14/05/2020

Restaurant food at home: Primo Piano, Leek

As I write, restaurants, cafes and pubs are closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But that doesn’t mean you can’t eat from some of your favourite places.

Many now offer a takeaway service, and this week I tried that from Primo Piano in Leek.

Although I love to cook at home, I really enjoy eating out at restaurants too. So it’s pretty tough not being able to go out to eat right now.

But imagine how tough it must be for those venues themselves, losing their incomes and livelihoods overnight?

So, by taking advantage of those restaurants, cafes and pubs that are newly offering a takeaway service, you can get your fix of cheffy goodness while also helping those businesses come through this difficult time.

This week, partner ID and myself picked up a starter, mains and a sharing dessert from Primo Piano, based in our local town of Leek.

PRIMO PIANO

Situated among the other independent shops on Leek’s Sheep Market, Primo Piano is actually easy to miss.

As its name suggests, it’s up on the first floor and the frontage at street level is quite small and unassuming.

However, through the tiny ground floor bar and up the stairs, you’ll find a spacious restaurant.

As with many British Italian restaurants, there’s a big choice of pizzas and pasta dishes. But there’s plenty of meat, fish and vegetarian dishes too.

Although we’ve eaten at Primo Piano in the evening, you’ll most often find ID and I there on a Saturday lunchtime. Being so central, it’s a great spot for a drink and a bite to eat while out and about shopping in the town.

One of my favourite dishes to have as a starter is their Mushroom & Garlic Bruschetta.

The bread is always nice and thick with lots of mushrooms piled on top, cloaked in a sauce full of gutsy garlicky flavour. For texture, there’s often crispy parsnip on top.

If I’m not having pizza, then a regular main is the Chicken Caesar Salad. However, with its roasted red pepper sauce, this isn’t like any Caesar salad you might have had before.

Mind you, I’m not complaining. It’s another really tasty dish, full of fresh flavour. I particularly like the crispy pancetta garnish.

Another thing you’ll notice at Primo Piano is that the portions are pretty generous, despite the reasonable prices.

So, always happy with what I’d eaten in the restaurant, how would they fare translating that into a takeaway service?

TAKEAWAY AT PRIMO PIANO

Of course it’s not practical for restaurants to offer their whole regular menu for takeaways.

But Primo Piano have managed to produce a takeaway menu that I think should satisfy regulars and newcomers.

Actually, they’ve TWO takeaway menus as well as weekly specials. They might even be able to meet special requests with sufficient notice: contact the restaurant to find out more.

FAMILY MEALS

First off there’s the ‘Family Meals’ menu.

This features freshly made beef or vegetarian lasagne, or a vegetable pasta bake. All you have to do is pop them in the oven at home.

Each one serves around four people. At £16 each (£20 if you add a couple of garlic breads) that’s excellent value for restaurant quality food.

As you can freeze the Family Meals, you can even pick up a few and store for another time. Just remember to preorder the day before you want to collect.

HOT FOOD TO TAKE AWAY

ID and I decided to order from Primo Piano’s hot takeaway menu. All you have to do here is take your chosen food home and tuck in!

As you can see, there’s plenty of choice with pizza and calzone, pasta and chicken dishes as well as starters, sides and desserts.

PORK BELLY

The first thing that caught my eye was the Pork Belly starter; slow roasted and served with black pudding, pancetta and apple sauce (£6.20).

I’d seen this on the specials board at Primo Piano and really fancied it. But it’s not available at lunchtimes when we usually visit, so it was a no brainer that I was going to choose this when I had the opportunity.

We made our choices the night before, sending the order via Facebook message, and ID said he wasn’t going to have a starter. ‘He’s going to regret that when he sees my pork belly tomorrow’, I thought.

How right I was! But, feeling sorry for the lad, I allowed him to share.

The large piece of pork belly, sitting on a round of black pudding, was beautifully soft and full of meaty flavour.

The skin on top was just a little crispy. Not what you’d call crackling, but we enjoyed it very much.

What were crispy though were the lovely rashers of salty pancetta.

Accompaniments were excellent. The apple sauce was good and fruity without being overly sweet.

Not listed on the menu, but very welcome, were what appeared to be balsamic onions. They came in a well balanced, sweet and vinegary sauce that helped to cut through the richness.

All together, a dish I’d very happily eat again.

POLLO AL PROSCIUTTO

For my main course I chose Pollo Al Prosciutto: chicken breast with Parma ham and dolcelatte cream sauce (£12.50).

This comes with lots of roasted potatoes and roasted mixed vegetables.

When I lifted the lid off the container, the smell of that creamy, blue cheesy sauce was beautiful. Thankfully, it came in a generous quantity too.

The rich chicken, ham and sauce was exactly the sort of thing I’m unlikely to make at home but love eating in a restaurant.

The creamy butteryness of the sauce was balanced by the tangy, salty cheese. On top was a tangle of tasty ham.

The chicken breast, despite have travelled from Leek then kept warm in the oven while we ate the starter, was perfectly cooked. Soft, tender and with no trace of dryness.

With hindsight, I should have left the lid off the foil tray of potatoes as it sat in the oven. This would probably have helped get them crispy again. But you live and learn.

All the vegetables (carrot, parsnip, peas in the pod and red cabbage) were well cooked with just the right amount of bite.

But it was that chicken, ham and wonderful sauce that was rightly the star of the show.

BEEF CALZONE

For his main, ID chose a Beef Calzone (£8.50). You can have a vegetarian or chicken version for the same price.

I always think of the stuffed, folded over and baked pizza dough as a giant, Italian-style Cornish pasty. 😄

But (sorry, Cornwall!) no pasty I’ve had was ever as good as this.

As well as the beef in bolognese sauce, the huge crescent shape contained ham, mushrooms and pleasingly stringy mozzarella cheese.

As if that wasn’t enough, there was also an extra tray of that wondefully savoury bolognese sauce.

Despite its robust appearance, the dough was not at all heavy and, except for my exploratory mouthful, ID polished off the lot.

DESSERT

All the best restaurant meals end with a dessert and you can have that too when you order takeaway from Primo Piano.

There’s Honeycomb Nugget or Raspberry & White Chocolate cheesecakes (both £3.99) or, our choice, Tiramisu for 2 (£7.50).

Completely filling one of those long foil takeaway trays, I guess that for lesser mortals this might have served three people.

But for ID and me? It was just right.

All the regulation tiramisu flavours were there. Coffee, chocolate, creamy mascarpone and sponge made soft by soaking up all those goodies.

A satisfying end to a highly enjoyable meal.

ORDERING & COLLECTION

Check Primo Piano’s Facebook page for the latest details, but here’s how to order and collect at the time of writing:

Takeaways served Tuesday-Saturday.
Pre-order your meal in advance and reserve a collection time slot.
Call 01538 398289 or send a message via Facebook and they’ll get back to you.

We found takeaway ordering and collection at Primo Piano dead easy.

Our order request was sent by Facebook message. A time slot was confirmed and payment by card taken via phone within minutes.

When you arrive to collect your order, ring from downstairs or, if the phone line’s busy, just give a shout upstairs. Your food will be brought down to you following social distancing guidelines.