Member Article

Pizzeria turns up the heat with new menu

Entrepreneurial siblings at a Newcastle Italian restaurant are launching a new deal to showcase the results of their kitchen investment.

Geordie-Italian siblings Aldo, Joseph and Cristina De Giorgi, who own Pasqualino’s Bar-Pizzeria on Market Street, have devised a new range of dishes following a £100,000 investment in an open kitchen, and are treating customers to a special offer to celebrate.

From 12-2pm, diners can order two courses for just £6.95 or three courses for £8.95 from the set menu, which includes any starter, any pizza or pasta dish, and a tub of Pasqualino’s ice cream. From 5-10pm, two courses cost just £8.95, or £10.95 for three courses.

Starters on the new menu include Home cured sliced beef sirloin with roast beetroot, toasted walnut and salsa verde, DOP Buffalo mozzarella with Gaeta olives, fine beans, white onion compote and watercress, and Salt cod croquettes with watercress, caper berries and aioli.

The stonebaked, hand pulled, sourdough pizzas include ‘Coco’ - San Marzano tomatoes, Cherry tomato, buffalo mozzarella, Kalamata olives, hazelnut pesto and fresh basil, ‘Joel’ - San Marzano tomatoes, ricotta, sprouting broccoli, chilli and toasted pinenuts, and ‘Boscaiola’ – San Marzano tomatoes, Fior Di Latte mozzarella, Italian cooked ham, chestnut mushrooms and fresh thyme.

Pasta dishes include Penne Amatriciana – Penne pasta with smoked pancetta, onion and tomato sugo, and Pappadelle Formaggio – ribbons of egg pasta with cheese fondue, walnuts and tallegio cheese.

Diners can then enjoy a tub of Pasqualino’s artisan ice cream in vanilla, strawberry, chocolate or hazelnut. Joseph De Giorgi spent several months working with Dominic Gregorio, a second generation master ice cream maker of Ciccarelli’s in Northumberland, to taste and tweak the flavours for Pasqualino’s ice cream, selecting the best natural ingredients including 100% Italian fruit purees, Piedemontese hazelnuts and fine belgian chocolate. The ingredients were combined in an old milk-based family recipe, churned, and slowly aged in small individual batches.

The De Giorgis, who celebrated the restaurant’s first anniversary last month, have invested in a Woodstone oven which weighs four tonnes and reaches a temperature of 900?f. This high temperature allows the intense blast cooking that locks in aroma and moisture, giving a soft but crisp easily digested pizza crust.

A second addition to the kitchen is the Spanish Josper, a traditional charcoal grill, so that grilled meat and fish dishes can be cooked on aromatic wood to give a rustic, smoky taste that cannot be achieved using gas or electric ovens.

Cristina De Giorgi said: “We decided to introduce this great value deal so that diners can treat themselves to a lunchtime sourdough pizza with colleagues or an evening out in town without breaking the bank. It’s a great opportunity to show off the results of our new open kitchen, and our latest menu, and we’re looking forward to finding out customers’ thoughts.”

The siblings are well known in the Newcastle dining scene, having created some of the city’s most popular bars and restaurants including Paradiso, Popolo, Intermezzo, Alvinos, Secco, Don Vito’s and 9Bar Coffee.

Pasqualino’s is also offering 20% off cocktails in the bar area from 9.30pm until late. The offer is valid until 30 May and can be redeemed by visiting www.pasqualinos.co.uk and printing off the offer form.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Uniquethinking PR team .