Salvino

stantoncarlisle

Mama Mia! 23rd December 2008

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The well-groomed staff are first generation Italian with a touch of that lounge-lizard Italian style. Even in the winter they look slightly tanned. The accents are low-key and local, the attitude to food - pure Italian. They discuss is the way an amateur painter would drool over the old masters, kind of with a mixture of awe, reverence and carnality. They're always friendly to customers, sometimes they veer off in a hot-one with each other in Italian but that helps make the place more authentic. They're happy to let you sample at the deli counter where the food varies from the sublime to the fairly good. Around Christmas time they have a stock of imported goodies, Panoforte and biscuits. The really good brands go very fast and you have to get in their quick. The roast artichokes in jars are particularly yummy packed in extra thick Olive Olive they're wonderful. If your on a budget with a sweet tooth the filled cherry biscuits they sell are pretty wow. If your flush - the custard tarts will send you reeling. They have a permanent wine sale on the go. Two bottles of good cooking and glugging white or red - £5. All that and a touch of Italian style - can't say fairer than that.