Casa Mia - and why I love London's Italian Restaurants

 I was looking forward to a meal at one of Hatch End's Italian restaurants, main dish and vegetables, when I was at a restaurant overseas which served me chicken with no vegetables. I was also daydreaming, wishful thinking, of a chocolate with the bill in the UK, dreaming, when overseas I received the bill without a chocolate. Nobody said goodbye or thank you as I left.

However, I enjoyed exactly what I had daydreamed about when I returned to Hatch End in North West London and had a meal for four at an Italian restaurant which is one of my old favourites, Casa Mia.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the overseas restaurants. They were good and interesting. Learning a new menu language was a satisfying challenge. I'd forgotten how much Italian I knew until I returned to an Italian menu and could translate so much more.

What would I drink in an Italian restaurant. Of course, I started with a glass of Prosecco. After a week away overseas without spsrkling white wines, or even sparkling rose wines, it was great to see Prosecco on the menu.

It was served in a tall glass. Bubbly, Champagne style, but without the Champagne high prices. It wasn't the best Prosecco, but it was good enough.

We asked for tap water, too. Our servers made no attempt to insist that we had bottled mineral water, unlike some posh places overseas, who have not heard of the British legal requirement that you must serve water with alcohol. Why is this law?  To reduce drunkenness leading to the potential for road accidents, fights or medical episodes. 

Up comes the water with the drinks. A perfect start. Water to  get you relaxed straight away. Palate cleared. Perfect.

Our shared starter was garlic pizza which came up fast enough to keep a two-year-old contented. The restaurant even had two heights of high chair - she chose the highest. Next the manager moved us up from a table in the middle of the room to a table by the wall, so baby was out of the way of the to and fro waitresses.

I thought we should have brought some toys to amuse baby, and insisted on her staying in the high chair, or being carried around the table from her mother to her father, instead of toddling around on her own. Eventually something happened. The high chair fell on top of her. She cried.

Until a dummy was produced and soon recovered. Her father shrugged and said, 'Don't worry, she falls over every day. I don't suppose she'll ever come to any harm."

I thought, 'Sorry, I disagree, My cousin's kid fell down steep stairs, It wasn't even a straight flight. But hit his head on a grandfather clock on the bend. He ended up so badly brain damaged that my second cousin said it wasn't a good idea for my son to be taken to play with him." But I wasn't going to get those negative thoughts get in the way of a jolly evening out. 

Main Courses

So I smiled brightly and said, "Just what I wanted. Veal with potatoes and mushroom in white sauce. "

I have a slight preference for chicken, but I'd had chicken at home twice in 24 hours, so I felt like a change. I can buy roast chicken from my local supermarket any day. When I go to a restaurant I am always pleased to have something I could not have at home, for a change.

A non-meat alternative chosen by one of my family was a pizza.

Pizza at Case Mia, with black olives. Photo by Angela Lansbury. 

Desserts

When It came to dessert I was very good. I agreed to share profiteroles with one of the others, and a spoon of the tiramisu, not overloading the calorie count and sugar by ordering another dessert. All the desserts were tempting.

The tiramisu is home-made. Tiramisu, and ice creams, were the Italian items on the menu. 

Non-Italian English favourites such as chocolate dessert, and, the recent British concoction of Banoffee pie, were other sweet temptations. So many that I did not have an overall favourite and agreed to do along with my share of the other two.

As we all agreed, the meal was not exceptional, not Michelin quality. But what it does, it does very well. Good value. All the ingredients I wanted. Filling food. Smiling attentive staff, with a family feel. A chocolate for each of us to sweeten the bill.

The place was full - but found me a table when I booked the previous lunch time. They had three birthdays during the evening. Lights dimmed, the white jumping, shooting candle, a recording of happy birthdays, and we and nearby tables smiled and calpped for the birthday table. 

I once read that birthday parties are the prime money spinners for restaurants Also that restaurants make more money on the wine than the food. So if birthday parties order Champagne or drinks, that figures. 

I like my favourite London Italian restaurants just the way they are. 

