Valentina Putney - Not Just A Restaurant | |||
But a vintner, a deli, a spuntino bar, a caffe & a restaurant!
Valentina's opened on the Upper Richmond Road two years ago this month having expanded from the original deli & restaurant in East Sheen since 1991. (A third has now been opened in Sevenoaks). Knowing the quality at the Sheen establishment I was looking forward to my lunch at Putney. Tucked behind East Putney Station in the Swish building it is much larger than the original in SW14 - it is more 'swish' & sophisticated (it has a motorbike & side carrier stacked with deli stock! suspended between the ground & upper floor!) & much larger! The restaurant/caffe bar can take 150 people including 18 covers outside for alfresco dinning, 18 covers outside on an upstairs terrace, 28 covers downstairs in the bar area, 16 covers in the lounge area) and 70 covers in the upstairs restaurant. (For those who know the Sheen site the numbers are a mere 40 covers). There is a large deli on the ground floor selling fabulous fresh breads olives, meats, ready meals prepared in the restaurant kitchen, wine & Assi kitchen-ware. In addition it stocks traditional Italian store cupboard essentials such as olive oils, balsamic vinegar & pasta (fresh & dried). Too windy today to sit outside (also British Gas is currently digging up the westbound carriage way outside so sadly it would not be too peaceful), we went upstairs to the modern chic restaurant.
To accompany our meal we opted for a refreshing £4.50 per glass - there appeared three wines of each colour sold by the glass which can be found on the back of the menu - the main wine list is wide ranging but all by the bottle - too much for a pre school run catch up lunch. We opted for the bottled tap water with accompanying ice in addition to rather than bottled mineral water.
May 26, 2011 |