This was our second experience of ONDA pasta bar in one week. The first one being at Exhibition on Wednesday.
We found out ahead of our planned visit to Exhibition that ONDA are planning to leave Exhibition at the end of July and they had already started a new venture with The New Cross on Cross Keys Street. When we discovered that as part of their launch at The New Cross, ONDA were doing a tasting menu, we didn’t hesitate in getting tickets at £30 a head.
I hadn’t been to The New Cross before this visit, the interior seems to be aiming for a warehouse vibe. The tables and chairs set-up was a bit like a classroom or a school hall set for an exam. I did feel when first seated this is going to be a little cosy, as the tables were placed fairly close together. However, at no point during the meal did I experience any infringement of my personal space from a fellow diner.
We were a party of two, so were sat at a green table with two stools. This limits the options for taking off your jacket and hanging it somewhere especially if you are wearing a white linen blazer! I kept it on and ran the risk of food spillage ruining it for it forever even though it was the first wear of said blazer.
Orders for the variations on the tasting menu and for drinks are made at the bar. The waiting and bar staff were very cheerful, friendly and attentive throughout.
There were some special offers on limited drinks, cocktails were fairly reasonable priced and wine was on the lower end of the extortionate price that any restaurant seems to charge at the moment.
ONDA are in their second week at New Cross, which did mean there were a couple of teething issues during the meal. The second course seemed to take a fairly long time to come out and it did get quite smoky at one point which triggered the smoke alarms (but at least they work!).
Here is the menu…
Overall we had a good experience and here is what we had…
Antipasti
Our first course started with Focaccia, Olives, Capezzana Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar. The Focaccia was super soft, light and airy with a crispy salted top which was only enriched by dipping it in the luxurious silky olive oil and balsamic vinegar combination.
Once we started eating this, an aesthetically pleasing plate of roasted peppers, rocket & burrata plus salumi were delivered to our table.
I started by eating the red peppers/burrata on it’s own and initially thought it’s okay but nothing special but when I combined with the salumi, the amalgamation of flavours worked really well. One of the meats in particular had a delicious salty flavour.
Pizzetta
As mentioned earlier in this journal, we did have to wait a little for this next course to arrive. Having eaten at the pizza pop-up Rise MCR at Track Brewery a number of times whose chef Sam Astley-Dean is also the chef at ONDA, I was expecting good things and I have to say this dish did not disappoint.
Close-up of the inside of the Pizzetta crust – how airy!
This was beautifully presented, I feel the menu description really underplayed what was finally delivered.
You have to be a very good chef (probably Michelin starred) to get courgette to work on a pizza but my God did it work.
By this point having had two pieces of Focaccia (sorry I couldn’t help myself), I did have to sacrifice some of the crust, bearing in mind we still had 3 courses to go. Yes – we ordered the Carne!
Pasta
For the pasta course we both chose the Tortelloni Bolognese.
As you can see from the photo, this was open pasta dumplings filled with a pork mince and fine layer of tomato ragu. Alongside this were cherry tomatoes to give a burst of sweetness and layered on top of all of this was a white sauce (perhaps Bechamel?) with a sprinkle of Parmesan.
Carne
And then came the meat…
The Bistecca Alla Fiorentina described on the menu as wood fired beef with brown butter and lemon was not for the feint hearted.
At an additional cost of £45, this is offered as sirloin, rib eye or t-bone, we went for the sirloin. We did ask for it to be cooked medium-rare but it was rare with the middle on arrival almost blue. Having read about Bistecca Alla Fiorentina since, I’m not sure that we should have been given a choice on how it was cooked. Traditionally it seems that it should be served blue/rare. As the meat rested it did continue to cook and was not as rare as when it first arrived.
The sirloin we were told was sourced from Littlewoods Butchers and it was a good piece of tender meat with minimal muscle. We only found a small amount between the meat and the fat.
We’re pretty sure the cooking of this was the cause behind the smoke filled restaurant as once this was served the air started to clear.
Dolce
Our final dish of the night was Cherry Stracciatella.
The gelato was extremely milky with cherries and cherry sauce running through it. The dessert was topped with a cherry and a shaving of chocolate. By the time we got to this course we were stuffed but had we not been, then I would have appreciated a little more intense cherry flavour and less milkiness.
All of the above was washed down with Il Folle Nero d’Avola as we wanted to compliment this food with a wine from the same country. From Sicilly, this wine was both vegan and organic apparently with aromatics of blackberry liqueur and vanilla. I have to say it was pleasant, very drinkable and the cheapest red on the menu at £27, hence why we managed to get through two bottles!
I am definitely planning to return to ONDA to try their pizza, which is currently available every Thursday and am interested to see what’s on their next menu.