Cantina del Ponte, Thameside, London

We were at the launch of the Designs of the year 2014 exhibition at the Design Museum Friday night. Gipsy Spread's interior design credentials means we are members. I therefore decided to tie our viewing of the show with dinner at the would-be glorious Italian Cantina del Ponte Thameside. The restaurant has some fantastic views overlooking the Thames and as it so happened, I had booked us in on the night of classic Opera. A full evening of culture vulturing then it was for us.


Ever the thrifty foodies, we (he) went for the set dinner menu which had more than one vegetarian option for both starters and mains. The mains however were a little uninspring. I do enjoy a Puttanesca (Nigellas "sluts spaghetti"), but I will often make this at home as it's a simple dish. The other main was a risotto and not one that was going to tempt me on this occassion.


So, I was the one who went off piste on this occassion. I ordered the tomato and olive bruschetta to begin, knowing full well the two courses Gipsy Spread was going to go for, would definitely include dessert.


The bruschetta was fine. It was not the best I've had, but was a good simple version of this dish with an olive taponade on one crostini and fresh tomatoes on the other. A tad more rocket might not have gone amiss either, as you will see from the photo below.

I followed this simple classic starter, with (a starter portion) of the spinach and ricotta ravioli. My meal was actually not dissimilar to the choices I made on the fixed price dinner menu at Carluccios recently. So, whilst my meal was nice enough, unfortunately, for me, the Carluccios meal was tastier and better value.

Gipsy Spread had a chicken dish with roasted potatoes, which again, he described as 'fine' and 'uninspiring'.

I think the best course of the evening was the classic tiramisu, which I usually can't leave an Italian restaurant without sampling. The portion size was generous and the dessert, rich and creamy, with overtones of coffee and undertones of amaretto. I would visit again, but mostly just for the dessert.

The opera however, did inject an element of fun into the evening's proceedings. The singer sang several choruses of 'nesun dorma' and 'I feel pretty' over the course of our meal, engaging the out-of-towners into a bit of napkin waving with her 'Coyote Ugly' style of bar/chair entertainment.

Overall, we had a good evening, in a lovely location, with some entertainment, but we weren't particularly taken with the food on this occasion.