Mezzo

Last Saturday night in celebration of our anniversary DG invited me to eat out at a local restaurant, despite the lateness of the hour our spontaneous arrival was graciously accommodated by Mezzo, a smallish Bistro in Tullamore.

Afraid of refusal our initial enquiry was whether or not we had missed the chef? Immediately we were shown to what would have been a quiet table in the corner, all except for the party of women at the next table, that is!

Being more than slightly hungry and conscious of the late hour we both decided upon skipping the appetizers and starters and heading into a meaty main course, all served on a bed of mashed potatoes with a choice of chips, salad or boiled potato. The menu is pretty straight forward, ie pizza, pasta, fish or chicken and two meat dishes thrown in for good measure.

Well, when it was served I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. My three healthy sized lamb cutlets, ie the rack was cooked to a turn; nicely browned on the outside and barely pink on the inside. The jus was just a basic gravy with a little chopped shallot and an infusion of rosemary and was perfect, complementing rather than drowning everything.

DG, being a hard working ploughman all day, ordered the hungry mans stand-by dish which was of course a 10oz steak in a pepper sauce. Seeing as I didn't hear more than two words from him during the whole of the main course one has to assume that the quality of the food was as good as mine had been. The only two remarks from him were about the peppercorns catching his throat, meaning that they were freshly crushed and the fact that the dressing which accompanied our salad was a little flushed!

Yes, it was pink, but once again it was flavoursome and the salad was fresh. The only criticism I would have about Mezzo would be that it doesn't have a liquor license, which is really a minor inconvenience as you are welcome to bring your own. However, with a memory like mine it is crucial that you plan ahead and don't make decisions like this at the last minute, as the off licence around the corner can be a bit on the steep side...

I settled for coffee. Bog standard coffee! It's what I fancied, after the motley selection available in most of these 'cafe/restaurants' I don't always feel up to a dessert made from whipped up chemical flavourings and colourings.

DG on the other hand, being the hungry lad he is chose a white chocolate and pear cheesecake. Being the cynical old boot that I am I was very suspicious about this and was delighted to discover that not only did he have what he ordered, but it was delicious too! In fact I almost went the whole nine yards and ordered a second serving for myself...

Considering the hour of our arrival, and the fact that the staff were busy, I would certainly have to commend them. The food was excellent, the service cheerful and the water was lovely!
Would I go there again? Certainly! I do have one complaint, however, and that is that the establishment doesn't live down to its name; which is Italian for Middle! or Medium!( in terms of musical ability at least!)

What we didn't spend on a bottle of wine; we took to The Bridge House Hotel and had a couple of bevies to finish the night off there instead!

Cheers!

Polly Px