Local Italian Produce

Since building my pizza oven, I’ve become a bit of a snob when it comes to topping ingredients for pizzas. I like to make my own Frito base tomato sauce and bubble it down over a few hours to thicken it up, but I’ve always struggled getting a good quality cheese or sausage to add to the toppings. I try to use Mutti as a tomato base, or a good quality tinned whole tomato, and first fry garlic and dried oregano in olive oil, before adding the tomato base. I then simply bubble on a low heat until it thickens to create a paste-y sauce. Mutti is available in Sainsbury’s but it’s a treck across town for me, so I was delighted when Just Italian Food opened a unit just round the corner from me!

Regularly importing delicious produce from Italy, they couldn’t be friendlier. There’s a huge range of dried pasta, Italian biscuits and other dried produce, but also a small selection of cheeses, salamis, nduja and other fresh produce. I even found a pizza flour I’ve been searching for for a while and couldn’t resist the buffalo mozzarella and Neapolitan salami! And if you can’t get down to the shop, which I highly recommend, if only for a wander and to get your taste buds going, then have a look at the website...delivery is free for local residents when spending £40 or more.

The shop is at Unit 19, Waterhouse Business Centre, just off Waterhouse Lane. Pop down there this weekend and say Buongiorno, or Ciao if it’s easier! 

The website can be found here or search Facebook for Just Italian Food. 

The Company Shed

Review
The Company Shed

Venue

As the name implies, this restaurant really is a shed! It's at the end of the 'seafront' in West Mersey, Mersey Island. Don't be fooled into thinking this restaurant will serve typical seaside fayre though; its the fresh fish platters its renowned for and you won't be disappointed. The vinyl tablecloths, mismatched chairs and tables and 'bring your own everything else apart from fish' really do add to its charm and memorability!

You arrive and ask for your name to be added to the chalk board inside. Then you sit in the sun with a good book and wait to be called. The 40 minute wait will always be worth it. We popped inside and asked for a couple of glasses to go with our bottle of wine we'd taken along! A perfect pre-dinner drink!

Appearance and Taste

As you can see, the fish is all fresh and you can choose from a simple range of fresh cold dishes, substituting different types of fish, or a few 'hot' dishes. All dishes are very well presented, on plates rather than the huge iced platters you see in more expensive restaurants but here there is no need for the ice as the fish really is that fresh!

And the taste? Well, it's clean, salty and fresh. The fish actually has its own individual taste, rather than the 'fishy' taste you might normally get. I know that sounds a bit odd, but it is true! It even invited me to try crab claws and greenlip mussels! The hot dishes all also looked fantastic and the scallops were great. Cooked to perfection with a bacon and tomato salad and warm dressing, it was simple, but tasty.

We took our own bread and butter, a must I feel, if only to go with the smoked salmon. We also took a chilled bottle of white and a jar of mayonnaise! Delicious!

Value for Money

The fish platters were about £9 and the hot dishes about £6. We shared a platter and had a plate of scallops each - we wanted to try other dishes but both fancied the scallops as they came recommended. Excellent.