CALL me a sinner, call me a saint, but when I say "tortellini" I have to put on a Cockney accent. It's a reflex action. The tortellini in Salvi's Rosticceria is enough to put a smile on any diamond geezer's boat race.
The seafood arancini, riceball, was wonderful; proper sticky rice in which baby octopuses hid.
Maurizio Salvi is one of Confidential's favourite operators in Manchester. His brand of artfully simple, straightforward food is delivered con brio and with a smile.
By August he will be back at the birthplace of his business the Corn Exchange - he's presently operating from a temporary restaurant in Exchange Square.
In 2014 he opened a second outlet to great success on John Dalton Street, now a couple of doors up from that he's gone even more informal and laid back with a rosticceria.
We asked him what one of these things was when he told us he was opening one. He said: "It's based on an Neapolitan takeaway offering fried pizza, arancinas, polpette (meatballs), cannelloni, lasagne, focaccia, Neapolitan panini, paidina, rustici (little fried parcels with hams, ricotta and so on with fillings), calzone fritti, croquettes, zeppole (fried seaweed in batter), pizza, pasta, and lots of specials too. It will provide very fresh flavours for eating on-site or for take-away. Then in the evening it will turn into an Italian aperitivo bar."
With stools against the walls, an attractive counter, one main dining table, this is scaled to the dimensions of all those little food places you bump against in Italian streets. The food and drink quality is as high as other Salvi units. Prices for the food range from £2.50 upwards to £5 or so. Already busy at lunchtimes Salvi's Rosticceria will give Katsouris, the hot snack specialists down the way at the junction of John Dalton Street and Deansgate, a run for its money.
There were several winners on my visit.
The seafood arancini (see picture below) riceball, was wonderful; proper sticky rice in which baby octopuses hid. This potentially clumsy dish had just the right balance. Loved it. Then there was the tortellini with peas, ham, mushrooms and cheese. This is another collation, balanced again, filling, satisfying, cooked with gentle verve. The chicken escalope was very good, moist with a refined breadcrumbed coat. I like the look of those mozzarella sandwiches too but a man can only eat so much even when it's part of his job.
This time I went with a San Pellegrino fizzy orange but there is a wonderful range of lesser known Italian reds and whites. The classic pre-meal 'aperitivo' used to be Campari - more recently Aperol has begun hyperactively marketing themselves - but these days the Italian ritual of 'prendiamo un aperitivo' has changed and increasingly wine is the drink of choice.
By the way the Italian 'aperitivo' is usually taken between 6pm-9pm to stimulate the appetite before a main meal, of course if you snack and drink too much, the night might turn into an elongated 'aperitivo'. It's on my mind to do just that very soon beginning at this sweet new addition to the city centre.
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Salvi's Rosticceria, John Dalton Street, City centre, M2 6FW. 0161 312 7676.
Rating: 14.5/20 (remember venues are rated against the best examples of their type - see yellow box below)
Food: 7.5/10 (arancini 8, chicken 7.5, tortellini 7.5, ragu 7)
Service: 4/5
Ambience: 3/5
PLEASE NOTE: Venues are rated against the best examples of their kind: fine dining against the best fine dining, cafes against the best cafes. Following on from this the scores represent: 1-5 saw your leg off and eat it, 6-9 get a DVD, 10-11 if you must, 12-13 if you’re passing,14-15 worth a trip,16-17 very good, 17-18 exceptional, 19 pure quality, 20 perfect. More than 20, we get carried away.
