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

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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.

X i n Wang Hong Kong Cafe, Yishun, Singapore - late night eating

Y i n  Y a n (g) or X i n  W a n g - you probably already recognise the F u n g  Sh w ai for dark and light or good and evil. That's the origin of this restaurant's name, pronounced the Cantonese way.
A group of Singaporeans went for supper after a meeting which finished at around 10 pm, when many restaurants are closing down. Several branches of this chain are open until 2 am, and more until 10 or 11.

The other main advantage of these outlets is the huge menu. The varied choice suits a large group of people with different food requirements. I don't know about the other branches, but this one is a vast hall, with long tables like the big canteen-style restaurants in Beijing and major Chinese cities.

I went to the branch in North Point, Yishun. The also have a branch in Changi airport.

The staff we spoke to were mainly Cantonese speaking but the manageress spoke Mandarin and Singlish. She was quick to step forward, translate and take our orders.

Kaya Toast
One of the diners ordered kaya toast, which looked like toast with butter and jam, and tasted like toast with butter and jam. However, I was assured that the 'butter' was coconut 'jam'.

Soup
Like Japanese restaurants, the dishes were shown in colour photos which made selecting easier. I picked out a reddish-purple soup labelled bors. I mistakenly thought it was a mis-spelling of borsht and would be beetroot soup.

The liquid tasted of tomatoes and contained vegetables. The closest similar soup would be Minestrone.

I thought it was expensive for what it was. The drinks came to more than the food. I opted for a fresh watermelon juice. I could have had just the soup and saved money. Or halved my bill

by sticking to the juice. The soup was S$4.90. Add on your GST (government sales tax) and service of 10%.

Angela Lansbury Travel writer and photographer.