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Newbury, Round Two

So remember a while ago I waxed eloquent about Newbury and how great it was? Being the cynical little me that I am, I decided to give it another go, and with the same cousin in tow. Our curiosity was piqued. Was the food so great because we were invited and given preferential treatment, or is it always this good?

We started off with the Marinated Bruschetta (Which I also featured in my foona Review video for Newbury, btw. Yes, I know. Shameless plug, feel free to watch here). The picture I took doesn't do this beauty justice. The bruschetta itself was crisp till the last bite, and held the almost jammy tomato topping very well. The next item I had on my own because my cousin didn't want to risk seafood, but I'm so glad I did! The Salmon Ceviche was served with fried pita on the side and topped with a beautiful balsamic glaze and caviar.

That could have been a meal on its own, but of course we overdid our order, and ordered the Bresaola Pizza, which I know sounds very off to puritans (How dare you put perfectly good bresaola in a pizza!) but trust me, this works! The mascarpone cheese was salty, tangy and went perfectly with the fresh rocket and thinly sliced beef. All of this goodness was sandwiched between the crisp flatbread which served as the pizza itself. More fresh rocket top and fresh cherry tomatoes served as a garnish. Every bite was not only a delight, it was also surprisingly very light.

The Truffle Wild Mushroom Linguine was next, and there's just something about seeing your food being tossed around in a wheel of cheese which makes you hungry for more! The visual and sensory receptors seem to go into overdrive seeing and smelling the freshly made linguine coated in stringy, cheesy goodness. The mushrooms were definitely not your tinned variety. They were honest to goodness porcini mushrooms, the flavor of which was enhanced by the truffle oil. If that doesn't tantalize your taste buds, just sprinkle some red chili flakes on top and you're good to go.

We were quite full by this point, but then our eye was caught by the desserts, and two of them really stood out. The Creme Brulee Cheesecake and Salted Caramel and Chocolate Cake. For the brulee part of the cheesecake, they bring a blow torch to your table and caramelize the sugar on top in front of you. Now for this, I would recommend waiting a couple of minutes for the sugar to cool down completely before taking a bite, just because our minds are conditioned for a cooler temperature cheesecake, and the heat from caramelizing the sugar naturally brings up the temperature. The salted caramel didn't really come through in the chocolate cake, but it was definitely yummy.

Overall, Newbury is worth the buck for me. Of course, there are more reasonable options of pastas, burgers and pizzas available for you on the menu, and you won't go broke in one go if you order sensibly, unlike me :p Oh, also, we did pay for everything. Bill attached.











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