Penny Flood visits Caffe Delizia at its new High Road site

If you get a touch of deja vu when you come across Caffe Delizia, it’s probably because you’ve seen it before. Formerly on Chiswick Lane, the owner Lin Cutaj has brought it mainstream, re-opening on the High Road near Goldhawk Road in half of the building that used to be Woodlands.

The restaurant is best described as Continental because it serves a selection of dishes influenced by the cuisines of various countries – British, Italian, Spanish and Greek. There are pastas and risottos, sardines, salt beef, mezzes, hummus and much else.

But I’m going to start at the end. Caffe Delizia has to be one of Chiswick’s best kept secrets. Their cakes are made by a lady who used to make cakes for Harrods. She lives around the corner from the restaurant and every day she delivers freshly baked carrot cake, cheese and chocolate fudge cake. These cakes alone are a great excuse for popping along for a cup of tea and a cake in the afternoon or, if you really want to create a good impression, you could buy one and pass it off as your own!

Anyway back to the review.

We started with whitebait and an artichoke salad. The whitebait were succulent, fried in a light batter and very tasty, I was assured. My artichoke salad was almost a meal in itself with artichokes, boiled egg, roasted red peppers, olives and sun dried tomatoes. Chuck in some garlic bread and you’d have a substantial lunch.

For the mains we chose from the specialties– a good selection of meat, fish and veg dishes which is great for vegetarians as it means there’s more than just pasta to choose from. I had melanzane parmigiana and my companion had marinated lamb chops. Specialties come with a choice of two side orders so we shared veg rice, olives, Italian bread and a mixed salad.

The melanzana parmigiana was great and just as it should be, slices of tender aubergine sandwiched with melting mozzarella cheese and a rich tomato sauce. The lamb chops weren’t quite so successful, well-cooked rather than pink. Although they were declared very tasty if a bit fatty and slightly tough. They were polished off all the same.

We didn’t really have room for a dessert but we forced ourselves, plumping for the carrot cake and cheesecake. They were both delicious but the carrot cake won by a short head because it was particularly scrumptious.

Caffe Delizia is licensed with a short, reasonably priced wine list which starts at £10.90 for the house wine which is also sold by the glass for £3.45. And if you want to celebrate there are three fizzes to choose from – Prosecco at £14.95 and house champagne at £29.95 for a bottle and £16.95 for a half bottle.

Our bill came to £47 which included two beers and two large glasses of wine.

And for people who’d rather eat in, the whole menu is available for takeaways and there is a delivery service.

Lin also does catering for parties, and his restaurant is beginning to establish itself as a venue; one family had a christening party there recently and he’s had enquiries from other would-be party people. The difference with Caffe Delizia is that when it’s booked for a party Lin is willing to close it so you have exclusive use.

Caffe Delizia has not set out to offer haute cuisine or fine dining – it offers good choice of well-cooked food at very reasonable prices and in these cash-strapped times what’s not to like?

Penny Flood

February 22, 2009