ITALIAN food is a world favourite, which has its pros and cons. In the con corner, we have a number of suspect take-away outlets and over-salted, microwaveable pasta dishes.
In the pro corner we have places like La Gondola in Dorchester’s Trinity Street, a wonderful and authentic place to enjoy the flavours of the Mediterranean.
Once inside, it is easy to overlook the fact that the restaurant is in fact a pretty non-descript high street cube with a ceiling made of polystyrene tiles.
The interior of La Gondola is absolutely charming, with every wall hung with Italianate grand masters in heavy ornate frames and every surface groaning under the weight of a massed gaudy vases, ornaments and clocks.
There is greenery everywhere, trailing up and over the walls and, best of all, there is no background music so diners can chat in peace.
We visited fairly early on a Thursday evening, not the most in-demand of times, but even then the place was quite busy, mainly with ladies who prefer to eat late instead of lunching and a couple of young families.
The menu is comprehensive and varied. There are hot and cold starters including fish and salad dishes, a page of wonderful sounding pasta and pizza choices, plus separate sections for different meat dishes.
In the end I went for a starter of calamari followed by a main course of gnocchi a la veneziana.
My husband chose salmone affumacato la Gondola, a mixed starter of avocado, smoked salmon and prawns that looked and tasted wonderfully light and fresh, as was my calamari. He followed it with pizza.
The only slight problem – if you can call it that – was that the starters were so delicious and large that we felt we were already flagging when the mains arrived.
Gnocchi is wonderful, Italian comfort food, creamy pillows of potato in this case served up in a cream and tomato sauce, packed with bacon.
The pizza was fabulous, homemade and with a crisp, slim base laden down with cheese, tomato, artichokes, mushrooms, pepper and garlic.
Accompanied by a glass of wine, it was the perfect Italian meal.
The only problem was we had so enjoyed the starters we were sadly defeated halfway through the main course. Reluctant to see so much excellent food go to waste, we asked the waitress for doggy bags and she smilingly helped out, admitting that she too can never manage a whole main course!
A wonderful evening meal at a very reasonable price – if only all Thursdays were that good.
* La Gondola, 01305 266069, is open Monday to Saturday, noon to 2pm and again at 6pm. Last orders are 9.30pm.
Our La Gondola bill:
Calamari: £5.50
Salmone Affumacato la Gondola: £5.50
Gnocchi a la Veneziana: £7.50
Pizza Boscaiola: £8.50
Two glasses of house wine: £6
Total: £33
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