Emilia's Crafted Pasta
Fresh Pasta
C3, Ivory House, St Katharine Docks, St Katharine's & Wapping, London E1W 1AT
£
Pasta isn't a dish I will ever usually go out to eat. Pasta is a stomach liner before a big night out, or an easy and hearty family meal: no one can beat my Mum's spag bol, but this is a dish best enjoyed at home, and whatsmore, for free.
Emilia's menu contains nothing other than pasta dishes, and has received very warm reviews, so I thought I'd put my preconceptions behind me and try the stuff out of house for once. The pasta is created fresh every day, it is also prepared and cooked in front of you (if you choose to sit at the counter). The restaurant itself is small, but in a cosy rather than claustrophobic way, and the staff are accommodating.
The menu itself consists of only three antipasti options: Olives, Burrata, Bresaola. There are also only three side options: Italian side salad, Green beans with Pesto, Rocket and parmesan salad. The mains have 7 options to choose from and include all different kinds of pasta: Rigatoni, Pappardelle, Casarecce, Gnocchi, Bucatini and Ravioli. To start, we shared the Burrata which was deliciously creamy and served with toasted ciabatta and olive oil - simple but very effective.
For main, Tom went for the Ravioli with organic lamb, parsley and parmesan in a light butter and sage sauce. I went for the Pancetta carbonara with pecorino and beaten eggs. Both dishes were tasty, but weren't all that generous when it came to portion sizes... The Ravioli came in at £12 and the Carbonara £9.50, and whilst this is reasonable prices for main courses in London restaurants, the fact you're getting pasta, and not a lot of it at that, did make this seem quite a lot less reasonable.
The Ravioli was tasty, again it was very simple and the delicate sauce complimented the meat very well. This was, without doubt, the best pasta I've had, and you can definitely tell it has been lovingly handmade. The Carbonara, however, was so overly peppered the flavours of the dish got completely lost. With the Ravioli you could actually taste the pasta itself (don't think I ever really knew what pasta tasted like before this), but the pasta's flavour, along with the flavour of the sauce (which there wasn't much of at all), and even the pancetta, was lost in this dish.
To finish we had the 'special dessert' of the day - salted caramel brownie with vanilla ice cream. Whilst this was nice, it wasn't anything dramatic. I would have preferred it to come slightly warm, even if this mean just bunging it back in the oven for a few minutes. Unfortunately, this didn't have the same homemade taste as the pasta did, and I think I could probably find something very similar in the Waitrose across the dock.
Overall, a pleasant dining experience, but nothing special at all: It hasn't convinced me to go out of the house for any pasta again anytime soon.
OVERALL RATING: ***
http://www.emiliaspasta.com/