1 Ten per cent service charge means you need not leave a tip. (Unlike the USA.) 

2 Most of the family restaurants serve a standard set of vegetables included in the price of all the main course  meat dishes. 

3 Tap water is free.

4 You get a chocolate or mint chocolate with the bill. 

5 Staff either see you to the door, or, if the door is open in summer, they watch and notice you leave, and if you turn to nod, they wave or nod back and say thank you.

Well done, Casa  Mia.

And lovely decor. Warm and cosy.

Where will we go next time? Back to Casa Mia, or one of Hatch End's other opportunities? Watch this space.

Useful Websites

https://casamia-restaurant.co.uk/

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New and old restaurants in Hatch End, Pinner

Hatch End is a sub-division of Pinner. Hatch End's high street, the Uxbridge Road, is a just along from Pinner. Pinner had the historic black and white buildings including a couple of ancient pubs, connections with Heath Robinson, whose museum is in the Park opposite Pinner Metropolitan line station.

Hatch End station is on the Watford to Euston line. The high street has art deco buildings and its association go back to Mrs Beeton whose famous cookery book taught us all to write recipes starting with the ingredients and then listing the actions to take.

Hatch End is a hotbed of restaurants, especially Italian restaurants, started by 'Mr Fellini'.


Bandaa is urdu for servant or beloved.

Restaurants in Hatch End (alphabetically)
B & K - Jewish style

Casa Mia
On the right below.














Chingon Cocina Mexicana (Mexican Restaurant) second from left.





Dona Theresa on the left.


Coriander - Indian

Lattakia Lebanese Restaurant

Izgara Restaurant

Laboratorio (Italian) Restaurant, Hatch End




Sakonis (Vegetarian Indian) Restaurant

Sakonis, far left.


Sea Pebbles (Take away and restaurant) - fish and chips and more,


Minori restaurant and pizzeria




The Steak Restaurant (far right of photo below)


Closed Down:
Fellini; Serato;

From Hatch End station you can follow a walking route.

Useful Websites For Travellers
Hatch End Restaurants
https://www.instagram.com/chingonlondon/
https://laboratoriopasta.co.uk/menu

Hatch End
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatch_End
Lots of photos are in:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Hatch_End
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:St_Anselm%27s_Church,_Hatch_End

Overground and Underground Railway
https://tfl.gov.uk/tube/route/bakerloo/
https://tfl.gov.uk/tube/route/metropolitan/
https://www.gwr.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Western_Railway_(train_operating_company)
TRAVEL
https://www.visitlondon.com/london-app
singaporeair.com

About The Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker, teacher of English and other languages.
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Losing and Finding Photos On Your Phone or Laptop

Problems
1 I just took a photo. How do I share it?
2 I've lost yesterday's photo. Where is it?

Answers
The cause of your problem could be:
Too many photos. Your laptop or phone has reached its limit.

Photos on Phones
What you can do:
To make space
1 Delete your unwanted out of focus photos and pictures of your feet or thumbs. Easier to get rid of them now than have them cluttering up the place.

I have found that if I delete photos in the phone before loading up to the laptop, that saves time and space. Otherwise, I have to delete in both places, despite being asked if I want to delete on all devices, it just doesn't happen.

Having the originals stored for a month is handy if you delete by mistake or change your mind. But I keep deleting. Then next time when the laptop asks if I want to import all, all the deleted photos and duplicates are added and my laptop is overloaded.

I ignore warning. Sometimes eventually the photos storage is so full that it crashes. Then I can't delete photos to rectify the problem.

Backups
Before doing any major overhall of the photo system orgniaation, you should backup the lot of your photos library. That could mean backing up it overnight because it takes a long time. You don't want to interrupt it.

2 Learn how to use the two-storage systems on your phone. You should have a main disc. You may have bought supplementary storage at the start in the shop, or ordered it online later. When one system is full, you can switch to the other.

Find out how to do it, make the switch. When you are in the shop and buying it, ask.

Make a note of the intructions. Or find the instructions online and email them to yourself.

To Share Photos
Find the share a photo symbol under the photo on a phone or at the top of yourscreen on an ipad or laptop. It is usually an upward arrow. Select mail. You can share with another phone.

