insideKENT Magazine Issue 30 - September 2014 | Page 60

FOOD+DRINK

Buon Appetito
at Posillipo Ristorante Italiano
If I had to choose one style of cooking to eat for the rest of my life, it would undoubtedly be
Italian. My great-grandparents hailed from Castelvetere (near Naples), Italy, and their influence
in the kitchen has been passed down for generations. I’m always on the lookout for great
Italian, so when I was invited to Posillipo in Faversham, I jumped at the chance. by Donna Martin
Posillipo has three successful locations:
Broadstairs, Canterbury, and its newest venture,
Faversham. Opened in summer 2010, this creekside Italian eatery is as picturesque as it can get,
without actually being in Italy. The old mill building
was brought back to life with Posillipo’s authentic
Italian interior décor, and its food has brought
many a guest back through its doors time and
time again.
We were welcomed with open arms, just
like my grandmother’s house, and were given
as much or as little time as we needed to enjoy
the creek view, peruse the menu, and have a
drink. Posillipo has a fantastic selection of Italian
craft beers available; enough to make even the
most experienced Hop Festival goer gawk at the
bottles in amazement.
We tried a bottle of Birra Gilac’s BIOnda –
an organic golden blonde beer, handmade with
nothing other than water, barley malt, hops and
yeast. It was beautifully balanced and went well
with all of the many flavours that were to come.
Surely we couldn’t start our food adventure
without bread and olives, so of course that’s the
first thing we ordered (I think before we even sat
down). Out they came: huge Sicilian green olives
and Gaeta black olives, and a pile of homemade
bread served with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
I’m pretty sure I would have been happy eating
two or three (or four) servings of bread and olives
for my main meal, but so many other dishes were
calling my name.
I started with one of the day’s specials:
deep-fried aubergine filled with ham, mozzarella
and basil. The crispy breadcrumb coating
surrounding the soft aubergine was perfectly
paired with thinly sliced ham and melty mozzarella.
My dining companions chose the scallops

wrapped in a smoked pancetta with beans and
pink pepper; and a simple focacce all’aglio (garlic
pizza bread). Simply delicious.
As we shared our starters and sipped on
the smooth Italian BIOnda, we had time to enjoy
Posillipo’s gorgeous location. It was a warm day,
so the doors facing the creek were open, letting
in a fragrant crisp breeze. The restaurant boasts
one of the largest outdoor dining spaces I’ve
seen, with enough room for table upon table of
even the largest parties.
When it comes to Italian food and me, I
know what I love, so I find it hard to stray from
my favourites. True to form, I ordered the gnocchi
alla sorrentina (dumpling pasta with ragu sauce,
mozzarella, parmigiano and basil). This version
of gnocchi was oven-baked and bubbling hot
when it arrived – perfectly seasoned with a
beautiful sweet-but-savoury ragu. I knew I’d
never finish (I never finish gnocchi, it’s just so
filling), so I was strangely ok with sharing. My
dining companions were also generous and
shared their scaloppini di pollo (chicken escalopes
topped with parma ham and mozzarella cheese
in a light white wine sauce), and pizze vegetariana
(home-stretched dough topped with a tomato
base, mozzarella, mushrooms and spinach). All
of the flavours were beautiful, and between the
three of us, we finished every last bite.
So what do you do when faced with a
selection of delectable desserts, but have no
room in your belly? You order anyways, of course!
You must rationalise – by the time the puddings
arrive, your body will kindly have made a few
square centimetres of space in your stomach.
Anyone who knows me knows how much
I love my desserts. My grandmother made the
world’s best ricotta pie and cannolis (I’m biased,

60

I know). I so looked forward to indulging in her
ricotta-based confections at Christmas, and
asked for them every time I saw her. She could
make them without a recipe, just throwing the
ingredients together and overfilling her homemade
piecrusts and cannoli shells. If there’s a sweet
treat with ricotta on the menu, I won’t consider
anything else, so when I saw the ricotta Nutella
cheesecake on the dessert board, my decision
was made.
It wasn’t what I expected. I had envisaged
a thick, rich, smooth ricotta/Nutella cheesecake,
perhaps with a classic cheesecake base – but
this was an entirely different beast, and an entirely
better one. It was a layered dessert, with an inner
layer of nutella and a delicious ricotta filling
sandwiched between a light pistachio-y/almondy cake, served with a scoop of creamy pistachio
ice cream, and finished with a zigzag of chocolate
sauce. Oh me, oh my – it was so good it even
rivalled Grammy’s ricotta masterpieces.
We finished our three courses with a latte
and relaxed conversation, and couldn’t wait to
start telling everyone about this fabulous Italian
eatery. If only I had tried it sooner!

Posillipo Faversham
Provender Mill
Belvedere Road
Faversham
ME13 7LD
01795 590580
www.posillipo.com
/ristoranteposillipo
@_Posillipo_