Skip to main content

A Cena Restaurant, East Twickenham



It's no question that A Cena is considered to be one of the best restaurants in the borough of Richmond, consistently serving rustic Italian food in a barely luminate setting. What is isn't however, is a traditional Italian haunt. You won't find the menu overflowing with typical pasta classics and a bit of steak on the side. It's more the opposite - plenty of quality produce with a bit of pasta on the side. I actually recall a service once having no pasta items on the menu at all, apart from a Risotto, wait... that's not even pasta. I rest my case. Anyway, to me the food is similar in style to that of Hammersmith's River Cafe, minus the extraordinary riverside location and fabulously bright dining ambience (it is quite dark in A Cena but I think this adds to its own feel).

I started, as usual, with the Parmesan fritters, I really need to get a life, I order this every time I go there but they are great and I am usually starving (carbohydrate gremlins). The Chic geek opted for asparagus served with parmesan and egg. My parmersan fritters were very nice, a little undercooked (they were doughy) but have a nice cheesey flavour, a slightly crunchy exterior and a creamy dressing, yum. With the asparagus and egg I guess the pic says it all really. The presentation of the egg was sloppy, and served with a small sprinkle of parmesan. The asparagus surprisingly didn't really have much flavour and was served firm. Jury's still out on that dish.
For mains, I had a pork cutlet (this thing was huge) served with smoked baby aubergine, and the Chic Geek opted for the duck and potatoes. I feel this is where A Cena really shine and have the River Cafe style coming in. Although the duck serving was somewhat smaller than the serving of pork, protein wise, everything with the mains was perfectly executed cooking wise. Listen, when duck is cooked really well and I mean really well, its flavour can truly be savoured. The texture of meat itself is quite dense and duck has plenty of good fat, which means flavour so when its cooked right, its all there. With A Cena the duck came out pink, moist and the fat rendered perfectly, it had a bit of peppery spice to it and just on its own it was 10/10, absolutely delicious.
Note: I was only offered 'just' enough duck from the Chic Geek's plate to make this observation, a distraction that took the force of 1000 oxen to stop me stealing more! But not to worry, I refocussed on my own dish of Pork Cutlet. It was thick, satisfyingly meaty with a definite barbecue and aniseed flavoured flair. The baby aubergine were sweet but also smokey, and combined with the barbecue smokiness already with the pork, the aubergine would have been just fine natural, to offset the barbecue. Overall, another very hearty flavour filled dish.

For desserts we had the cheeky dough-nuts and panna cotta each paired with a dessert wine. Hand's down the best panna cotta around, and a must try with the paired wine. The dough-nuts were delicate, crunchy outside and soft inside, not over blitzed with cinnamon. You can't really beat these guilty pleasures. The dessert wine served with the dough-nuts was totally overpowered by the sugar, maybe a Muscato may have paired better.
The service at A Cena is attentive, not intrusive and always at hand and always pleasant.
A Cena consistently serve high quality of food, with perfectly executed mains and desserts, the service is excellent and this is why they are one of the best in the borough. 

Parmesan Fritters
The Asparagus Starter - bit sloppy

Guilty Pleasure - Donuts

Pork Cutlet

Pork Cutlet - up close shows the juicy meat

Gressingham Duck

Panna cotta




Square Meal

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Good Kai Best Restaurants in Richmond and Twickenham

Best performing restaurants in London borough of Richmond The Good Kai List is a list of restaurants in the London Borough of Richmond that are currently performing well. Uniquely, each restaurant has been visited within the last 90 days.    ***  -- T H E   G O O D   K A I   L I S T -- Atithi Restaurant - Twickenham Jun 2014 Indian -  ££'s The Duke - Richmond Jun 2014 Gastro Pub - ££'s A Cena Restaurant – East Twickenham May 2014 Italian – Gourmet Dining ££'s Jun Ming - Twickanham  April 2014 Chinese Dining £'s St Margarets Tavern - Twickenham  April 2014 Gastro Pub ££'s Recommend the burgers - Vennison Bouge at The Old Goat - Twickenham  Mar 2014 Belgium Cuisine ££'s Go for the mussels a la creme and frites The Green Spice Feb 2013 Comfort Indian - £'s Cheap eats Aitithi Indian York Street Twickenham Jan 2014 Modern Indian cuisine ££'s Addesso Restaurant - RIchmond  Jan 2014 Italian/Sicillian - ££'s Cote Restaur

Le Salon Prive Restaurant, St Margarets Twickenham

Le Salon Prive Restaurant, St Margarets, Twickenham La Salon Prive (The Private Lounge) is actually a newly re-invigorated, and much needed refurbished Brula - a French Bistro restaurant based in St Margaret's, Twickenham for over 15 years. The restaurant went through an ownership change back in January (the former owners having connections with other Richmond restaurants, La Buvette and A Cena, as well as Covent Garden restaurant Joe Allens). The new proprietor happens to be the same owner of a very popular Italian restaurant, Bacco, in Richmond. Bacco is one of my top Italian fine dining eats and here's a  review of Bacco  here. Entrance to Le Salon Prive, Dining Room La Salon have kept the lovely glass stained windows but have totally redone the inside. Formerly the restaurant resembled something similar to your geriatric granny's living room - it might seem charming but it really felt like it had been under-invested, incidentally a similar theme also exist

Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, Chelsea, London

IT STARTS as soon as you pull up outside Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, the service, that is. Staff are with you every step, at your beck and call, although there's no need to beck or call - they're always one step ahead. It may be disconcerting for some folk but if you've not experienced 3* service before, relax, enjoy it, don't fall into the trap of thinking this type of place is only frequented by fancy folk who think they're the above it all. It's a place where people are celebrating and enjoying themselves. GR has a cosy, simple and relaxed ambience, not an opulent over the top dining room as you'd expect for a 3 Michelin restaurant. It's welcoming. Lightly smoked Goose We arrived in perfect timing for our booking and were greeted with smiles and 'hello's' by numerous staff as we were shown to our table. I was pleasantly surprised to see quite a few tables already occupied considering our booking was quite early at 6.30pm. We w