Alternatively, either email direct to the person whose photo you have taken if they are standing beside you. Or email it to yourself and then email it to them.

If you cannot connect your phone to your laptop via icloud, mail the photo to yourself and then drag it or save it to your iphoto or other photo storage system.

Lost Photo?
I hunted all over my photos and date hunts. Then I simply went into finder and found my missing photo.

Labelling and Saving
When I upload a photo, whether from my phone or the internet, I immedately label it with as many words as I can think of which I might use later in a search. For example, casa mia restaurant. I don't just label it Casa Mia, which is already labelled in the phto because I photographed the restaurant frontage. I lable it, casa Mia, Italian, restaurant, Hatch End, Pinner, London, England.

I might have several photos of the restaurant. To save time finding the right one, I add another description or two or three,  such as: wine bottle, glass of wine, dessert, manager, outside, inside, menu, decor. The date could also be useful.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Open Air and Early Bird Dining at Italian Casa Mia

Problem
It's hot in London, in July 2018, 24 c / 77 f; it seems almost as hot as Italy, where the temperature is 82 f /28 c. How about a nice Italian restaurant? Casa Mia will do nicely. I was standing outside taking a photo when the manager rushed out to greet me. He reminded me that he knew me from way back when he worked in Fellini Italian restaurant, run by Andrea, when it first opened. Fellini (named after the Italian film director) moved around, across the road, then to the corner, until Andrea retired from running restaurants and Fellini became Porto Grande. Andrea was the Godfather of Hatch End's Italian restaurants, with his younger former staff gradually taking over as he moved on.

The manager of Casa Mia rememberd that I liked kir royale.

For your free glass of house wine at Casa Mia, choose from one of these bottles.

Answers
In Hatch End, London, England, sit by the window and have a glass of tap water and a cold drink.
Yes, in England, you can ask for a glass of water. Casa Mia Restaurant will give you a glass or jug of tap water.

Water - yes!
Recently, in the Pestana Casino Hotel in Madeira, we were not served drinking water. But that's another story, or post.

In the UK, by law, if they serve alcohol they must serve tap water, no charge. (I did read somewhere they can charge for the glass - that's the cover charge you get in some bring your own bottle restaurants. But I have never heard of anybody doing that because the British would be outraged.)

So, Casa Mia offers fresh air and free water. What else?

Italian Food
Starters
Minestrone (vegetable soup - vegetarian, which you might think is obvious, but it means they didn't sneak in a meat stock cube and forget to tell you). Or fine fresh cold melon.

Loads more choices of starters. Traditional prawn cocktail. It's been a British favourite since the nineteen sixties. It still is a favourite.

Sometimes people sneer at prawn cocktail. Don't listen to those people who want to be rude about what you choose to eat. Let them eat what they like and you eat what you like.

If anybody comments while you are eating, tell them not to be rude and spoil your dinner. I tell them, 'If it upsets you, please keep quiet and let me enjoy my dinner. If you want to make rude comments about my choice of food, please move to another table.' Then they apologise.)

Let's look at the menu again. A chance to remind yourself of half-forgotten Italian. The manager gave me the menu to take away. The Italians, especially ours in Hatch End, are so obliging and helpful. The phrase, can't do enough for you, comes to mind.

You would think every restaurant manager could would and should do this. But they don't. So many times, I have been in other restaurants where the staff ignore you, can't find their own business card, are short of business cards and takeaway menus. Here, it's the opposite.

Many dishes are cooked to order. If they are not busy, and you want a different combination, just ask.

Italian - English
alla - at/on the
alla Champagne  - with Champagne sauce
alla crema - with cream sauce
alla grilla - grilled
Bistecca - beef steak
Bolognaise - from Bologna, or in the style of food from Bologna in Italy
casa - house
filetti - fillet
Fiorentina - from Florence, or in the style of food from Florence, usually with spinach
grilla - grill
mia - my
Milanese - from Milan
insalata - salad
pollo - chicken
risotto - rice dish
salmone - salmon
spinaci - spinach

English-Italian
beef steak - bistecca
chicken - pollo
cream sauce - alla crema
fillet - filetti
grilled - alla grilla
house - casa
my - mia
rice dish - risotto
salad - insalata
salmon - salmone
spinach - spinaci

Decor
Hatch End restaurants have great decor. Casa Mia is decorated as if you are sitting outside in an Italian village, with tiled rooftops.

