WHEN you’ve been in the business forty years, there’s always a risk that things might become a bit 'samey'.
The truffle hogs on San Carlo’s books must be claiming some serious overtime
Roundhay’s Flying Pizza - part of the San Carlo family - know this all too well, and with their 40th birthday approaching later this year it’d be easy to rely on the restaurant’s legacy to get bums on seats. But rather than resting on their laurels, becoming a living museum of Italian-food cliches, the neighbourhood bistro features a constantly evolving, rotating menu that puts a focus on which produce tastes best right now.
They invited Leeds Confidential round to their gaff this week, to be very willing guinea pigs and try out the new menu - with Chef Aldo Zilli off the telly playing the role of mad-scientist all too convincingly.
Aldo, working alongside San Carlo’s head chefs, has come up with a roster of new dishes that show off the best of Yorkshire and Italy’s summer produce. Familiar stuff like Yorkshire beetroot sits alongside the not so familiar like Yorkshire gorgonzola, as well as plenty of locally-reared meat, seafood caught nearby (well, as nearby as possible for landlocked Leeds), and truffle... lots and lots and lots of truffle.
Chef Aldo ZilliThe truffle hogs on San Carlo’s books must be claiming some serious overtime, as they seem to put the stuff on everything. Shaved on top of a salad of wild mushrooms and mozzarella, poured over County-reared fillet steak wrapped in parma ham, and even in our dessert. Local strawberries get their drizzle of balsamic, only this stuff has been aged for fifteen years, as well as truffled for good measure. When they told us how much a bottle of the stuff cost I blushed a similar shade to the 'deconstructed' rack of lamb.
One from the non-truffled section of the menu, the lamb is from local butcher Sykes House Farm, and needs little accompaniment besides a couple of sprigs of rosemary, and a jus so rich and hearty there's likey some poor Nonna out there trying to find the jug missing from her Sunday spread. There’s a similar confidence in the quality of produce with the shellfish stew - a great copper pot containing half the auxiliary cast of Finding Dory, dressed in nothing besides a bit of white wine, garlic, and plenty of butter.
Over the coming weeks Flying Pizza will be announcing their birthday plans, and we can’t wait to see what they’ve got up their sleeves. They may be pushing 40, but if this lunch was anything to go by, there’s plenty of life in the old dog yet - and we don’t just mean Aldo.
Find out more about Flying Pizza here.
