Thursday, September 6, 2012

Review : Bella Napoli, Clonakilty

A few weeks ago, myself and The Hubs had a wonderful break in West Cork at Inchydoney which is located just outside Clonakilty.  We decided to venture into the town on Friday night for dinner and drinks, and as we were new to the area, we asked our very friendly taxi driver Richard where he would recommend.  He gave us a short list of options and mentioned that his favourite restaurant Bella Napoli was sadly still closed due to the floods which devasted the town a few weeks previously.  Not so, we were delighted to find that Bella Napoli had just reopened that very evening, albeit with a limited menu.






The restaurant is very simply furnished with wooden tables and chairs, trattoria style checked tablecloths and very friendly Italian waiting staff who were delighted to see people come in to eat.


We chose from a short but well composed menu - bruschetta alla pomodoro to share, then lasagne for The Hubs and as a test of a proper Italian restaurant, Spaghetti alla Carbonara for me.



The Bruschetta was excellent - great ripe tomatoes with plenty of garlic on toasted bread with slices of mozzarella and a well dressed rocket salad.  Sharing was a great idea because this was a very substantial starter.


My Spaghetti was incredibly good - no cream, no peas, no mushrooms... just properly made with egg yolks, parmesan and plenty of pancetta.  Again the portion was huge and despite my best efforts, I could barely eat half of it.  I wasn't too happy with The Hubs' Lasagne.  I thought it was drowned in tomato sauce and presented in a flat gratin dish so there was no evidence of lovely layers of pasta and sauce.

We were far too full for dessert, so went for a walk around the town before finding seats in De Barras for a few post-dinner drinks.  Our bill, including three beers, came to €48 excluding service.

Bella Napoli is at Connolly Street, Clonakilty, Co. Cork.  Tel : 023 8821738
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1 comment:

  1. One of my favourites in Clonakilty too. The chef and head waiter are Italian so it's pretty authentic.
    Lots of choice in Clon, to be fair.

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