Italian Food in Jesmond

On a flying visit to see my lovely niece in Newcastle upon Tyne www.newcastlegateshead.com  I found myself in the popular and lively residential district of Jesmond north of the city centre. With just a few hours to spare the idea was to try a local restaurant and Firenze in Osbourne Road was her very good choice.

This Italian restaurant firenzenewcastle.co.uk has been open for four years and has all right the ingredients for a great experience. Located on the first floor the atmosphere is bright and airy and we were immediately greeted and shown to a perfect corner table.

The menu offers an extensive and varied (but not overwhelming) range of italian dishes breads, brushetta, antipasti, pizza, pasta, insalata, pollo and more. The staff are exceptionally friendly helpful.

To start we shared a salt and pepper fried calamari served with a garlic mayonnaise and a antipasto misto a generous selection of italian meats with rocket and parmesan.

For main course Amy plumped for risotto but was it to be Frutti with mussels, calamari, smoked salmon with tomato and cream or Salmone which had the added attraction of asparagus. No problem said the very nice man why not add some asparagus to the Frutti. The result was one delighted Amy who will certainly be back at Firenze again.

It was seafood all round with me opting for Di mare pizza and a house salad. The wine choice was a Pinot Grigio Rose in an attempt to hold on to that summer feeling on a slightly drizzly night.

Firenze is also very good value with our meal not including the wine coming to just £32 a tip is not automatically included in the bill but was certainly deserved.

It should do very well in this part of the city which is increasingly popular for students and nights out