Quintessenza – eat, eat, love

Closest station – borough

Italian food is renowned as being the food of love. It is comforting, delicious and wonderful to share with loved ones. I have always had a close bond with Italian food. Pasta is what I crave (after anything cooked by my mother) when I am feeling sick or low.

So when I was recently invited to try out a new opening in bustling Borough, I was pretty excited. I was told it was going to be a treat for my taste-buds, and it most certainly lived up to expectations. Quintessenza or 5essenza literally translates to Five Senses and has been open for around 3 months, and is located about a 5 minute walk from Borough station, or 10 minutes from London Bridge station.

It was a cold Monday evening when we arrived (late) to our table booking, but Edoardo and Enrico were still all smiles even though it was cold and grey.

We began with a glass Extra Brut Prosecco. This has no added sugar and it is the most natural prosecco you can get – great for those counting the calories. This was paired with some cheeses – the L’lubriaco was particularly exquisite – the name means drunken cheese made with red wine. The parmesan was also very lovely and textured.

Prosecco - Quintessenza — Prosecco – Quintessenza

I was told beforehand that we were in for a treat, and we most certainlky were. We had no idea what to choose so we let the waiters do the choosing for us. I have to give Edoardo and Enrico and massive shout out! The knowledge that they have is impeccable, they knew exactly which dishes we would like and were happy to answer any questions we had.

So here is a list of the things we tasted. Usually I will give explanations on the ingredients, flavours and smells. But you know, Italian food is ALL so amazing, tasty, flavoursome, comforting and wonderfully delicious, so I am letting the pictures do the talking below. And this was the same (and it’s okay to indulge in lots of carbs now and then!). You can really tell the difference between a normal Italian restaurant chain and one that is individual, rustic, authentic, unique but oh so lush! This was the latter. Our faves during the meal was the carbonara, snapper/cod, pizza, mozzarella and tomato salad and of course the tiramisu!

We tasted a lot of food so here are some pictures (I know you love the pictures) and a run down!