The first time I visited my brother in Brooklyn, I was slightly envious of the ‘neighbourhood restaurants’ they had at their disposal.  H has reminded me that these do well because nobody in New York has a big enough kitchen to cook in.  Be that as it may, I’ve always wished I lived somewhere that had eateries like this - not chains, not gastro pubs, but individual, one off restaurants catering for the locals. 

A while back we discovered that just such a venue exists in Macclesfield.  Called Cafe Rosanero (no website - too small, you see! - it’s on King Edward St), by day it’s a sandwich bar.  But Thursday, Friday and Saturday night it opens for dinner as an Italian restaurant.  I’d heard rumours that it was extremely good, but that booking ahead was recommended as there are only six tables!  On a whim, we gave it a try on Saturday and were lucky enough to bag the last table at 9pm. 

It’s BYO, so bottle in hand we turned up at 9pm.  And this was the only disadvantage of this dinky restaurant.  The people using our table before us were lingering over their glasses of wine, which meant we had to loiter uncomfortably by the door until they’d finished.  But that was the only hiccup we experienced.  Once we sat down and took it all in, we liked it.  It isn’t trying to be something it’s not.  The decor is plain, the wooden tables and chairs are basic (although we both thought the cutlery looked cheap, a small point but something that’s easily fixable), and we could see the chef cooking in the corner.  I’d been concerned that there would be no atmosphere, but that was far from the case - it’s amazing how much of a buzz just a few tables created!  It was cosy and welcoming and relaxed and unpretentious.

And the food?  Well, again, on the whole, it’s not trying to be something it’s not.  It’s decent Italian food (no pizza, which is probably good).  H was disappointed with his minestrone soup (his favourite) which just didn’t resemble what we thought minestrone was.  Rather than a tomato-y based soup with beans and vegetables and pasta (at least that’s what I think it is), this was like a stock with lots of swede and carrot.  It was nice but it wasn’t minestrone.  My brasaeola (cured beef) with rocket and parmesan was a good sized portion and was nicely flavoured, salty with a good squeeze of lemon juice.

The mains were good.  H had what was supposed to be a cheese-filled pasta (he wasn’t actually convinced that it was stuffed with cheese as it looked more like a mushroomy kind of filling) with courgettes and artichokes in a creamy saffron sauce which was nice and tasty without being too rich and heavy.  I had a juicy tuna steak, covered in a white wine ’jus’ (had to use that word somewhere even if it may not be the right word!) with cherry tomatoes, artichokes and surprisingly large capers.  This came with a side dish of roast potatoes flavoured with rosemary (I think - could’ve been thyme) which H felt honour bound to help me with, and a dish of seasonal vegetables of courgettes and red peppers (not sure how ’seasonal’ these are but they did the job).  It was a nicely balanced, tasty, satisfying meal that didn’t leave me feeling overstuffed.

We shared a tiramisu for dessert which I liked but H felt they’d missed out the coffee. I enjoyed the fact that it wasn’t overly heavy, with the slight sharpness from the mascarpone giving it a tangy edge.

At the table next to us, there was a slight mishap with the non-delivery of their starters.  The chef came out and apologised (which wasn’t too hard as he was only cooking about 7 feet away!) and promised to make them a special dessert on the house, not from the menu, which he duly did and the crisis was averted.  We liked this personal touch that the restaurant was able to give, even in the face of a mistake.  When was the last time you had the chef come out and speak to you personally?

The bill (without drinks, as we brought our own, and they only charge corkage from your second bottle) was about £35, not far off equivalent to going to Pizza Express for three courses.  And to be honest, even though I still think Pizza Express make the best pizzas, we always come out of there feeling like we’ve been overcharged for something that’s not required much thought or effort.  At Cafe Rosanero, we appreciated the fact that it wasn’t pretentious, it wasn’t trying to be something it wasn’t, the food was decent and the atmosphere was friendly.  We would go back, I don’t think we’d become ‘regulars’, but it’s nice to know it’s there for when we need a reminder of what a proper, non-chain restaurant is like. 

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