Another Liverpool foodie find; this time it was for dinner. A friend of a friend recommended this place as a good Italian and I can honestly say that it was the best Italian meal I’ve eaten outside of Italy. Nowhere in Scotland has produced food (in particular, pasta) like Italy. That’s not to say Italian restaurants here aren’t amazing, they are, but for the first time since being in Rome I actually felt like my food was comparable.

Gamberoni All’Aglio

This was absolutely phenomenal, and by far the highlight of the entire meal for me. Good news for Glaswegians: the prawn linguine in Jamie’s Italian resembles the flavours! The tiger prawns are pan-fried in garlic, olive oil, chilli and tomatoes.  The tomatoes were so soft but still relatively intact (and therefore super juicy and the prawns were cooked to perfection.  They were served in the richly flavoured sauce with toasted croutons. I could have eaten a massive bowl of this – it was absolutely decadent.

Bruschetta Caprese

The most simple yet delicious food in the world (in my humble opinion) is bruschetta. My love for bruschetta is undying because the options are endless. We ordered the Caprese equivalent which saw the oven baked Italian bread rubbed with garlic and topped with chopped tomato, buffalo mozzarella, basil and oregano. Simple but beautiful.

Pizza Broccoli e Salsiccia Mozzarella

My friend ordered this mozzarella, broccoli, fresh Italian sausage, Parmesan and chilli pizza which was delicious. A good old-fashioned Italian pizza, fired in their huge oven which was visible from where we were sitting.

Orecchiette con Vongole e Broccoli

The prawn starter was the best, by far, but this pasta reminded me of being in Rome. The taste of real pasta is just so beautiful and this orecchiette pasta was so tender and delicious. It was perfect shape-wise to collect the clams which were tossed in a garlic olive oil sauce with broccoli and Parmesan. Again – it was simple, like Italian cooking should be, but the simplicity and fresh ingredients paid off.

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Il Forno
132 Duke Street
East Village
Liverpool
L1 5AG

0151 709 4002

http://www.ilforno.co.uk

@IlFornoUK

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