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Immo
Montague House
31 Broad Street
Wokingham
Berkshire, RG40 1AU
Tel: 01189 787 5139
http://www.prezzoplc.co.uk/immo.html
Rarely in the culinary world is a food writer surprised and lacking the right words for the occasion. I have just returned from a Friday evening visit to one of Wokingham latest Italian import, Immo, part of the collection of restaurants run by the nationwide chain of Prezzo restaurants. Wokingham is fortunate to have such impressive culinary guests in town - there are only four Immo restaurants in the country and we have one of them.
On the site of the former Wokingham Library this warm and user friendly restaurant offers a comfortable collection of dining rooms, beautifully appointed, staffed with enthusiastic and likeable staff, a veritable United Nations of smiles and service. In the rear dining room, one of three on offer, we could see and appreciate the heat from the open oven in the distance, with highly attentive waiting staff bringing drinks, olives, main courses and salads to our highly polished table.
Within a short time of opening word has reached the great and the good of Wokingham and the surrounding areas that Immo had arrived in town, table after table was filled, with enthusiastic and accurate comments being made about the surroundings, the shiny wooden floor, the marble areas near the kitchen, the subtle lighting, the chilled glasses for both water and beer, all worthy of mention. The designers of Immo certainly had vision, style, imagination and foresight, all essential ingredients in the culinary recipe for restaurant success. Rarely have I been so appreciative of the surroundings, long before the food was even ordered, never mind delivered to the table.
Wokingham has been taken over by Italian restaurants of late, but, with an invasion of such quality and style, Ann, an ex-colleague and I were pleased to be able to appreciate the joy, the culinary delights and the service levels that have arrived alongside. We did not view any of the highly cosmopolitan staff to have anything less than a broad smile as they welcomed each and every guest to the restaurant, the first of a number of lasting reminders of the Immo mission, to welcome all guests and treat them with style and professional passion to ensure their rapid return.
Any Friday dinner out between work colleagues is a cause for celebration and our visit to Immo Wokingham was a celebration of kind, to respect the vision and fusion of talents of the staff as they add they add to the growing reputation of Wokingham as a culinary town, a short geographical and culinary distance away from nearby Bray but certainly on the rise towards great respect for the range of dishes on offer.
It takes some time as well as a starter drink to take in the style and colours within the restaurant. Our dining room, with the open kitchen in view, was a combination of style and substance. Open brickwork, a veritable wall of orange coloured candles and highly polished tables with shining cutlery and gleaming glasses. Add a Birra Moretti for me, a chilled Limoncino for Ann and a plate of stunning marinated olives to share and we were soon catching up on our respective gossip about friends, colleagues and work.
Ann was determined to pace herself through the meal, wishing to retain the fine figure for which she is known. Her choice of starter took her to the Capresi, a dish of simplicity but complete satisfaction comprising buffalo mozzarella with plum tomatoes and fresh basil drizzled with a balsamic glaze. I knew it hit the spot because Ann was quiet for a full five minutes, those who know Ann will appreciate that as an international record!
Coming from across the water where words are delivered at two hundred per minute, Ann is a devotee of the concept why use three words when I have twenty at my disposal. Her silence spoke volumes and the smile on her face as she completed her starter was plain for all to see.
I had ventured out of my comfort zone in my choice of starter with my choice of Fungotto, marinated field mushrooms baked with goats\\\' cheese and prosciutto ham, pure heaven on a plate. A quite stunning starter, hot, filling, with the combination of the mushroom and cheese a marriage made in heaven topped with ham. This dish, with its two mushrooms and supporting cast, would make an ideal main course for a light summers day lunch, a suggestion from my attentive waiter who deserves the credit for the choice, together with Joseph, head chef in the kitchen, for his lightness of touch and presentation skills.
By this time the waiter had poured out our chosen wine, a classy Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, crisp, fruity and a match for our food and surroundings and a highly suitable choice to toast our reunion after five months or more since our last glass together. Ann felt very much at home here, the warmth of the atmosphere, the views for our tables across our dining room, one of three in the building and in particular the banter with our waiter. Across the water they call it the craic, but it translates well, and our waiter had the personality and professionalism to be able to enjoy our exchanges of craic without losing sight of his duties. Five star service!
His suggestion for my main course, and I was in the mood to be guided by an expert, took me to the Giganti Asparagi, a new venture to me, a dish of fresh filled pasta filled with asparagus and ricotta cheese cooked with cherry tomatoes, fresh rocket and buffalo mozzarella with basil pesto. Again he came up trumps, a colourful and filling dish reflecting a great deal of the essence of Italian cooking, simple ingredients prepared and combined to create thoroughly impressive dish of various flavours, textures and a lasting memory.
It underlined my aim as a food writer for this year to experiment a little more, travel beyond the safety zone of usual dishes and live a little dangerously!!
Ann, with her love of seafood, went straight for the Risotto di Mare, a light and creamy risotto of oak roasted salmon, crayfish tails, petit pois and garlic. A previous meal with Ann, again in Wokingham and with fish on the menu had provided her with what could only be described as a \\\'When Harry Met Sally\\\' moment and this risotto was certainly travelling in the right direction, it hit the right sport. If I were to offer a suggestion to the management of Immo it would be to add a couple of Risottos to the menu as a culinary balance, they are increasingly popular and whilst there are two on the current menu, two more would provide additional choice and balance.
Despite my humble suggestions to enhance the menu there is a great deal of choice, with a dozen or so starters, ten pasta dishes, the two current risotto dishes, five main course dishes with salmon, chicken and steak available, almost a dozen pizza dishes, two Calzones on offer, four salads and half a dozen alternative side dishes on offer.
I was pleased to see that all dishes are available to take away, should you want a quiet evening in, something I had never known before my visit and something I may like to try in the near future.
Our Friday night reunion was sadly drawing to a close, for others it was merely starting. There were no tables free of contented diners; all were full, the excited chatter of friend, families, young and old sharing a common theme, enjoying Italian cuisine at affordable prices. Immo has a great deal to offer and does so in style and a high degree of sophistication. It is a highly impressive organisation where the strength lies in the people, from Joseph in the engine room of the operation to the highly polished performance of the waiting team, including our waiter who not only served us with style, but who provided us with professional guidance on the menu and maintained the humour throughout the evening.
We could not leave without dessert, purely in the interest of this review, but how pleased we were to retain space for our choice. Ann, with a couple of glasses of chilled white had abandoned the careful approach to her choices and succumbed to the lure of the Mocha Latte Chocolate Chip Cheesecake, a culinary work away from her thoughtful light starter. Her choice was a rich creamy vanilla chocolate chip cheesecake topped with a light layer of coffee cream, sprinkled with cocoa on a crunchy chocolate cookie base. By the time this dish was eaten Ann had slipped away to another world, a world where calories were not in the dictionary and work based problems and difficulties were but a distant memory.
Immo had not offered that on the menu but had managed to deliver it, warmth of feeling, an atmosphere rich in colour and a high degree of contentment.
A strong black coffee for Ann, a large Espresso for me and sadly we were off. Immo provided the backdrop for a superb evening, one where the surroundings set the scene, the staff highly attentive, the food first class and the memory long lasting.
Immo offers a great deal on the menu, but it delivers considerably more!
Alan McColm
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Alan McColm is QFOL's Restaurant Critic and Travel reviewer. Alan is working all over the country ... more
