Montanaro’s

Set in the centre of Swadlincote, near the Town Hall is the highly regarded Montanaro’s. Quite a compact restaurant, seating for only about twenty, with a small well stocked bar in the far corner. The staff are enthusiastic and friendly, and the music and décor are traditional Italian, which makes for great atmosphere.
Menu wise, a good range of traditional Italian dishes. The starters were pleasingly varied; I plumped for the Bruschetta Misto, bruschetta covered in a variety of olives, aubergines, peppers, courgettes, wonderfully tasty! My wife had the equally flavoursome garlic mushroom; overall a cracking start to the meal.
Mains included a good range of pasta, steak and fish dishes, as well as daily specials. We both went for a tagliatelle based dish, my wife’s was a range of vegetables in a spicy tomato sauce and mine was a range of different mushrooms topped with pancetta in a creamy goat’s cheese sauce. Both dishes were sublime, some of the best food we’ve eaten in a long time! The accompanying balsamic dressed fresh salad complimented both dishes well too.
Clearly you have to have a dessert, disappointingly their trademark Tiramisu wasn’t available on the evening we visited, still gives us an excuse to visit again! The Chocolate Sin and meringue encrusted with almonds were able substitutes though. A fitting end to a wonderful meal, as was the strong accompanying coffee. Montanaro’s lives up to its star billing and we will return very soon!