12:46pm Wednesday 31st October 2007
By Vivien Kandel
Quality of service excellent
Value for money very good
Ambience delighfully continental
Speed of service perfect
Quality of food excellent
I HAVE to confess that when I was growing up, I was spoiled when it came to food and going out to eat.
We always went to good restaurants - maybe not the best - but I've grown up being extremely fussy and always expecting excellent food cooked well.
Turturici's in Davenham was a delightful surprise because I just wasn't expecting the quality of food, the ambience of the restaurant or the welcoming staff.
I really recommend it and if you can go - do.
I can hear murmurings in the background because I have heard from several readers that the problem is you cannot book.
True - and I suppose my companion (an equally fussy eater) and I were lucky that there was a table of two available on a Tuesday night at 7.15pm.
I admit that if I had to wait for an hour, I wouldn't have been happy - nobody would - but the quality of the rest of the experience would have made up for it.
We walked into the restaurant and its ambience immediately transported us to Italy. The atmosphere was great. All night there was either Italian opera or Italian pop music playing but we could hear each other without being drowned out by music.
There was a real buzz about the place and at no time did we feel we were being rushed to make way for more people.
The staff were extremely welcoming and presented us with an extensive menu with plenty of choice, a mix of old favourites and some more unusual dishes at reasonable prices.
My companion decided to bite the bullet and go for a mushroom risotto as a starter while I went for an aubergine bake.
With luscious layers of tomato and aubergine topped off with cheese, the bake was the perfect way to start the meal.
The mushroom risotto was to die for, cooked to perfection with firm mushrooms and perfectly cooked rice but having asked about portion sizes and being told the starter was smaller, my campanion received a portion which was too overfacing.
All the food was beautifully presented and the staff were attentive and friendly.
For a main course, I decided on chicken with spaghetti and tomato sauce while my companion had sole fillets in a lemon and wine sauce.
The chicken was beautifully cooked with an al dente spaghetti and a lucious tomato sauce while you could tell my companion's fish was fresh with a lovely sauce beautifully cooked.
I was disappointed to find that not every dish comes with an accompaniment and you have to pay extra for side dishes.
So we ordered spinach in a cream sauce and we were not disappointed, it was gorgeous and not over-sauced.
Unfortunately because my companion had had too much risotto he couldn't manage a dessert, but I plumped for the heavenly creme brulée, presented in a coffee cup which I thought was unusal.
All in all, a fantastic meal, beautifully presented by friendly staff in lovely surroundings.
Who could ask for more?
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