Bollicini and Sergio put on an Italian triumph at Chester Cathedral #Review
Stephen Wundke
25th July 2018
The Polletti family have been at the height of the hospitality business in Chester for more years than I can remember. Father and Son and respectively owners of both Sergios and Bollicini. So when an invitation arrived to attend an evening of “Italianess” at Chester Cathedral from Gianni, I couldn’t wait to see what was on offer.
The setting of Chester Cathedral is always appealing and we started our evening quaffing canapes and Prosecco in the Lady Chapel. The large stained glass windows, the ornate wood and stone carving are always amazing when you look up and realise you are surrounded by history. A little thought crossed my mind whilst munching away and drinking and I started to wonder just how many people have stood where I was, doing exactly the same thing over the previous century’s. How many sought refuge here in troubled times and how many celebrated historically important events with more wine than they should. I drifted back to current times as I could see Gaile was thinking – stop with the dreaming now!! and get back here, my glass was promptly refilled (a recurring theme on this evening) and I snapped some pictures of other happy revellers. Five different canapes were offered and with the constant refills both Gaile and I were wondering if there would be room for a meal. Our favourite was the tempura vegetables.
We were taken through to the refectory and seated at a table for two, plenty of room, despite the fact that there were 160 people present. This was indeed a big number to cater for and the two Italian chefs flown in specifically to provide a Sicilian banquet looked eager to get on with service. The assembled masses were introduced to the Chefs on the stage and we were informed they had just won a bronze medal in a Europe wide cooking competition, many congratulations we all thought. The star of the interview was, however not the chefs but Gianni Poletti whose comic timing and sense of fun shone through as he translated and teased the chefs. I figure you need to be fairly sure of your ground when you start taking the “micky” out of Sicilians, they come with a reputation – but he seemed to know what he was doing. They informed us that the meal was a re-creation of dishes that had featured in the BBC smash hit drama Inspector Montelbano, set in Siciliy – who knew!!!. So the chefs retired to the kitchen, moment of glory behind them and we were served yet more wine while they attended to dinner. Very nice white and red Italian wine it was too and in copious quantities, at no stage did we get to the bottom of our glass and we both tried very hard to do so.
Our starter was Arancini – soft balls of rice packed with cheese and then coated in breadcrumbs and deep fried. As interesting as it was it almost became incidental as suddenly a voice began singing, an Italian tenor, without microphone, and so crystal clear. His name Roberto Scarpetta and he “had us with hello” as he belted out some great songs over dinner. Freshly made pasta with sardines, pine nuts and saffron followed and a main course of Swordfish, with Sicilian Caponata and Aubergine as our main but to be honest everyone in the room was totally knocked out by “the voice” and what a show he put on. He blended Italian Opera classics with songs from the “Godfather”, a few Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin hits and even some dance along music between courses when he was having a break. It was total entertainment and all the time our wine glasses just kept being filled. By the time we got to our dessert of Sicilian cassata with a Citrus coulis we had been royally entertained and the atmosphere in the room was just wonderful with people standing to applaud Roberto and demanding more as they danced around the room (they really did!)
Gianni runs these evenings once a month and for just £50 a ticket, that includes all your food, drink and superb entertainment, in the wonderful setting of the Cathedral you really get outstanding value for money at what is a truly unique Chester experience. So much so, we are going to work with Gianni to put on a Taste Cheshire charity evening later in the year, but more about that later. For more information to book one of these special nights call Bollicini or Sergios and book a great party night for you and some friends. We had a ball, thank you Gianni and team. We loved it.
Take a look at this video of Roberto – click here