Early Bird Offers
The early bird offer is available both lunch time and early evening. It consists of two courses, starter and main course, including a glass of house wine, for £13.95 plus ten percent service. That's £28 minus two pence, plus two pounds eight pence service, which comes to

But your bill will come to more if you add desserts, coffee, more drinks. If you are looking after your diet and your teeth, you might feel it sensible to go without a sugary dessert. But if you want them, they suggest home made tiramisu and other favourites as extras, extra time and extra cost. The menu has added a British favourite, bread and butter pudding.

On Saturdays, the whole weekend, when they are busy with booking for the evening if you have the early bird offer you need to order by 7 pm and you need to leave by 8 pm. Other days, no hurry.

Wines
What are the house wines? Italian red, white or rosé. if you are not into wine, you can have a soft drink instead.

Casa Mia
Tel: 020 8428 0079
455 Uxbridge Road, Hatch End,
Pinner, Middlesex HA5 4JS

visitbritain.org
visitengland.com
visitlondon.com

Angela Lansbury with a model of the queen at Heathrow airport. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

temperature in london
Web: casamiarestaurant.org.uk or
casamia-restaurant.co.uk
Email: casamiahatchend@gmail.com

Afterwards go for a walk along the London loop from Hatch End station.

Hatch End high street was the home of Isabella Beeton, 1856-62.

Mrs Beeton was the renowned cookery writer whose book of household management is still published today.  (My family used to grin as they quoted: "First kill your chicken .. take a dozen eggs ...!") No thanks. I think I'll find a restaurant. 

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my other posts on Italian restaurants in London, England; visiting Umbria and Italy, learning the Italian language.

Open Air Dining in Hatch End, At Casa Mia and More Restaurants

Problem
It's too hot in London to eat a heavy meal. Holidays are taking up our budget on travel costs. How to eat in the open air and economically?

Answers
In London in July 2018 everybody is enjoying the heatwave. 78 F. 26 C. Light summer clothes. Light colours. Lightweight.

Easier to pack - sleeveless tops, shorts, bikis. You need sunglasses, sunshade or sunhat, and suncream. But in air con cars and hotels or hotel bedrooms you might want a long-sleeved night gown. You might also want a brimmed hat and long sleeves and leggings and socks if you are hiding your skin from damaging sunlight and mosquitos - or if you had to much sun yesterday and your skin now look like a pink and white cherry or a crumpled, wrinkled walnut. Now that we are dressed, let's take a stroll along the nearest High Street.

Indoor Open Window Eating
Hatch End High street (just down the road from Pinner and Harrow) is typically London, but more so, with about twenty eating places all in walking distance. The restaurants are on both sides of one short High Street. The two sides of the road linked by a pedestrian crossing in the middle, with lights to stop traffic. Along Hatch End High Street I found at least three restaurants with either windows or doors open.

Fish and chips, dine inside, dine outside, or take away, at Sea Pebbles. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

If you want to sit in the sun, try the sunny side:
Costa,
Mosfilo (Greek and fish),
Izgara (Turkish grills),
Steak restaurant (evenings),
Chuck (upmarket burgers and drinks);
Sakonis Indian, and on the corner
Porta Grande Italian in the former Fellini.

The front of Wetherspoons pub, The Moon and Sixpence, always celebrating something. I took this photo last St Patrick's Day.

Towards the railway station at the end, you will find outdoor seating at the front of the Wetherspoons pub. If you don't mind vehicles, you can watch passers-by and traffic. Alternatively, walk through the pub to the back garden for benches around tables amid grass and trees.

We sometimes have to yo-yo from one table to another to avoid smokers. We once swapped garden tables twice, then, having had enought sunshine, ended up inside.

Next door to Wetherspoons, a large pizza place also has a back garden often open (if they have enough staff).

