Midleton's Lion of St Mark

Pizzeria San Marco

In Venice, you will see the Lion of St Mark all over the town. You will also see it on the wall of Pizzeria San Marco which is just down the road in Midleton. 

Here the restaurant, which opened two years back and has been making friends since, proudly boasts about their authentic Italian dining experience. They have an authentic Italian wood-burning oven and charcoal grill. And also that Lion of St Mark on the wall.

Had been hearing good things about this Pizzeria over the last 12 months and got a chance to call down last week. It is on the Cork City side of the town, not too far down from the site of the weekly Farmers Market. Front of house are very friendly and the chairs are comfortable.

The menu is wide ranging, as you see for yourself by visiting the website. I’ve always enjoyed the shared meat dish that other Italian restaurants use and we went for it here and were delighted. The Antipasto Platter consisted of Cured Italian meats with a selection of cheeses, olives and sun dried tomatoes and cost €10.30. It was a well-balanced plateful and was helped on its way by a gorgeous Montepulciano.

We had actually been about to pick a Sangiovese Merlot from the understandably short list until our genial waiter Mario suggested the Caldora Montepulciano. It is from the Abruzzo region with a full body, intense, persistent and fruity. And, as Mario said, goes well with meat and cheese. Cost per bottle is 22 euro, per glass 6.25.

As you’d expect, they have a long list of pizzas. The special on the night was the Macroom Pizza, featuring the Toomsbridge Buffalo cheese, but I went for the Carciofini which had tomato, mozzarella and artichokes and cost €11:30. Must say, glad to say, it was top notch, a great mix, well balanced and the artichokes more than held their own.

CL picked the Lasagna: Baked pasta layered with Bolognese and Béchamel sauce, topped with Parmesan cheese, served with garlic bread (€12.50). I had a sample and it was just brilliant and, more importantly, she concurred, enthusiastically.






We were pretty full after the opening two courses and shared the Tiramisu: A layer of "savoiardi" biscuits with coffee liquor, mascarpone cheese and cocoa – €6.50. After the first spoonful, we were inclined to order a second helping but beat off the temptation.

NEW HANDS ON THE BRICK OVEN

Click on image to enlarge

LA DOLCE VITA

There is a new kid on the brick. On the brick oven that is, once part of the Proby’s Quay restaurant of the same name. It has been taken over by an Italian-Chinese combo and they sure know how to work that brick oven, an essential for top class pizzas and lacking in many pizzerias even in Italy.

The two principals of the newly opened La Dolce Vita are Paolo Perrone from Sciacca, Italy and Jacky Sen Wang from Dahiam, China. They also have a brilliant staff, alert, friendly and informative. The fire was blazing when we stepped in from the bitter cold last night and, of course, that centre-piece oven helps heat the place as well.

Had every intention of ordering a pizza but that will have to wait, after a big change of mind. But let us start at the start which was an Antipasto Misto (15.95) to be shared between two: a massive plate-ful (photo) of meats, cheeses and vegetables, really well dressed and accompanied by another large plate, full of foccacia and a dish of mainly olives. So simple yet so tasty.

 And the same applies to my main course: Baked Sea Bream with lemon dill fresh tomato (16.95). “Lovely woods fried oven baked fish drizzles with olive oil.” A terrific full fish (see photo), soft and juicy. Just gorgeous. Loved the effect of the oven here.

 And that oven was also used in the other main dish. CL decided to go for an Italian favourite:  Pollo cacciatore (16.95), chicken supreme with mix vegetable in tomato sauce. There must be about 2000 versions of this Italian classic and this was another. But no complaints. A terrific simple dish at a very good price again.

Desserts were also well priced and we decided to share the Fresh Strawberry with crema di aceto balsamic and vanilla ice cream (4.95). It was quite a bowlful with the strawberries at the bottom. A lovely way to finish off a gorgeous meal. Maybe next time I’ll go for that pizza!

We had the Sicilian Njiro IGT 2009 Nero d’Avola (Per Bottle €17.90, Per Glass €4.50) and also the Verdicchio (Per Bottle €18.90, Per Glass €4.90), and found both more than fit for purpose and, again, well priced.

 So all in all it was two happy campers that, after a warm farewell from the LDV crew, that stepped to into the night. For some reason, it didn’t seem as cold as it was earlier! Maybe that kick ass double espresso (€2.50) had something to do with that! Ciao for a while.

Cesare Benvenuto from Pio Cesare comes to town

The Restaurant @ Donnybrook Fair is delighted to welcome Cesare Benvenuto from Pio Cesare on Wednesday 28^th September at 7.45pm to host an Italian wine dinner.  Cesare will introduce a selection of traditional Piemontese wines which have been produced by his family for five generations in their ancient cellars, located in the town of Alba.  The evening is priced at €60 per person or €100 per couple.

These wines will be