When an Italian businessman who already has a highly successful Italian drinks company decides to open a cocktail bar and restaurant, you know it’s going to be good.
That was certainly the case when we checked out BACCARO in Teddington High Street recently. BACCARO (pronounced “BAH-kah-roh”) is inspired by Mediterranean aperitivo culture, and brings a distinctly British take on cocktails and cicchetti to Teddington locals and visitors.
Inspired by the Mediterranean tradition of gathering over drinks and small plates, BACCARO offers a great selection of cicchetti, pizza and other Italian specialities in a relaxed ambience.
It’s the brainchild of Redin Dokaj, who also runs The Foresters Arms in Hampton Wick and Giuseppe Gallo, founder of award-winning Italian aperitivo brands ITALICUS, Rosalio di Bergamotto and Savoia Vino Aperitivo. Giuseppe himself was dining there the evening I went with my pal Magda. He kindly gave us an introduction (and tasting) to his drinks and the raison d’etre of BACCARO.
Redin manages the site day to day, and chatted through the menu with us,telling us about the house specialities.
We started with a cocktail – mine was a Negroni, made even more special as it included Giuseppe’s Savoia Rosso Vermouth. Magda had an Old Cuban, ( rum, lime, fresh mint, champagne). Both cocktails were fab and a great start to our meal.
We tried one of the house specialities – Octopus Dog – from the cicchetti menu. Now I’m not a massive fan of octopus, much as I like squid, but this was amazing. Grilled octopus with a deliciously smoky note, served in a small bun with ajoli, packed with paprika and lime juice.
The serving gives two rolls – perfect for sharing. We also were tempted by the Mixed Fried Seafood – another cicchetti. Considering I’d had a similar sized portion in a new and very deluxe Italian restaurant in Sloane Square a week or before, this was as good if not better, and a fraction of the price. We had crispy, piping hot pieces of seabass, prawns and calamari, served with a home made tartare sauce.
Magda was keen to try the home made lasagne for her main course, and Redin was keen for us to try a couple more of the house specials: the Baccari Charcuterie Board and a side of Caponata.
The lasagne was amazing. Magda was in pasta heaven. She declared almost every mouthful to taste slightly different, with the wealth of ingredients and skill in the kitchen patently obvious.
The charcuterie board: what can I say? It was massive. It would easily satisfy two or more people and was generously laden with a selection of Mortadella, coppa, speck, parmigiano, stracciatella cheese, mixed pickled vegetables, olives, home made jam and nduja bruschetta.
The caponata was a triumph too – the ‘agro dolce’ balance was perfect, and it was packed with aubergine, celery, courgettes, onions, raisins, olives and capers. The skill of the chef ensured that each element had retained its texture beautifully.
The nduja bruschetta on the charcuterie selection was the only – very slight – negative of the whole evening. It was very spicy indeed and rather overpowered the palate, thus restricting somewhat the enjoyment of the other elements. The home made focaccia was warm and delicious. A small bowl of pear mustard was an intriguingly different addition, and went beautifully with the cheeses, inspiring me to experiment more with my own home made chutneys.
Needless to say, we were both totally ‘pogged’ as my mother used to say, with ‘eyes bigger than our tums’. Redin kindly offered to pack up a goody bag for us (I assume that the generous portion sizes mean this is a frequent occurrence at BACCARO).
A well composed wine list, with prosecco, three whites, a rose and three reds, plus a good selection of non alcoholic options, is available, but I’d urge you to start with a cocktail. The large pizza oven in the kitchen was busy producing excellent looking pizzas and focaccia, and the typically Italian dessert menu had a wealth of tempting options, no doubt as good as everything else. We will be back again soon to try these.
A brunch menu is available on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, with appropriate brunch cocktails too.
Lucky Teddington.
baccaro.uk
114-116 Teddington High Street, TW11 9BB