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Food - Prezzo
A few weeks ago my colleagues and I had an over-long and over-heated
debate about the pronunciation of the word ‘bruschetta’.
I pushed for the Italian way, with a hard ‘c’;
the others for a kind of hybrid ‘brooshetta’,
which they said had become the accepted English pronunciation.
We were eating in Ask and on the way back we noticed that
a new restaurant was being furbished on the High Street, and
the name ‘Prezzo’ was already up on the wall.
It was immediately dubbed ‘Prez-oh’ and I’ve
been waiting for it to open ever since, while worrying whether
Lewes could sustain five Italian restaurants.
On Tuesday lunchtime we all went to try it out. Boy did they
know what they were doing. Smart decor, great-looking pizza
oven, attentive staff and a rich menu of choices generally
priced around £9. I chose a calzone, something I haven’t
had for years: I’ve always thought if I want a pizza,
what’s the point of having it folded up? When it came
it looked amazing, like an inflated croissant covered in tomato
sauce. A waiter grated parmesan on top. Inside was chicken,
bacon, cheese, and what tasted like chorizo. It was delicious.
It stayed hot. It was nothing like any calzone I’d ever
had in Italy, but somehow… better. Like the English
pronunciation of ‘bruschetta’ it had been subtly
altered to suit our way of things. Lewes' Prezzo is the 82nd
franchise in a UK-wide chain. They know what they are doing.
It is bound to thrive. For at least one of the other four
Italian restaurants, sadly, this might just spell ‘disastro’.
AG |
