty of choice on the menu - for starters I was torn between the aubergine parmigana or burrata with datterini tomatoes and homemade basil pesto or "La Degustazione Obika" which is what we went for in the end.



Wow - it was impressive! A tasting board of Bufala classico & burrata, aubergine caponata, basil pesto and sun dried tomato pesto, cherry tomatoes, spinach, foccacia and then three different types of meats - prosciutto crudo di parma 20 mesi, prosciutto cotto alla brace and mortadella di prato.

It was delicious and we ate every last morsel - the sun dried tomato pesto was a little spicy for us but we still wolfed it down along with everything else. We nearly had a fight over the burrata & caponata!!

For mains there is a choice of pasta, pizza, steak, chicken, fish and salads and we both went for pasta! Pascal chose the fresh pappardelle with sausage and tomato ragu (I actually wanted it too but thought for the blog I should have something different) so I decided on the ravioli stuffed with fresh ricotta and porcini and topped with butter and thyme. I was also tempted by the lasagne so will definitely have that next time.

Unfortunately the pictures aren't great as the restaurant was pretty dark and so don't do the food justice.



Both dishes were amazing - we devoured everything - I was especially happy as they gave me my own bowl of Parmesan so I could have as much as I wanted. The ricotta & porcini went perfectly together and the fresh thyme really made it. The ragu was incredible and the pasta cooked perfectly al dente - plus everything was very prettily presented. What a fabulous meal! I cannot wait to come back here again.

My only complaint is it is opposite the impossibly glamorous KX gym - nobody wants to see skinny gym bunnies while you are stuffing your face!!


96 Draycott Avenue,
London
SW3 3AD
Tel: 020 7581 5208
Email: southken@obica.com

Square Meal
Obika on Urbanspoon

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