REVIEW | Salvi's Mozzarella Bar, Corn Exchange

CONFIDENCE is everything. We see that confidence in all the best work we encounter in our lives irrespective of the field in which that work is delivered. There is an ease about people who are assured in their skill. 

The antipasti platter is a work of art, the best in the city by a factor of ten.

Salvi's, the most individual of the restaurants in the Corn Exchange, is shot through with this confidence. Maurizio Cecco, the owner, is from Naples and knows exactly what he wants from the food and drink he produces. Even his design brings something different to the Corn Exchange.

Where most of the restaurants are expansive and bright, Cecco's basement dining area is intimate, snug, with a handsome private space in a bottle-lined niche at the rear. Meanwhile, upstairs the ground floor deli provides colour and sensory stimulation with its hanging hams, cheeses, tins, bottles and whatnot. It whispers to passers-by to venture in. Venga, venga.

Salvi's suitably Italianate entrance on Exchange Square

Deli products

The food's as splendid as ever (read our first review of Salvi's back in 2012)

The antipasti platter (£17 for two) is a work of art, the best in the city by a factor of ten. Italian Renaissance artist, Caravaggio, were he around, might capture the 'chiaroscuro' (the beautiful light and shade) of this array of sumptuous food but others wouldn't get anywhere near it. The raw materials Cecco sources from his native Campagna and across Italy are of the highest quality. The bufala mozzarella is a definition of creaminess, the mortadella is glorious, the peppers and leaves are gloriously moist.

The juicy, life-affirming punch of the best Italian food is reinforced with three mains, which might look similar given the use of tomatoes, but are individually very different. And big. You get generous portions at Salvi's. This makes the customer think their interests come first, rather than the desires of some bean-counters in a distant head office looking to save pennies on every dish. 

Antipasti art

Octopus

We had salsiccia Italiana, a rich sausage served with caponata, tonno alla paesana, perfectly cooked tuna with tomatoes, capers and olives (both £12.95) and polipo alla Luciana, luscious octopus cooked in tomato sauce with capers and black olives (£13.95). The colours of the crockery is cunning, boosting the appearance of the food.

The hearty rustic nature of the food was a joy, the flavours enhanced by distinctive black olive notes, sharp capers and a sowing of herbs. The central elements of the dishes, the sausages, tuna and octopus came in generous quantities rather than miserly portions hidden under sauce. A £30 bottle of Ruvei Barbera d'Alba worked with the flavours as well and the meal was rounded off with a sophisticated Giare Chardonnay grappa.

Good accompaniment for the rich, rustic food

Confidence is a two way street. The confidence of the person delivering the work and the confidence in that work from whatever audience is being served.

Sat in a booth at the back of Salvi's in the Corn Exchange on a busy Wednesday lunchtime and watching the satisfaction of my fellow diners, who were sampling a full meal at Salvi's for the first time, was rewarding. Maurizio Cecco, with his instinctive grasp of what makes Italian food and what forms Italian hospitality, is on to a winner here. 

Salvi's Mozzarella Bar, Corn Exchange, City Centre M4 3TR. 0161 222 8021

Rating 16/20

Food: 8 (antipasti platter 9, bread 7, octopus 8, tuna 8, sausage 8)

Ambience: 4

Service: 4

 

The ground floor deli

Sausage

The grappa

Bread of heaven