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21, The Print Room, Covent Garden, London – Review (Permanently closed)

July 8, 2014 by manjirichitnis 8 Comments

On the corner of Covent Garden Piazza, housed in a beautiful Georgian heritage site is a 3 story delightful place -21 – a rustic Italian restaurant, The Print Room – a cocktail bar with 2 balconies overlooking the piazza and all the live entertainment it has to offer and the terrace located on the Piazza – a great way to enjoy the outdoors, drink in the hustle-bustle, gaze at St.Pauls – all this under the shelter of huge umbrellas and heating for chilly evenings.

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When I first heard of 21 the Print Room at Covent Garden I imagined it to be this tiny little place with a rustic feel, when we walked into 21 I felt I was walking into a huge cave with tunnels well-lit and the aroma of melted cheese wafting around. The historic cellar vaults converted into a fab Italian restaurant have a cosy warm feel. They also proudly claim to serve the best pizza and pasta in Covent Garden – We were soon about to find out….

21 print room 1

Image Courtesy:21 Covent Garden

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Hubby and I walked into the place on a very, very warm summer evening and were seated at a table perfect for a romantic date but we food bloggers need light for clicking away, so once we were moved to a new table and happily settled into a comparatively well-lit corner of our choice, we couldn’t wait to order some drinks and cool down a few degrees. Just as I thought I would melt with the heat these beauties came to our rescue – a Mango Bellini (£7.50)for me and a  Verde Flower(£5) Sine Peccato, for the husband – it means a cocktail without sin.

The Mango Bellini – a Prosecco-based cocktail was crisp, fresh, fruity, summery while hubbys Verde Flower – a combo of cucumber, apple juice, and elderflower with a dash of bitter lemon was fresh and light with lots of ice – so refreshing!

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Accompanied by Wild Boar Tortelloni (£7.25) – Pancetta, green beans, sage cream, and Black pepper Calamari with saffron aioli (£7.25) as starters. The batter for the calamari was a bit bulky making them a bit chewy, the tortellini was very good, could easily have eaten some more!

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21 - Calamari starter

Image Courtesy:21 Covent Garden

I was told that the A la Carte menu is fresh, Italian-inspired, and prepared with the best quality local ingredients – well now, I love the sound of that! We ordered the Cornish Crab Linguine (£14.25) and the Figaro (£14.95) – a Milano Salami, Parma Ham & Pepperoni Pizza for the main course but honestly if you’re doing starters then this one pizza between two people is more than enough!

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The Figaro is absolutely mind-blowing delicious with the 3 meat sitting there with black olives and cherry tomatoes – begging to be eaten! The goat’s cheese was nothing like I’d ever tasted before – so soft and creamy and not one bit salty. Abandon your fork and knife for this one folks, eat with your hands…lick the gooey gorgeous roasted garlic olive oil mixed with the melted mozzarella, as it drips off the sides while you devour this magnificent feast. The linguine was ignored by us for the first few minutes while we silently ate our pizza. I felt like Julia Roberts in the movie Eat,Pray, Love telling her friend to drop the guilt and just eat their cheese-laden gorgeous looking pizza when they go to Naples,err mmm only I was sharing my Pizza with my hubster 😉

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The linguine was good though paling in comparison to this star pizza staring at us. The crab meat was mixed well into the pasta and it was have been fun to eat this pasta slowly after squeezing lime generously over it, sipping a fine glasses red which goes with the fresh seafood taste and the chilies in the pasta. I ordered a glass of Red- the Nero D’Avola 2011 (£5.65 a glass, £21 a bottle) with my linguine. Hubster had a glass of Prosecco Brut (£6.80) to go with the mains.

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Needless to say the mere mention of dessert and we would have exploded so we skipped dessert. Eager to walk and help digest the generous dinner now sitting firmly inside our tummies we took a tour of the print room upstairs which is a print shop turned cocktail bar, with a lovely balcony overlooking the piazza. We then walked out into the piazza past the Terrace, to be greeted by fresh, crisp evening London air.

The Terrace at 21

Image Courtesy:21 Covent Garden

So let’s see, 21 delivered on their promise of serving the best Pizza in Covent Garden, the wine selection and mocktails on offer are impressive and  I loved my Mango Bellini. Food and Wine taken care of.Ambiance – the feeling of sitting huddled in a cozy cubby hole dating back to Georgian Times is something else, the view from the Print room is amazing, so I’d say this is a perfect place for romantic dates in the cubby hole of 21 or out on the terrace – better for warm summer evenings, a great venue for hen and stag parties and a really cool place to hang out for drinks with your friends, they seem to have got it all covered huh?

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Image Courtesy:21 Covent Garden

The photo below is of the most posh cubby hole in 21 comes with a fish tank for company 😉

The best cubby hole in 21

Image Courtesy:21 Covent Garden

It was a beautiful clear night and the piazza was just so beautiful, a spattering of tourists seated in quiet corners near St.Pauls, the bars still overflowing with beer drinkers spilling out onto the piazza and of course the theatergoers walking to their cars or trying to get a cab.

The last time we were at Covent Garden with some friends they showed us this fab walking route to Waterloo station along the Waterloo bridge, it IS  a great walk along with the various many theatres, pubs and brightly lit restaurants of Covent Garden and onto the bridge with stunning views of the London Eye on one side and the beautiful St. pauls cathedral on the other. And down the subway and you are inside Waterloo station, cool or what?!

