Montanaro's

Set in the centre of Swadlincote, near the Town Hall is the highly regarded Montanaro's. I've been looking forward to giving this restaurant a try for some time. Quite a compact restaurant, seating for about twenty, with a small well stocked bar in the far corner. The staff are enthusiastic and friendly, and the music and décor are traditional Italian, which makes for great atmosphere.

Menu wise, a good range of dishes, again traditional Italian, no pizzas though. The starters were pleasingly varied, I plumped for the Bruschetta Misto, bruschetta covered in a variety of olives, aubergines, peppers, courgettes, wonderfully tasty! My wife had the equally flavoursome garlic mushroom; overall a cracking start to the meal.

Mains a good range of pasta, steak and fish dishes, as well as daily specials. We both went for a tagliatelle based dish, my wife's was a range of vegetables in a spicy tomato sauce and mine was a range of different mushrooms topped with pancetta in a creamy goat's cheese sauce. Both dishes were sublime, some of the best food we've eaten in a long time! The accompanying balsamic dressed fresh salad complimented both dishes well too.

Clearly you have to have a dessert, disappointingly their trademark Tiramisu wasn't available, still gives us an excuse to visit again! The Chocolate Sin and meringue encrusted with almonds were able substitutes though. A fitting end to a wonderful meal, as was the strong accompanying coffee. Montanaro's lives up to its star billing and we will return very soon!