The Italian Kitchen - Purbeck

We had the best time here on Saturday lunch. We arrived early to a quiet restaurant and were greeted by super friendly and well informed staff, who made us feel at ease and explained their new ‘small plates’ menu. Our kids were given a nice menu with colouring in and nothing seemed too much to ask for. We decided to let our 4 and 6 year old order from their kids menu and hoped they would try some of our dishes too. The menu really is very appealing, so much so that the 3 adults ended up ordering EVERY dish they had on the menu in the end! I think it was 16 various dishes of meats, fish, veggies and pasta’s. All homemade and with a really modern vibe. Our waitress was soo good at making us feel at ease we had the best time. A few dishes were ordered and came out really fast we were overjoyed at how beautiful they looked, and the flavours we so well balanced and punchy we got really giddy and decided to order all of the other dishes and just share them all out. Have to say each dish was a triumph, my favourite was the pork ‘burnt ends’ with sweet and sour carrots and a mustard sauce, my partners was the pointed cabbage dish with sesame, my mothers the beetroot and goats cheese crispy ball. They all were delicious, and our kids tried loads of new things like a crab pasta and a cheesey focaccia. It seems like they really thought these little dishes out soo well, temperatures, textures, colours, flavours, elegance we’ve not had anything like this outside of London. So, 16 plates in, plus the kids had their main course… we were all full up, felt like we’d been on a culinary adventure. And then we were offered something sweet okay maybe we were just being greedy, maybe we just couldn’t resist not trying more?! The kids had a ‘build your own dessert’ of ice cream and sauces and sprinkles and cake bits looked great but sadly only for kids! We had their ‘sweet things’, kind of like large petit fours. Chocolatey cake balls, salted caramel truffles and tart passion fruit jellies all were amazing! By the time we left, the restaurant was really busy and I can see why we will most certainly be coming again! Thank you!

Thankfully, neither of us is particularly fussy and eat most things, which means that the slightly limited menu did not adversely affect us. The benefit of a small menu is that the food ought to be very good and it was. The decor is hardly Italian in character but the restaurant is smart and bright. The best thing about the Italian Kitchen, however, is the staff who are charming, knowledgeable and efficient. Overall, an enjoyable evening.

The best pasta dish I have ever tasted Chargrilled chicken and chorizo rigatoni)! And the 15hr potatoes were to die for. Would definitely recommend and will certainly return. Staff were lovely as well.

We had such a good evening, staff very friendly and food was very good quality, highly recommend the lasagne all food came out looking amazing.

Despite having to postpone our arrival until 8.30pm (due to unforeseen circumstances), the staff were brilliant. And the food was exceptional.