Hatch End station with its clock and weather vane. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

On the other side of the road, you can sit in the shade indoors with cooling open windows and doors at several restaurants:
Black Pepper
Dona Teresa, Italian, or
Casa Mia, Italian.
For more on Casa Mia see my later post.

Useful Websites
visitbritain.org
visitengland.com
visitlondon.com
temperature in london
jdwetherspoon.com
casamiarestaurant.org.uk

Io Italian Osteria, Singapore's restaurant serving Sicilian cake

A friend recommended this Italian restaurant to my family. The name iO stands for Italian Osteria. Osteria (pronounced ost - er ee - er) is a word evoking hostelry and hospitality.

The location is the new HillV2 complex. Up an escalator. Jumping fountains in the middle of the area and restaurants surround you.

io is a large restaurant with wooden tables and chairs but the ceilings are so high it's not noisy. They have been busy all week and the evening I was there the restaurant had two sittings. The owner and her daughter are busy bustling about and the other staff are equally brisk. You only need to half raise a hand and somebody comes rushing over to take your order or answer a question.

These ladies are sitting on high on bar stools watching food being cooked in the open plan kitchen.

A member of my family had lunch there midweek and liked it so much he made a follow-up visit and ordered food for a party.

I was initially rather sceptical. The bronze effect cutlery stacked in help yourself sections on the table was two shades of gold and black.

The menu was handily printed on a paper placemat. Each section suggested see daily specials chalked on black boards.

I found a slightly sparkling white house wine which was OK, for price and style.

Aubergine
My starter was Malanzane alla parmigiana, aubergine or egg plant, in a parmesan cheese and tomato sauce. It is a classic dish. We shared my aubergine starter. So far so good.

My main course was meat and mashed potato, braised beef, which was copious and delicious, home cooking style.

We diners sat debating the difference between the traditional meet and two veg expected by the British diners of retirement age  - dating back to postwar Britain, where rationing continued until 1950 and restaurants advertised 'meat and two veg' which was the wartime standard requirement.

Nowadays the Californians and many Europeans serve a vegetable as a starter. I as a Brit am horrified that no greens appear with the main course unless you pay for and know to order extras.

My dining companions suggested that having vegetables first and none with the main course is an Italian tradition. I don't think it's a merely Italian custom. In Hatch End, Italian restaurants such as Fellini, Casa Mia and Dona Teresa will serve you a main course of chicken, fish, whatever, with a copious selection of cooked vegetables, potato and two vegetables.

Those of us watching our health and diet as well as our budget like to have two vegetables with the main course.

I had to admit I was quite full at Io Osteria, and I had had a vegetable starter.

But the piece de resistance was the desserts.

Having a shared started and shared dessert, only one glass of wine and no coffee, our meal cost the equivalent of about £20 each which we considered very reasonable. Shopping around the bakery section which had four kinds of tarts for desserts or for sale, plus the other displays of food for sale, created an interesting evening out.

Plates were different colours, brown, white or green. Desserts were colourful. My favourite was the Sicilian dessert cake. It contained chocolate and marzipan. If you've had cassata Siciliana, you will be familiar with the ice cream with lots of colourful titbits of different flavours. The Sicilian cake is similar in concept, a mixture of colours and flavours. A delight for the eye and tastebuds.

Alternative desserts were cheesecake, a chocolate and hazelnut cake, an almond cake, lemon meringue, and more.

The owner Anna, daughter Dalila, and staff are all cheerful and chatty.

Chef owner Anna wearing white and the restaurant logo

Anna's Daughter Dalila

You'll find more news of them on trip advisor, Hungrygowhere, yelp, Instagram and Facebook.
The toilets are across the public courtyard. (Which is why my hair is not combed in the picture.) After your meal it's a chance to glance at the colourful jumping fountains outside.

iO Italian Osteria
No 4 Hillview Rise
#02-01, HillV2 Singapore 667979
Phone:(65) 6710 7150
Open daily 10-10.
info@sicilia-mia.com
www.io-osteria.com

Sicilian dessert cake

Angela Lansbury, BA, author, writer, speaker.