Bella Napoli’s Pasta Delights. Spur Of Moment Visit.

Bella Napoli’s Pasta Delights. Spur Of Moment Visit. 

Sometimes it takes ages to make up your mind where you’ll eat on a Friday; we’ve been known to start talking about it early in the week and dragging it out until the night before. Sometimes it takes minutes and that happened last Friday. With an evening engagement coming up (that didn’t involve more than finger food) we realised while in the city centre that we’d need something substantial.

We knew we were in the right place, strolling down French Church Street from Patrick Street. And then I saw that bright blue and white circular sign on the high wall of the old Russell carpet business. It said Bella Napoli and that very restaurant had been recently recommended by a guy who know his Italian.

The place was busy, very busy, and we had to wait a while (not too long) before being seated. The menu is, like most Italian restaurants, long and varied. It includes six starters (including the classic Caprese Salad),plus a couple of more substantial salads, then onto the  pizzas and pastas, then items that we are more used to in local restaurants such as sandwiches, burgers and steak, before finishing with desserts, cocktails, Italian beers and wines.

We had a good look at the menu in the bright and attractive room on very comfortable chairs indeed and picked two dishes from the Pasta selection. 

Mine was the Rigatoni with Ragu Napoletano with six-hour braised beef in an onion and tomato sauce served with rigatoni pasta and bruschetta (17 euro). I hit the jackpot here. This was beautifully cooked, the quality of the beef was top class and plenty of it as was also the case with the ragu. Very happy with this one and one that would slot right into my recent list of best beef dishes in Cork.  

Lasagna Bolognese -  bolognese in bechamel sauce with parmesan, mozzarella, basil and a side salad (14.50) was our other choice. This had superb cheesy flavour with a terrific sauce. Both the sauce and the piece of lasagna were generous servings and excellent value.

Enjoyed the occasion and looking forward to going back sometime soon to try the pizzas (even if we have to share). But we’ll have a good starter first and perhaps a glass of wine or one of the Italian beers. Last Friday, I enjoyed the Italian Hazelnut Liqueur flavoured with cocoa and vanilla called Frangelico with my huge Pizza dessert!

Caution: Dessert Ahead!

Nutella Pizza: strawberry, nutella, banana, icing sugar €8.50

Tiramisu: homemade coffee flavoured Italian dessert €7.00