LITTLE SARDEGNA

Since the last few weeks, I like to go outside the trendy new list of restaurants everyone is talking about on the blogosphere or Twitter. Instead I go to small little independent restaurants near central London. Previously I went to Hudsons in Putney which was a great surprise. This time I had dinner in Finsbury Park in a traditional south Italian restaurant: Little Sardegna. A friend introduced me to this place as she just lives in front of it. 

When we arrived the restaurant was totally empty, we had a booking for five person. In less than half an hour, it was totally packed, they had to refuse walk-ins. 

The decoration is traditional, green and red checked tablecloths, specials written on the board and some Italian accessories on the wall. Waitresses were very nice and Italian which makes this place more authentic.

At the back on the restaurant on the left there is a bar area and on the right side you can see the kitchen and chefs cooking. I thought we had  the best as we could see the kitchen. 

On the menu, there is pasta dishes, meats or fish dishes. All of us focused on the two special pasta dishes on that night : tagliatelle tartufo and ravioli cernia and the pasta section on the menu.

We ordered the special ravioli cernia, mallureddos, gnocchi contadina and two of us had tagliatelle funghi e salsiccia. When food arrived on the table, everything smelled delicious. Pasta were all homemade, cooked al dente, all dishes were faultless and well seasoned. 

 Ravioli Cernia: homemade ravioli filled with grouper fish, butter, parmesan and botarga sauce

 Mallureddos: traditional homemade Sardegna gnocchetti in pork mince ragu & Pecorino cheese

 Tagliatelle funghi e salsiccia: thin stripes egg pasta in Porcini mushrooms and sausage sauce

 Gnocchi Contadina : Potato gnocchi filled with pesto in Mustia cheese, cherry tomato & aubergine sauce

Tiramisu

As a dessert some of us had a tiramisu, I can't really tell how it was as I am not a big fan or expert in tiramisu. But my friends seemed to enjoy it.

At the end of the meal we had a complimentary limoncello shot each, I don't know if they do that for all client, but my friend is a regular there. 

If you are looking for real authentic Italian food, Little Sardegna is definitely the place you should go to. Prices are a bit expensive for the area or for the fact it isn't a fine dining restaurant, but it's totally worth the price. 

8/10

Little Sardegna

170 Blackstock Road

London N5 1HA