It was an exceptionally windy evening as well and all of a sudden I wish I had my jacket on me, we stopped to take a few photos and this one is my fav:

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Rushing to take cover in the warm subway, we made it to the station in under 15 minutes, this walking route is now my fav way to get to Covent Garden from Waterloo station and totally avoid the claustrophobic tubes and the slow buses crawling through the omnipresent traffic on the narrow roads of Central London…..( there … now that’s a sure shot sign that I have become am a Londoner now….when one begins to crib about the crowded tubes and moan about the traffic …and look of alternate walking routes… I think the novelty of being a newbie to this city is finally wearing off… in every way… but then the magic has settled in and just like I will always, always love Mumbai no matter what, similarly London has sunk into my being in a way that can never be reversed… safe to say…am deeply in love… with all that London has to offer – even the tubes … oh yes!)

*With thanks to 21 and The Print Room for the invite. All views expressed here are my own. I was not required to write a positive review. No monetary compensation was provided for this post.

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Filed Under: Lifestyle, Restaurant Reviews Tagged With: 2 balconies, 3 story delightful place 21, a cocktail bar, a glass of Red, A la Carte menu, apple juice and elderflower with a dash of bitter lemon, beautiful Georgian heritage site, best pizza and pasta in Covent Garden, Black pepper Calamari, chillies, Cornish Crab Linguine, Covent Garden - a review, crisp, cucumber, Figaro, food and travel blogger, food writer, foodie in London, fresh, fresh and light with lots of ice, fresh seafood taste, fruity, Games, green beans, Italian-inspired, lifestyle blogger, Mango Bellini, Manjiri Chitnis, Manjiri Kulkarni, melted mozzarella, Milano Salami, Nero D'Avola 2011, overlooking the piazza, Pancetta, Parma Ham & Pepperoni Pizza, prepared with the best quality ingredients, Prosecco Brut, refreshing, reviews from travelsfortaste blog, roasted garlic olive oil, rustic Italian restaurant, saffron aioli, sage cream, Sine Peccato, slice of my life, sliceoffme eats London, sliceoffme recipes, squeeze of lime, St.Pauls Covent Garden, summery, terrace located on the Piazza, The Print Room, travel writer, travelsfortaste, Verde Flower, Wild Boar Tortelloni

Olympics 2012 Hightened Excitement !

August 7, 2012 by manjirichitnis Leave a Comment

Didn’t want this blog post to languish in my drafts folders , I wrote it on the day I saw the Olympic Flame at Ealing Broadway- 24th July 2012 Tuesday ,ALSO wanted to post pcitures of the 2 Olympic events and blog about the excitement surrounding the Games,so had to start somewhere……

I was relatively unaffected by all the BUZZ surrounding the Games,almost immune in a way , but I guess what turned things around almost 360 degrees inside my brain was watching the Olympic Flame along with a large crowd ….

On the 23rd Monday the flame was set to pass by through Wimbledon , I did manage to just catch a glimpse and was rather disappointed as the crowds moved off and I didn’t get any pictures. So with steely determination and a purpose in mind I set off the next day to see the flame near Ealing Broadway .

I set off early, the weather was unusually amazing , the sun was shining brightly ,in fact a bit too bright for me as I spent over 2 hours toasting under the direct heat just to watch the flame pass by .

But if ever there is a shared experience with a bunch of strangers that I shall cherish then it is this … and of course in the next 2 days am off to see some events at 2 different venues , but this particular experience makes me go all quite and i can replay the scenes in my mind over and over again ….

The crowds had just begun to get in and throng the sidewalks leading to a public park close to the Ealing Broadway station, I stood at one such sidewalk , thanking my stars that I had arrived early and had found space to lean against a railing . I had for company a primary school teacher who was very nice and chatty (thank god !)and a rather grumpy looking lady on my right who wasn’t too pleased by my arrival as she had to ”make space ” for me on the railing , sigh, it takes all types to make the world now doesn’t it ?

No sooner had I settled and Ms.Teacher and me were discussing the current political situation , that there was a large influx of crowds , the Sun decided to turn up the heat by several notches and a large group of police men and women started patrolling the streets .

The first sign that the torch bearers were to arrive ! yay !

An old lady then came and I quickly helped her squeeze in next to me (on my right of course 😉 !!!) , she was very , very ,well, very chatty 😉 but very sweet all the same, then came along 2 boys aged 9 and 6 ,extremely fidgety and with their old aunt and decided that Ms.Tecaher and me were perfect people to chat with , so as they enlightened us about how the world appears to them and their opinion about almost anything , we started taking it all in.

Vendors hopeful of selling BG flags, balloons and all other bits and bobs were trying their best to tempt their wares .

At this point I really thought I would faint and was so grateful for The Metro I had picked up earlier at the tube station , it was my cap and was my shield   from the Sun and it’s persistent HOT HOT HOT presence.

Loads of cars and buses kept passing by the road making me wonder how the cops would manage the crowds and the other vehicles of the sponsors that were to pass by as they headed towards the public park for the evening celebrations – a mass public party so to speak !

Let me count down the minutes to when the flame actually arrived by way of sharing the pictures I clicked …

It is an event that celebrates human spirit and brings together the world like no other and what better way to make bring closer to the people of GB, than giving us all a chance to be a part of the Games if only as spectators to watch the flame pass us by ….For this chance am ever so grateful and I know this is a memory I shall cherish forever and share with all my loved ones as I have shared with you

Filed Under: Lifestyle, Miscellaneous Tagged With: 2012, cheer, click, Ealing Braodway, flame, fun, Games, glory, hot, jog, london, olympics, photos, pictures, spirit, summer, Team GB, Torch Relay, Torchbearer, watch, yell

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