La Taverna

Bahrain's first Italian restaurant has been open since 1979 1 Reviews

Bahrain’s first Italian restaurant has lost none of its magic quality since it first opened its doors in 1979. Based in the City Centre Hotel, in an area that is feeling its age, the restaurant is a perfect gem. The first surprise is how large it is and a sea of tables covered in red and white check tablecloths greet you on arrival. But it is soon easy to forget the size and location and you could easily be transported back to a simple country taverna in rural Italy.

The pictures of simple Italian family life on the walls and the friendly and helpful staff added to the atmosphere. The menu is quite compact but the portions are huge. Starters like antipasto and salad tricolore (tomato, mozzarella and avocado) can easily be shared between two, and the pasta main course portions are bigger still. Both pasta and pizza are available in half portions and that would have definitely been a wise choice – and would have saved the waitress’ worry that we did not like the food! The indecisive can choose the tris al taverna, where you can choose three smaller portions of different pastas.

From the dessert trolley, groaning with freshly home-baked cakes and tarts, we shared a hot apple pie with ice cream – a fitting end to a simple but memorable meal.

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