Sarti's

Sorted at Sarti's

The Mary surprises me tonight and tells me she’s booked a new restaurant in town and we’re having a wee Italian lesson beforehand.

Well I never!
And actually, she hadn't!

You see, she was hovering over the Sarti website whilst balancing a four-year-old child on her head, at the same time as knitting a patchwork quilt. So, although we did have a table booked, she would not be learning Italian and would still be ordering a ‘decapitated lassie’ for the foreseeable future. La Lingua Italiana would need to wait awhile. The only thing she’ll be getting her tongue and lips around tonight would be a bottle of Morretti or a diet coke!

She has good intentions does The Mary, like the time she tried to do my make-up and I looked like Bella Houston. I love Bella but she has a certain maximalist trend whereas I like a more minimal polish. Have you seen the new beauty trend for the winter by the way?

It’s perfect, if, like me, you’re constantly reapplying your lipstick. It’s the ‘just-snogged look’ which is all messed-up with diffused edges. The Mary said it’ll get everyone talking and thinking I’ve had a bit of action. I need to make it clear that I do get a bit of ‘the other’, when and where I want it, and on my terms. I chastely like to think some things should not be broadcast!

The brothers Piero and Sandro Sarti, along with a good friend Gerry O'Donnell opened their first 'alimentari' in Wellington Street in Glasgow and it was revolutionary for its time. The idea of a restaurant where you could buy food and kitchen staples was a simple but fresh idea. It was 1992 and as Liam Brady was struggling to get a good result the rest of Europe was wrestling with the Maasticht Treaty.

Sartis’ soon became the talking point of the city and along with La Lanterna, Eusebi, Mediterraneo and Celino have now set the benchmarks for others in Glasgow. I’ve seen hundreds of Italian restaurants open and close in the city over the years but some, like the ones I’ve mentioned, will always be there and are my go to places when I need to have faith in good, Italian food. I’m very open, liberal and love to experience new things but there are collaborations out there winning awards who have never pounded a piece of doppio zero Dallaria in their broad-based Kitchen.

That is perfectly Ok but call it something else.  Kastriot’s in Bailleston is one of the most reputable places to eat fresh Mediterranean cuisine in Glasgow and the owners are the nicest people you could meet. Their lamb dish with Pasta is as good as anything I’ve had in my friends’ kitchens in Italy but they don’t profess to be Italian or call it an Italian name.  Lines are being blurred and plates are being bastardised so much so that I have the fear of being presented with lentil ravioli filled with curry flavoured haggis.

FFS!

What would Aldo Zilli, Gino D'Campo or Antonio Carluccio or think of that?

Sarti have stayed true to traditional and when me and The Mary stepped in it was like flipping into a beautiful memory of times long gone when Italians spoke Italian and cooked authentic cibo fatto alla casalinga! When Antonino greeted me at the table I had a flashback of gate-crashing
Renato’s Cimmino’s wedding in Sorrento. After a very late and boozy dinner in Deliceto we travelled nearly 200km to Sorrento and turned up at the church.

Leslie-Anne and Renato got such a shock when we walked up to the alter and kissed them auguri. They didn’t even know we were in Italy. We were very politely invited to the wedding and we had the most fabulous two days. That’s Italians and Italy for you. Welcoming, polite and all the better for our cultural osmosis. Although we have had a gradual and unconscious assimilation of ideas I do think Scotland and Italy are a perfect match but please wake up and stay true to your kitchen because…

“A ogni uccello il suo nido è bello.”

See you the next time!
Me and The Mary!
Mx

Learn Italian the quick way.
I'm getting The Mary these for her Christmas!