Review: Bunga Bunga
Bunga Bunga is a celebration of all that is amusing and melodramatic in Italian culture. Inspired by many trips to the country as well as by New York's Little Italy district, co-founders Duncan Stirling and Charlie Gilkes have created an unforgettable pastiche of Europe's most unpredictable state.
You enter the bar through a red velvet curtain and straight away feel a tad like Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday. The Vespa, gondola shaped bar, music, Italian language tapes playing in the bathrooms, and various other objects make this little bar feel like a piece of Italy in the heart of Battersea.
Bunga Bunga stocks London's widest range of different proseccos, but as we ordered our drinks I decided I couldn't resist a cocktail that came in a Super Mario drinking vessel - you know it's going to be a fun night when you are drinking cocktails from Super Mario's head. The bar serves a number of fabulous cocktails, some in novelty mugs, others in run of the mill glasses.
Food wise there is plenty on the menu to choose from and everything sounds, and smells, delicious.
To start, the waiter suggested we order 2 dishes per person and share them between us. My guest and I opted for just 3 dishes to share; after all we wanted to leave some room for dessert! We went for the Garlic & cheese Pizzicato, King prawns with Chilli Gremolata and Mozzarella in Corrozza.
As the dishes arrived at our table I feared we may not have needed 3 dishes as the portion sizes were generous. But the Pizzicato was very light, the garlic taste hard-hitting. Luckily I was with my housemate and not on a date! For me the prawns were the highlight. A complete mess to eat (I hope the arrival of a finger bowl was customary and not just a one off for me!) but totally worth it. The chilli complemented the large meaty prawns well, giving enough of a kick to make its presence felt but not so much that I needed to order a glass of milk.
For our main we opted for one of the fused sharing pizza, one half topped with courgette, chilli, and smoked mozzarella, the other half with spicy sausage and salami. The wood-fired pizza had an authentic thin base and didn't stint on the topping. Both my guest and I found the toppings a bit on the fiery side. This dish doesn't come with a side of herb dip like the Pizzicato, but due to the heat it really could do with it. Luckily it was no trouble for our waiter to bring us some.
My guest and I opted to skip the dessert in the end. But I did observe some diners next to us enjoying some rather delicious looking chocolate dish, which I think I'll save room for next time. Three starter dishes and a rather large pizza was plenty enough to leave both of us comfortably full.
An evening eating out at Bunga is not like an evening out at any other restaurant thanks to the venue's fun factor. The random outburst of singing and dancing from the staff at various intervals during the evening, kooky cocktails and décor will make you want to become a Bunga regular.
www.bungabunga-london.com
You enter the bar through a red velvet curtain and straight away feel a tad like Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday. The Vespa, gondola shaped bar, music, Italian language tapes playing in the bathrooms, and various other objects make this little bar feel like a piece of Italy in the heart of Battersea.
Bunga Bunga stocks London's widest range of different proseccos, but as we ordered our drinks I decided I couldn't resist a cocktail that came in a Super Mario drinking vessel - you know it's going to be a fun night when you are drinking cocktails from Super Mario's head. The bar serves a number of fabulous cocktails, some in novelty mugs, others in run of the mill glasses.
Food wise there is plenty on the menu to choose from and everything sounds, and smells, delicious.
To start, the waiter suggested we order 2 dishes per person and share them between us. My guest and I opted for just 3 dishes to share; after all we wanted to leave some room for dessert! We went for the Garlic & cheese Pizzicato, King prawns with Chilli Gremolata and Mozzarella in Corrozza.
As the dishes arrived at our table I feared we may not have needed 3 dishes as the portion sizes were generous. But the Pizzicato was very light, the garlic taste hard-hitting. Luckily I was with my housemate and not on a date! For me the prawns were the highlight. A complete mess to eat (I hope the arrival of a finger bowl was customary and not just a one off for me!) but totally worth it. The chilli complemented the large meaty prawns well, giving enough of a kick to make its presence felt but not so much that I needed to order a glass of milk.
For our main we opted for one of the fused sharing pizza, one half topped with courgette, chilli, and smoked mozzarella, the other half with spicy sausage and salami. The wood-fired pizza had an authentic thin base and didn't stint on the topping. Both my guest and I found the toppings a bit on the fiery side. This dish doesn't come with a side of herb dip like the Pizzicato, but due to the heat it really could do with it. Luckily it was no trouble for our waiter to bring us some.
My guest and I opted to skip the dessert in the end. But I did observe some diners next to us enjoying some rather delicious looking chocolate dish, which I think I'll save room for next time. Three starter dishes and a rather large pizza was plenty enough to leave both of us comfortably full.
An evening eating out at Bunga is not like an evening out at any other restaurant thanks to the venue's fun factor. The random outburst of singing and dancing from the staff at various intervals during the evening, kooky cocktails and décor will make you want to become a Bunga regular.
www.bungabunga-london.com