Napulé Ristobar Pizzeria

drove past this little corner restaurant last week and thought “That looks interesting, let’s look it up - oh, they have folded pizza (calzone to us), ingredients look good, haven’t had pizza in ages, what’s a ristobar(?), let’s give it a try” A week later, table’s booked, hubby is having the folded pizza (Vesuvio on the menu) and I’m probably having a marinara with added artichokes. Ah, but I hadn’t reckoned on the specials… Where else in Bath (maybe the Southwest) are you going to have courgette flowers stuffed with ham and melty mozzarella cheese in a perfectly crispy light batter, served on a parmesan rich homemade tomato sauce? If that doesn’t rock your boat, there were four other appetisers on the specials list which were hard to resist. Given the strength of the cooking, I’ll happily go for the arancini next time (there will most definitely be a next time) - I’m usually wary of arancini as they have to be executed perfectly (or they are like the contents of a Christmas cracker - holding so much promise but really only affirming the British trait of craving disappointment.) Then, the pastas, which I had dismissed as looking a little uninteresting on the menu (and pizza is their specialty after all) again flummoxed me when the specialities list came out. Ravioli stuffed with seabass and crabmeat with homemade tomato sauce; or filled with ham and cime di rape (turnip greens - OMG, where do you even buy those here) in a cream sauce or filled with four cheeses in a Gorgonzola sauce (so five(!) cheeses really). Hubby was close to ditching his calzone (which is one of his favourite things) for the cheesy pasta (he’s a sucker for gorgonzola). The food was fantastic. The ravioli with ham and greens (for that’s what I went for) was so well made, really thin pasta and beautiful fresh flavours. The calzone crust was thin and crisp, filling astonishingly moreish - they use really good anchovies which hubby had as an added extra. We had affogato for puds - not a standard one here either - lots of cream and amaretto. We were so impressed - really great cooking by a real Italian chef who knows what he’s doing. Service was charming, friendly and attentive. Bill came with Baci chocolates and no service charge added. They do GF pizza bases, so even our gluten intolerant friends can visit. Go, go, go - Napulé appears to have been around for a year and deserves to be a lot busier. It was a Wednesday night and it was a crying shame that there was only one other table occupied while we were there. Prices are reasonable for the quality - pizzas in particular - they use fior di latte, for goodness sake. Era perfetto! Grazie mille!

We went on a Saturday lunch time and were received warmly. We had a pram with us and one of us was gluten free and dairy free. None of this was an issue, baby was happy and dietary restrictions did not stop us from having the greatest pizza ever. Easy five stars, and we will definitely visit again when in Bath