La Lambretta – Fordingbridge

We pulled up in the nearby car park and while walking over to the restaurant we noticed how pretty the town was.

We were greeted by Marco on arrival and I was looking forward to trying freshly made garlic bread made in their authentic pizza oven that I’d heard so much about.

As we were shown to our table I noticed how the tables were lined with crisp white linen and the restaurant had a modern feel to it while the menu offered authentic, traditional Italian food.

After ordering our starters and mains Marco bought over Caracau from Sardinia. I had never heard of it before but it’s from Sardina and looks like papadums! Tastes similar to breadsticks but not as crisp.

Marco makes his own pasta in house. He makes two types, short and long to give customers their own bespoke dish.

For starters Ramjan had Gamberi Con Pomodorini; king prawns in garlic and cherry tomato sauce and I ordered the Calamari Fritti which is crispy squid. We wanted to try some garlic bread made in their pizza oven, which was light and fluffy with olive oil drizzled on it.

I’m a fan of calamari so loved my starter. Ramjan said his king prawns were delicious. He especially enjoyed eating his dish as the juicy, succulent prawns were engulfed by the garlic bread scooping up all the sauce.

I ordered Pollo Tricolore for my main, recommended by Marco. It was a hot day and I was told the pan-fried diced chicken fillet cooked with garlic, cherry tomatoes and fresh basil, served with oven baked potatoes and salad would be refreshing.

According to Ramjan, you judge an Italian restaurant by the bolognese sauce, so he ordered the Ragu, cooked with local beef. Ramjan chose the mafalde (ribbon pasta) and you could tell when it arrived that it was hand made pasta due to the thickness.

We both thoroughly enjoyed our mains and had sparkling plates – although we didn’t have room for much more – we couldn’t refuse a dessert so shared a chocolate mousse.

The Italian mousse was more like a rich, dark chocolate fondant rather than what we know as a light, whipped dessert.

It was served with fresh cream, which added depth and flavour to a delicious home made dessert.

When we had finished our dessert we chatted to Marco about his plans for the restaurant and were excited to hear about the new al fresco area.

Marco couldn’t wait to show us what he’d done with the courtyard. They’ve been working on turning it into a little haven for clients to enjoy eating outside in this glorious weather.

We look forward to visiting again soon and will enjoy eating outside if the weather stays as gorgeous as it was on the day we dined.