It’s not often that a topless waiter pours Blue Tomato a glass of Prosecco on a Wednesday evening (that’s usually Thirsty Thursdays in our office), but as it was for charity we thought that we’d acquiesce to a small drop at Cantina Del Ponte, a fabulous Italian restaurant located on Shad Thames.
In an exclusive preview of an event for International Women’s Day on March 8th, the fun loving eatery will be celebrating ‘La Festa Della Donna’, which, loosely translated from Italian into English means ‘an excuse for women to have a good old knees up’. By combining this jubilant occasion with drumming up support for Marie Curie Cancer Care, the restaurant are hoping to raise awareness for the charity as well helping punters make their contribution to the cause by adding a discretionary £1 to every bill to go to the charity.
With a generous measure of Prosecco swilling around in our stomachs, we make our way past the muscle-bound service staff and on to the central dining table in a room kitted out in stylish décor with overhead lamps and gentle Italian music providing an intimate yet jovial ambience.
The potato and prawn soup is thick enough to constitute a broth, yet light enough to warrant an extra dip of the crusty ciabatta that accompanies it; the shellfish are served whole and arranged in a neat array on top of the soup, offering an interesting juxtaposition of piscatorial tanginess next to the more earthy taste of the liquefied spuds. For mains, the sea bass is served with a huge wedge of salt that resembles a miniature ‘white cliff of Dover’, which one shaves at to season the succulent fish. A spinach and ricotta cannelloni is deceptively small and appears to be of a typical starter size; however, once we gets to the end of the cheese-filled pasta log, there’s barely enough room left for dessert. Barely. A selection of Italian farmhouse cheeses are served with a truffle honey accompaniment which offers a sweetened yin to the cheeses’ yang, whilst a panna cotta comes in a martini glass with a black cherry base its sweet and tart flavours blending in an effortlessly congenial union.
Tickets for the evening event on March 8 are now available at £50 per person inclusive of a glass of Prosecco on arrival, dinner and wine. A proportion of each bill will go to Marie Curie Cancer Care.
Written by David Harfield
Date posted: 22/02/2012
Category: Events, News.
Tags: Cantina del Ponte, Marie Curie Cancer.
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