Stuzzi

Just outside of Harrogate’s town centre on the King’s Road is Stuzzi, a popular restaurant with a unique twist. They do both a lunch and dinner menu on most days, as well as items for brunch. We had booked for the evening sitting and I’m glad we did, half full when we arrived, full 10 minutes later. A great atmosphere, bombastic tunes like the Clash’s Rock the Casbah filled the restaurant, as did the conversations of anticipated diners. Passata, olive oil, pasta and other Italian food stuffs lined the outer walls of the room, some of which were for sale. There was a rack of Italian vegetable seeds behind our seats and an intriguing array of bottles of red liquid pervaded most corners of the restaurant; campari and soda spritzer apparently. The counter/​preparation area at the far end was awash with intriguing looking cheeses and cold meats, as well as tempting home made desserts on the top.
To the menu, the idea of Stuzzi is to pick a range of dishes (like tapas) depending on many of you there are, for the two of us, we were advised 5 – 7. A great concept, a large amount of choice that changes daily, luckily a member of staff talked us through the finer points of the concept, and gave us a rough estimation of the size of some dishes. From a choice of about 20, we picked 6, with a bread basket, that contained a variety of breads, some adorned with ingredients like tomatoes or seeds, some not, on the whole a good selection. Our first dish was arancini filled with saffron rice and scamorza cheese, full of flavour, but not a dish I would probably go for again. The meatballs in a spicy ragu were always going to be a winner, as were the huge battered prawns in lardo, fantastic but you only get three for £8, more than worth it though. The dressed salad, with fresh tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, artichoke and a myriad of types of lettuce, was a welcome freshness to counteract the big flavours of some of the other dishes. The stand out dishes though were probably the pasta with aubergine, fresh tomatoes and a smoked ricotta, and Brett Lee’s pea ravioli with wild mushrooms; apparently the name of the chef, not the perilously quick former Australian fast bowler! A wonderful explosion of flavours from the different dishes, some complimented each other, some did not, but that’s the beauty of experimentation! My Italian Menebrea beer was a light refreshing accompaniment to the meal too.
Desserts wise, sorbets and ice creams shipped from London, many resplendent with alcohol, as well as dessert platters to share, with items like cheesecake and lemon polenta cake. I had the Neapolitan doughnut, beautifully flavoured and not too sweet, and my wife had the fresh mint and chocolate ice cream, a beautiful green colour and the flavour packed a punch too. On the whole a truly unique experience, one which I would wholeheartedly like to repeat.