I spent an evening feeling like I was dining at a restaurant along the picturesque Amalfi Coast - and didn't even need to leave Manchester for the experience.
Riva Blu, an authentic Italian restaurant at the Corn Exchange, in the heart of the city centre, provided an evening of delectable food along with the glamour of the Sorrentine Peninsula, topped off by an array of colourful, spritzy cocktails. We were invited down to try the restaurant's brand new summer offer, a menu spanning 20 new dishes combining classic Italian staples with a modern Mediterranean twist.
We were seated inside after spending around half an hour browsing the menu at the cocktail bar. Italian music played as we gazed upon the open kitchen, with diners also able to sit at the alfresco terrace.
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After strong recommendations from our server Marta, me and a friend decided to share the Scarpetta Con Salsa Di Pomodoro (£14). Freshly baked italian bread is presented along with a generous helping of San Marzano tomato, garlic and fresh basil sauce.
The bread was still warm and fresh, with a perfect crisp. It was however almost a little too much to finish for an appetiser if you are planning on indulging in the full three courses.
For our starters, we opted for the Frittatina Napoletana (£8.50), a deep fried pasta and béchamel fritter with roast ham on a bed of basil pesto and topped with rocket, and the classic Calamari (£10.25), fried with courgette, red pepper and served with a fresh and zesty mayonnaise.
The plentiful offering of vibrant cocktails and spritzers also transports you straight to southern Italy - with all drinks made lovingly by knowledgeable mixologists who are on hand to shake up the perfect tipple as you soak up the atmosphere.
We ordered the classic Aperol Spritz, complete with an orange wedge (£9.25) and also tried the Watermelon Paloma, a tasty popping mix of El Jimador Reposado tequila and pink grapefruit (£9.50) and the brand new Riva Spritz, a zesty and tangy cocktail stirred together with their very own, homemade limoncello, made with lemons sourced from the Amalfi Coast.
My main, priced at £21.50, was the Linguine Frutti Di Mare, a seafood tomato-based pasta dish with wild red king prawns, mussels, clams, calamari and a white wine and chilli sauce. It was bold, fresh but not too heavy - although the portion sizes were more than generous and I could not finish it, providing excellent value for money.
We also opted for the Tonno Alla Griglia (£26.50). A grilled yellowfin tuna steak, which was succulent and cooked to absolute perfection - with just the right amount of pinkness, was presented alongside vine ripened tomatoes, capers and Leccino olives.
The menu also has a nod to the vibrance of Naples’ street food, like Arancini (crispy truffle risotto balls) and Polpette di Melanzane (aubergine and smoked provola fritters) which are perfectly paired with a new organic wine list for the summer season. It also includes exclusive ‘Biga’ pizzas, made in-house by chef Davide Argentino with an open kitchen, with toppings on a super light Italian style dough.
As much as Italian food is loved for its pastas and pizzas - the dessert offerings also left us spoilt for choice. The Baba Napoletano, a rum-soaked sponge cake and Panna Cotta certainly caught our eye. In the end, I plumped for the classic Tiramisu and my friend ordered a dessert wine.
The coffee and amaretto soaked sponge, which was once again a somewhat over facing portion, arrived beneath a dusting of cocoa and a thick creamy layer of mascarpone.
As one of my favourite desserts, I am quite the harsh critic when it comes to Tiramisu, but the soft sponge layers easily crumbled beneath my spoon, the biscuit fingers had the perfect crunch and the balance of coffee and amaretto was just to my liking. I couldn't resist taking the rest home in a box.
Riva Blu, which was first opened in 2022 by Individual Restaurants, the chain behind Piccolino’s, offers a wide-ranging menu from the Italian classics to lighter Mediterranean-inspired dishes perfect to indulge in this summer.
Of course, an evening at Riva Blu is not the same as dining at the real Amalfi Coast, but the knowledgeable servers and exceptionally skilled bar staff, coupled with an authentic atmosphere and tasteful dishes that offer excellent value for money, mean it really is as close as it gets to the real thing.
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