Prezzo is helping to make Witham High Street fashionable. This stylish silver painted Italian restaurant opened here at the end of last year and has become a busy nighttime dining establishment.
We arrive at 7:30 pm on a Tuesday evening and are glad that we booked in advance – as there is not one table unreserved. Karen, the Hungarian Restaurant Manager, greets us and we are seated in a comfortable candlelit booth with monochrome patterned bench seats.
Verdicchio
Karen gives us a few minutes before walking over to take our drinks order and after asking for a bottle of San Pellegrino; my partner asks her what the most popular wine is.
“The Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand is our biggest seller here,” says Karen. “It’s a medium bodied wine with a crisp gooseberry fruit flavour.”
My partner orders two large glasses of the Sauvignon for us to try. It’s a drinkable wine that I think would go well with any vegetarian, fish or chicken dish. But it’s too non descript for me. And my partner agrees. So we scan the wine list again (which has a good selection of Italian whites from Trebbiano and Frascati to Pinot Grigio and Fiano) and order a bottle of Verdicchio Urmani Ronchi DOC. This is one of my favourite whites. To me, it’s the Italian Chablis.
Baked Mushrooms
There are nine starters on the menu. From classics like Bruschetta, Tricolore Salad and Antipasto to modern melts like fried mozzarella in tomato sauce and grilled goats cheese on ciabatta bread with a balsamic glaze. The prices are excellent value, with all starters under £6.00.
We pick two classic dishes. Baked Mushrooms stuffed with grana padano cheese, garlic, onions, mushrooms and breadcrumbs. And King Prawns cooked in tomato sauce with garlic, chilli and spinach served with ciabatta bread.
Karen tells us a story of her mushroom picking expeditions in Hungary as she serves us our starters. The Baked Mushrooms and King Prawns are elegantly presented on white square plates. The six mushrooms, which surround a bed of salad leaves and a bowl of aioli, smell like a forest and I cannot wait to dig in.
My partner and I share the first mushroom and both gasp with delight at the texture and taste. We try them with and without the aioli and both agree that they taste best without. The combination of creamy cheese and that straight from the earth flavour is heavenly.
The King Prawns are not as spicy as the recipe suggests. But they are a good, light choice nonetheless.
Executive Pizzas
The maincourses at Prezzo are what you would expect from an Italian restaurant. There are pastas, pizzas, risottos and meat dishes with a choice of sides. But the Executive Pizzas stand out.
My partner orders the Chargrilled Chicken Breast Funghi (with field mushrooms and baby spinach in a Marsala wine sauce) and Rosemary potatoes. And I order one of the Executive Pizzas: the Queen Margherita.
There are four different Executive Pizzas on the menu. There is Posh Pepperoni, Steak and Rocket, Prawn and Lobster and the Queen Margherita. If we had not ordered King Prawns to start, then I would have gone for the Prawn and Lobster pizza. But the Queen Margherita sounds interesting. And when Karen lays it down on our table, it even looks interesting.
The Executive Pizzas are bigger than normal Prezzo pizzas. And they have a crispier, thinner base. The Queen Margherita is made up of three sections. So you end up with one pizza that has three different toppings.
What I find striking is the tri-colour design. The three sections are cleverly done and made to look like the Italian flag: green, white and red.
The green section is asparagus, spinach and basil pesto dressed rocket leaves. The white section is béchamel sauce and buffalo mozzarella. And the red section is sunblushed and cherry tomatoes.
Prezzo give you a pizza cutter for ease. So I cut each section into threes and dig in. The pizza is as good as any I have tasted in the UK or Italy. The base is light and the flavours from each different topping really come through. My favourite is the béchamel sauce and buffalo mozzarella.
I can tell that my partner is enjoying his chicken dish. As he has not spoken one word in the past five minutes. He is too busy eating.
The Gelupo Gelato Burger
“This is one of our most popular desserts,” says Karen while placing the Gelupo Gelato Burger in front of me.
And I can see why. This toasted brioche bun with a light dusting of icing sugar looks like a real American burger roll. It’s a gimmick that works and immediately transports you to the set of a Godfather inspired movie, where Italians talk with a New York accent.
This bun would never be found on the dolce list of a traditional Italian Trattoria. But I’m very happy to see it on the menu of Prezzo in Witham. This is much more than a simple dessert. It combines the two things that Italians cannot get enough of: bread and ice cream.
Our burger is stuffed with two large scoops of Amaretti and Hazelnut Gelato and the idea was to cut the burger down the middle so that we could both enjoy our favourite ice cream. But as I try the combination of warm brioche and frozen Amaretti and let the sweet taste of bread and marzipan envelop my senses, I decide that half of this dessert is not enough and end up eating three quarters of it. Sorry Mike! (My partner)
Tiramisu
I try not to order tiramisu when eating out in Italian restaurants as I was brought up on my mother’s homemade version, which no other tiramisu can compete with (in my biased opinion!). But the other desserts on this menu just don’t do it for me.
The Honeycomb Smash Cheesecake, Chocolate Profiteroles, Sticky Toffee Pudding and Milk Chocolate Fudge Cake are not Italian enough for me. And although the Panettone Bread and Butter Pudding sounds delicious (and a dessert that I will definitely try on my next visit to Prezzo) we thought it would not compliment the Gelupo Gelato Burger. That it would be a case of too much bread. So, we opt for the Tiramisu – an Italian dessert that always satisfies, even if my mother didn’t make it.
And Prezzo’s tiramisu is no exception. This square of whipped up eggs and mascarpone on espresso-drenched ladyfingers looks good on the plate. A sprinkling of cocoa around the tiramisu and three dark coffee beans pressed gently into the top layer of this dessert add the finishing touches.
It’s light and creamy and the perfect end to our meal. But this time I let my partner eat more.
Hot Amaretto
Karen must have noted my love of Amaretti because she brings out a hot glass of Amaretto for me to have alongside my cappuccino.
My partner inhales the aroma and notes how nice it is to have a warm shot of liqueur. These little details are often a rarity now. But they make a meal. And they have certainly made our meal special.
We enjoy our coffees with Amaretto and both decide that Prezzo is a great Italian restaurant for couples. The décor is minimalist with lots of wood. The pizza is as good as any you would find on the streets of Rome. And the service is excellent. Thank you, Karen and Prezzo. We will be back.
Our meal for two:
1 x Baked Mushrooms £5.35
1 x King Prawns £5.75
1 x Queen Margherita £11.25
1 x Chargrilled Chicken Breast Funghi £12.75
1 x Rosemary Potatoes £3.50
1x Tiramisu £5.10
1 x The Gelupo Gelato Burger £4.50
2 x Sauvignon Blanc New Zealand 250ml glass £5.60
1 x Verdicchio Urmani Ronchi DOC Bottle £17.95
2 x Cappuccino £2.25
Total: £81.85 + tip (£40.93 per head for starter, maincourse, dessert, large glass of white, half a bottle of white wine and a cappuccino)
We like…
KAREN, THE DINING ROOM MANAGER
THE 60’s INSPIRED SEATS
THE LOW LIGHTS
THE BAKED MUSHROOMS
THE QUEEN MARGHERITA
THE CHARGRILLED CHICKEN BREAST FUNGHI
THE ROSEMARY POTATOES
THE GELUPO GELATO BURGER
THE VERDICCHIO
THE PRICES
Prezzo
70 Newland Street
Witham
Essex
CM8 1AH
Telephone: 01376 510171