It is a Wednesday night when I decide to give Colchester’s newest dining establishment a visit.
Trattoria Cavalli, in Osborne Street, was opened a few weeks ago by Teddy Cretu and his wife.
The restaurant boasts that it offers the best seafood around, so I was keen to check it out.
Given it is a Wednesday night the restaurant is not packed to the rafters and it is just myself and one other table of four diners.
A lot of work has been done to bring the place up to standard, with the inside totally gutted and replaced with new furniture and new décor.
Taking a look at the menu the meals do seem reasonably priced, so I decide to go for three courses, starting with the scampi.
I receive a large portion and again, decent fare for £6.99.
I am not sure the bed of rocket accompanying the scampi is necessarily adding to the flavour.
As I finish the starter, the group of four make their way out, meaning I’m the last diner left.
I am kept entertained by BT Sport on the TV.
For the main, I decide to choose something a little bit different in the form of risotto with blueberries and seabass, which costs £14.99.
Owner Mr Cretu takes comes through to serve a dish which can only be described as eye-catching, quickly taking a photograph of it for social media.
The sea bass looks good, and sits on a purple risotto dotted with a few blueberries.
While blueberries may be more common for breakfast than risotto they are tasty if a little unusual on the dish.
Again, the portion is good value at £14.99.
The risotto itself is well seasoned, the rice is perfectly cooked. On the whole it is a dish which is well put together.
Lastly comes the dessert in the form of cheesecake with homemade jam, priced at £5.99.
Cheesecake, it has to be said, is difficult to get wrong, and as a dessert it hits the mark.
The final cost is £27.97, and I leave a decent tip.
The restaurant is good value and hopefully it will start to draw more people in as the weeks go by.
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