Another night here in Middlesborough brought us to Eliano's an adorable little Italian joint right in the center of town where we joined 2 of Will's friends from infant school. Be sure to check out the Facebook pictures of them 48 years ago as well as today.
This wonderful little bistro is run by Rosetta who hails from Calabria inn Southern Italy and seems to run the entire affair singlehandedly!
I was upset that they were completely sold out of the grilled asparagus starter so instead Will and I both tried the Tris di Crostini:three yummy Crostini of crab & tuna, mozzarella & basil, and "Caviar" di Melanzane(or eggplant spread)! Our wine was a very reasonably priced Soave Classico 2018 from Giulio Pasotti. There was also a bruschetta of duck and chicken liver patê as well as regular tomato bruschetta.
We all love garlic bread so we decided to order the cheese garlic bread which was actually a large pizza with cheese and garlic on it. It became apparent that we had overdosed as the main courses were truly huge. Giant pizzas were loved by all as well as the pasta dishes, mine being a spicy kick-ass Spaghetti di Mare loaded with Calabrian chiles, prawns, mussels, calamari, huge chunks of salmon and more in a white wine, garlic and parsley sauce. Lesson learned--skip the starters to save room for dessert and huge mains!
I had a taste of each of the deserts and they were both amazing: Cheesecake as well as Lemon & Raspberry Poffit(a thick custard), apparently all made in house by Rosetta. Sam loved the Italian beers and we all had a great home-town time.
