Times:
Rojano’s in the square: Viva Italia!
Stanley Rojano would likely be delighted by the loving care that has gone into the recent revamp of the long established Italian restaurant in the heart of Padstow. In the very capable hands of new owner, Paul Ainsworth (of No 6 and BBC2's Great British Menu reputation) business is buzzing again. Rojano’s in the square is absolutely not another Padstow fish restaurant.
My lunch date (formally high school first date) and I meet at the door to Rojano’s on a gloriously sunny day in Padstow, pre school holiday hoards. With the warmest of welcomes, we are taken to a table. It’s all very relaxed. The vibe is most certainly Italian; large vibrant canvases sporting vespers and Italian Grand Prix retro prints don the bare brick walls. An open glass fronted balustrade leads up to (what I shall soon discover en route to the loos) is a brand new cocktail area, perfect for tapas nibbling or a few glasses of pre-supper proseccos.
Catching up on glory days, old school date and I both find ourselves pulling faces with an enchanting, blonde-locked toddler tucking in with great gusto to an enormous slice of pizza on the table behind us. Both school date and I have left our respective two year olds at home, unnecessarily. Rojano’s, as all the very best Italian eateries should be, is firmly a family affair. Cruising the extensive menu happily, both of us (and the angel faced child next door) stop in our tracks as an enormous, knickerbocker glory arrives at the table to our left. An elder gentleman diner looks a tad embarrassed, the pre-schooler and my lunch date are lusting, far too obviously. There is a buzz, a very relaxed ‘holiday feeling’ vibe to Rojanos. A friendly waitress arrives with a couple of glasses of prosecco to kick-start (do as the Italians do?) and runs through the day’s specials, which include sea bream fillet on roasted red peppers.
Our starters arrive on wooden platters (later learning they have been hand carved by a father of one of the front of house team) and tiny silver buckets full to the brim of delicious calamari (£5.75) and Sicilian arancini (crispy risotto balls served with ‘angry’ arrabbiata sauce) £4.95. Greedily we are also sampling raw Cornish beef carpaccio on a bed of rocket and parmesan (£6.95). ‘Crossing continentals’ I know, but there is a distinctly ‘tapas take’ and neither of us stand on ceremony, happily finger picking at each other’s choices. Fresh, Italian, delicious and mightily moorish, greedily we consume and chat forgetting we still have main course to come.
My linguine marinara (£11.25) is heaped with hunky-chunks of the sweetest smoked salmon, mussels, squid, king prawns and while winding greedy forkfuls with gusto, I know the brimming bowlful will defeat me (size wise). It is seriously good, and although Padstow is perfectly pretty in itself, for a moment I am whisked away to the sandy shores of southern Europe; tasting both the sea and holidays past in every blissful mouthful. Glory Days Date is delighted with the sea bream, and I have just about enough room to have a taste. Simply pan fried, this dish is all about the freshest ingredients, it works, we are, it would seem, both on a mini-break date, warm sand between our toes.
A quick look at the puddings we note all things retro-Italian and discerningly dolce, think tiramisu, pannacotta and gelati-bocker-glories. All coming in on the right side of a fiver, and believe me, where the euro-rate may not be in our favour, you get a huge portion for your pound across the menu it would seem. We are heading upstairs, for coffee and to catch up with the great man behind the scene, a chance to chat with Paul Ainsworth about his latest venture in Padstow.
“Italian food is my absolute favourite,” Paul offers enthusiastically “We [business partner and wife, Emma] wanted to re-create the kind of Italian family-style eateries we love going to when in Italy.” While Paul is very clear he’s not in the Rojano’s kitchen, he spent two months training his head chef and kitchen team ensuring every attention to detail met his high standards. “It’s a difficult one. Italian food in Italy is very different to what we know as ‘italian’ over here. There is no way we could serve our pizzas as thin or with the black, charcoal-blistered bases the Italian’s go mad for. It’s about catering for your market, and we try to keep things as authentic as possible. In Italy it’s all about the pasta, whereas for the British its all about the sauce.”
Paul is positively passionate about his latest business venture and already the re-vamped Rojano’s is a huge success. “For the first year we said no bookings, but it got a bit out of hand”. The addition of the upstairs bar is largely for the younger crowd or those who fancy a bit of ‘grazing’, tapas style, post beach or boating.
The restaurant itself has been firmly part of the Padstow eating scene for many years, and in taking over the business, Paul was keen to capture the essence of Stanley Rojano, the original owner’s glory days. “We wanted to put our own stamp on the place but not to start again.” Keeping ‘Rojanos’ but adding ‘in the square’ is a quiet nostalgic nod to Ainsworth’s early days working under Gary Rhodes at ‘Rhodes in the square’ W1. It seemed my lunch date and I weren’t the only ones reminiscing at Rojano’s.
We to have eaten there.We loved the revamped interior and the food was lovely and well within most peoples budget for a good meal out. We will definately return on our next visit to Padstow. I think they do a take-out service as well so you get double the benifits from this lovely restaurant. Well done to Paul & Emma and their team for all their hard work and fabulouse food.