A taste of Italy... in the centre of Hamilton

Mar 18 2011 By Ladies Who Lunch

Da Antonio, Campbell Street, Hamilton

AMAZINGLY for the time of year the sun shone brightly in a cloudless blue sky and it would have been great to have been heading for a little trattoria somewhere in Italy.

However, it was not to be; instead we were looking for the unprepossessing entrance to Da Antonio's Italian restaurant in a side street off Hamilton's Cadzow Street. Never mind, we were in good spirits and able to see blue sky from the restaurant situated at first floor level above the Courtyard Bar.

We had come to enjoy a 'traditional' Italian meal and first impressions were promising with a large coffee machine at the bar and pink and white tablecloths on the uniformly spaced tables - like many a little trattoria all over Italy. The voices of Frank Sinatra and Andreas Bocelli were a bit loud for the otherwise quiet room but the volume was turned down at our request.

In time we were joined by a few more diners but the room remained pretty empty despite its location near banks, offices and the police station. In Italy office workers would be enjoying a 'proper' sit-down lunch but this was Scotland and sandwich shops and takeaways jostle for prime locations in town centres everywhere.

From his accent (and his ability to converse in Italian) our waiter at least appeared 'the real thing', though for an Italian his greeting was somewhat restrained. We were shown to our table but found the coat hooks for ourselves. As he took our orders from the two-course lunch menu Antonio (was it he?) smiled wryly and maybe sighed as he replied "At this price?" to the hopeful question: "Is it buffalo mozzarella?" Nevertheless he seemed to warm to us as the meal progressed and took time to explain how limoncello - a traditional Italian liqueur - should be made; the way they make it back home in Italy.

The two-course lunch menu provided a choice of four starters and four main courses and we sampled three of each. The minestrone (no padding of pasta here) was a generous portion of vegetable soup, perhaps a little salty for our palates. The pate (toast would have been preferred to the generous portion of bread) and breaded mozzarella both got the thumbs up.

Next, two chose the roast of the day - roast pork flavoured with a strong herby sauce, a third enjoyed tender and tasty chicken cacciatore, each dish accompanied by a selection of vegetables. The lasagne disappointed somewhat - a rather small unadorned portion which brought a request for a side salad as an extra. It also seemed to lack distinctive layers of pasta and meat sauce and was very soft. By contrast the speedily delivered side salad was fresh, crisp and colourful. Non-meat eaters could have opted for melon and a vegetarian pasta dish.

An inexpensive bottle of house red (Valpolicella) was complemented by a glass of chilled dry white wine and both slipped down easily with no complaints. To finish we had a choice of freshly made coffees and two of us tried the limoncello, which was light enough for the time of day.

Here's how we scored our meal:

Location 6/10

Service 7.5/10

Ambience - 6.5 /10

Menu/food - 6/10

Value for Money - 7/10

Total 33/50.

Our budget that day did not allow us to sample the daily specials or dishes from the main menu but we would probably have been happy to open our purses a little bit wider for a lunch menu with more choice and a bit more pizzazz. Still, for shoppers or workers alike, this little Italian offers a chance to relax and be served a bargain-basement-price lunch in pleasant surroundings with not a plastic spoon or sandwich wrapper in sight.

Today's tip: if the location was more evident maybe the customers would be too!

VALUE: Da Antonio restaurant in Hamilton's Cadzow Street.