All aboard for an Italian treat

Aug 10 2008 by Eddy Eats, Sunday Sun

REGULAR readers will know that nothing — and I mean nothing — ever stands in the way of Mrs Eats and I in the pursuit of the perfect Sunday lunch.

Sometimes we will head out on the recommendation of friends, other times we will just jump into the Eats Mobile and drive until our stomachs tell us to stop, and other times we will have a definite idea of where we are going.

But last weekend it was none of those which led us to a super lunch.

The day started as normal, we’d headed out to the coast in a bid to sample the fayre at a pub we’d seen in Tynemouth a few months back.

But a quick dodge around the famous Tynemouth Station Sunday flea market to get our appetites well and truly ready stopped us in our tracks.

There, right there on the platform pretty much, were people scoffing the most amazing looking plates of Sunday lunch.

Okay, so they weren’t actually on the platform. The roasts in question were being served in the outdoor eating area of Il Forno Italian restaurant, but they looked so tasty all of our plans went out of the window and we marched in to enquire about a table.

Fortunately they did have a few available, and we snapped one up, keen to get our chops around roast beef with all of the trimmings.

Il Forno is a family-run Italian restaurant, which takes pride in its open pizza oven in the middle of the dining area. The name actually translates to “the oven”, so it would be easily overlooked by anyone looking for a Sunday roast.

But it most certainly shouldn’t be. Open from noon-3pm on Sundays, it serves a three-course Sunday lunch for £8.95, with a menu which changes from week to week . . . although roast beef always features.

Diners can choose from a selection of about five starters, about half a dozen mains or any pizza or pasta from the main menu, and then either a sweet or tea or coffee.

We hadn’t gone out for Italian, so we kept it traditionally English, both choosing the homemade soup of the day, followed by the roast . . . although we did order an extra garlic bread to go alongside our starter. The soup arrived quickly and was delicious. It was leek and potato, and came in a large bowl with three huge chunks of bread each . . . it was pretty filling.

The mains were sharp to arrive once our empty bowls had been removed. Each was piled high with homemade Yorkshire pudding, three lovely thick slices of roast beef served with loads of lovely new potatoes and thick, rich gravy.

We each received side plates of veg . . . roasted carrots and swede, fresh broccoli and spring cabbage.

Both myself and She Who Must Be Fed are sometimes hard to impress, but as we dived in, we realised quickly that this lunch was faultless.

The roasted carrots were just divine — sweet with a little crunch — the cabbage tasted like it had been dug up just moments earlier, and the beef was amazing. Not only was it all tasty, it was a huge portion too, and we were soon stuffed.

She Who Must Be Fed managed to squeeze in a bowl of mixed ice cream while I settled for a coffee. I was driving but that didn’t stop Mrs Eats downing almost a whole bottle of house red, which she declared to be very good.

Who’d have thought the Italians were capable of putting on a better Sunday roast than many of the more traditional Brit pubs?

::  Il Forno is best accessed from the Metro Station . . . it’s right inside it! By car, head into Tynemouth and from the A193 Tynemouth Road turn into Station Terrace. Follow the road around and you will find it on the left, next to the entrance to the station.