The Food Wanker

Is there anything better than Italian food? Simple dishes and meals elevated by amazing quality ingredients, all with a long, romantic history of producers with their particular techniques handed down from generation to generation.

We’ve had, and have, some fantastic Italian restaurants here in Jersey, from La Capannina with its traditional old-school charms, to the La Cantina, with its legendary Lasagna to the local fave Ristorante Italia in Colomberie with its home-spun pastas and great sauces suiting all budgets.

And then three years ago, I heard that a couple who had been running Wild Wine Jersey, an Italian natural wine seller, were opening a pasta / natural wine restaurant in St Aubins.

Being a bit of a natural wine fan (but just a bit) and a pasta fan, I couldn’t wait. A lovely location down in St Aubins, al fresco seating, I had visions of popping bottles of frizzante over long lunches and dinners with friends, capturing some of the magic of holidays on the continent.

The first time we went we took a visiting friend and did just that. Sat out in the sun with bottles of sparking orange wine, with plates of aged Parmesan with even more aged Balsamic, all manner of cured meats and fresh-made breads to begin, then bowls of delicious, perfectly made pasta and long cooked ragu, crab or seasonal veg.

Since then we’ve been visiting as regularly as possible, bowls of tiny filled pasta in rich capon broth (Tortellini en Brodo) at Christmas, fresh truffle and Jersey butter pasta in Spring, seasonal vegetable pasta in Summer, there’s always something the perfectly encapsulates the season, and if you don’t fancy that,  you don’t get better than the pork ragu or their lasagna as a fall back!

The ingredients are either sourced directly from Italy, or its local produce that they’ve grown themselves, sourced from Anneville farm or even foraged on coastal walks. Guided foraging expeditions are sometimes arranged by the restaurant, where you forage ingredients, and they’re then turned into an amazing lunch!

Add to the the incredible wine list, with representatives from most regions of Italy, the vast majority of which are low intervention natural wines (Try the Rapp by Rocco di Carpento, its excellent), as well as more accessible wines for the less discerning hipster.

Enoteca also have Bottega, which as the name suggests is a small deli next door to the restaurant, selling quality Italian staples (and I think the only place on Island you can buy guanciale for legit Carbonara) as well as tigella and focaccia sandwiches stuffed with the aforementioned cured meats, or the homemade porchetta, which make the railway walk considerably more pleasant if you need to be convinced on a Sunday afternoon. They’ve even started making their own gelato, which is pretty special.

Like all good restaurants the best thing is the feeling of welcome when you’re there, it really does feel like you’re being welcomed into their home and they’re sharing the secrets of Italian food with you. Local produce sits alongside classics making it feel very Jersey and simultaneously authentic Italian, it really doesn’t get better.

They were recently mentioned alongside other Jersey mainstays like Awabi in the latest Michelin Guide if you need further convincing, its not just me that loves it!

So if you fancy the best bowl of pasta in Jersey, interesting, delicious wine and gracious hosts, my advice would be get some friends, get your sunglasses, head to St Aubins and spend a few hours on the Italian coast!

(Photos by Karolina Dean @Chasing_Details on Instagram)