Monday, 26 May 2014

25 Restaurant - 70 - 80 Botanic Avenue - Belfast

I have been inspired lately by the deals advertised on Treat Ticket. I have grown quite fond of that new “app” and bought a couple of coupons for meals.
25 Restaurant is an Italian and Mediterranean restaurant located at the end of Botanic Avenue opposite the Madison’s Hotel.
What I didn’t realise at the time of the booking is that it is actually the former Carlitos whose name has been modified in order to promote some important changes such as a new chef and a new and improved menu.

To be honest, I was a bit disappointed when I found out that the decoration and furniture hadn’t changed in the slightest. I felt like it would have been more coherent to reorganise and move things around a little to enhance the change of identity and image.
As for the menu, it had been extended and enriched with a few more options but nothing drastic, really. It was still offering a choice of pizzas and pastas with a couple of different starters.
The Treat Ticket we had entitled us to a main course from the selection of pizzas, pastas or risottos as well as a glass of house wine each.

Damien ordered the risotto “Pollo Pomadoro”. His dish didn’t have the rich creamy texture that I love about risottos. It was very tomatoey with big chunks of seared chicken, mushrooms, peas and parsley. There was nothing really wrong with it, it just lacked flavours and tasted a bit bland.


I chose a pizza called Griffin topped with chicken, pepperoni, red onion and fresh chillies. It was a lovely surprise. The crust was thin, light and crispy. There was a delicious base of spicy tomato, layered with golden brown melted mozzarella cheese and sprinkled with shredded chicken, thinly sliced pepperoni and a delicious blend of herbs and chillies. I absolutely loved it; it is from far the best pizza I was ever served in an Italian restaurant. I truly enjoyed every bite of it and would definitely order it again.


I am not sure I would recommend 25 Restaurant though. I did have a lovely experience with the pizza but Damien’s risotto was quite disappointing, the new menu was not tremendously inspiring and I thought they should probably have shaken up things a little bit more.
However, my main course was excellent and if you are having cravings for a real Italian pizza, 25 Restaurant is without a doubt the place to go to.


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