Pizza School @ Ponti's Italian Kitchen

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Ponti’s Italian Kitchen after we were invited to come along and celebrate Proscuitto Week with them.

To be honest I’d never heard of Ponti’s, never knew they existed, it’s on the wrong side of Oxford Street to be noticed for me. It’s one of those restaurants that if you never knew it was there, you’d never find it, and you’d be missing out.

We were invited to celebrate not only Proscuitto week, but also the launch of the restaurants new menu.

We all love proscuitto, I mean who doesn’t, a thin piece of cured pork leg melting in your mouth is one of the greatest things on this planet. I don’t eat much meat these days, but I will always find room somewhere for a few slices of proscuitto.

I was thinking we were turning up fashionably on time, but it turned out we were some of the last few to arrive. The pain of working in south London.

As soon as we sat down we were treated to an array of small plates that never seemed to stop coming.

We tried too many small plates to mention them all, but the real highlights were the fried calamari with mayo, pieces of mozzarella wrapped in Parma ham, small Italian sausages, garlic prawns, chicken and roasted vegetables,

The chicken and the roasted veg was the stand out plate of the night, really well cooked piece of chicken, and the roasted veg were spot on with a lovely deep intense balsamic glaze.

The two girls opposite us were in heaven and grazed throughout the night until this plate came out and they literally finished off one plate between them.

We were also invited to make our own pizzas, which came as a real surprise and the wife was in seventh heaven.

The restaurant has a pizza school where for £18 you get to make and cook your own pizza under the guidance of one of the chefs. This also includes a glass of prosecco and desert.

Over the course of the evening we saw many small groups making their own pizzas and looks like a real fun thing to do.

I opted out of making the pizza instead letting the wife make ours for us. Rule of thumb we learnt at the end, don’t put too much sauce in the centre.

We were all pretty impressed with our pizzas and I was still munching on slices on the bus on the way home, and finished off the rest at work cold the next morning.

All in all this was a fantastic night and everybody was really impressed with the food that the restaurant served.

Before we left we were given a mammoth picnic basket each filled with lot of goodies like olive oil, biscotti, coffee and pasta, to which we are slowly getting through, well except of the biscotti which we ate within a day or two. Delish.

I now know that when in and around central London I can get some pretty good Italian food.