Trenta

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                                                R I P

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Sadly La Trenta closed in early 2012.  A shame.

Tucked away in a quiet residential setting near Tony Blair's retirement home, La Trenta has a small dining room with perhaps half a dozen tables.  As you sit down you are presented with a plate of classy green olives and genuinely good mini pizza slices.  Bread was tasty focaccia, excellent carte musica rubbed with garlic, and a less good plain white bread.  Service was most impressive, friendly and efficient.

A starter of home-made pasta with duck sauce had ribbons of tender pasta with nicely cooked duck, well seasoned (indeed several dishes had unfashionably bold seasoning of salt, which was fine by me).  This starter was 14/20 level.  Main course was pork that was pan-fried and rubbed with honey, served with a puree of roast apples and slivers of potato.  The pork was perhaps a fraction drier than ideal but well made (13/20). 

For dessert, fresh summer berries with vanilla ice cream were better than I was expecting, the berries carefully selected and the ice cream tasting of real vanilla.  My companions' dishes were very good, including a proper risotto with summer truffle and a tagliolini with tomatoes, squid ink and langoustines that would have been better served out of their shells but nonetheless enjoyable.

Coffee came with a little plate of petit fours, and at just £20.50 for two courses prices are fair.  The wine list was all Italian and lacked any well-known names, but the manager Daniel Camerini guided us to some enjoyable selections. Overall this was a lot better than I was expecting and featured very capable, unassuming cooking.