Tony Kearney checks out Dean’s Trattoria, at Lanchester, and finds the restaurant has made a good start to life

LANCHESTER is midway between the two points of Durham and Consett, and for years a diner in the village could only choose between the two local pubs. But in the last year, the village has experienced an explosion of eateries: four restaurants have opened.

The newest of the new arrivals is Deano’s Trattoria in Front Street. Deano already has successful restaurants in Whickham and Chester-le-Street, which have a pretty good reputation, and given Lanchester’s Roman history, it is appropriate that they should choose the village as the next venue for the expanding Italian empire.

At first glance, it’s an impressive job. I went with wife and child early on Sunday evening and found Deano’s pretty busy. Perhaps happy hour was helping to pull in the customers.

The owners have gone for a fairly modern look. It was quite dark downstairs, but we were ushered up to the first floor, which is very light and airy and made for a very enjoyable atmosphere.

The restaurant was immaculately clean and tidy, while the decor is very pleasant, with lots of creams and browns. The tables are small and square and well spaced out, making for a nice spacious feel.

The centre of attention was the open view through to the busy kitchens, where staff were hard at work.

The walls are adorned with an emphasis on all things American: pictures of the Rat Pack, Monroe, Marlon Brando and the Manhattan skyline, while the soundtrack, incongruously, was non-stop Stevie Wonder.

On the downside, we learned after being shown to our table that the restaurant was so new it was still waiting for its alcohol licence to come through. It wasn’t a terminal flaw, and we quickly remedied it with a dash across to the village off-licence to buy our own wine, but certainly something we wished we’d learned at the door rather than at the table.

It was also revealed that, temporarily at least, there were no desserts available. Again, it was something which didn’t trouble us greatly as we are not great dessert fans, but would almost certainly bother others.

That said, service was pretty good and was certainly very friendly, with lots of effort put into chatting with the children, as is the Italian way.

SERVICE was also very speedy, although on the downside we were asked three times within the space of five minutes whether we were ready to order, which began to feel a little as though we were being harried.

The food was very good. For starters, the three of us shared a pate della casa (£4.50), a chicken liver pate with plum sauce and toasted bread, which was served with a plentiful crisp salad.

It was beautifully presented and very tasty.

It looked a little anaemic, but it was a good effort nonetheless.

We also shared a bucce di patate (£3.95), potato skins to you and me, which were up there with the best I can remember, sliced wafer thin and cooked to perfection, served with a decent but simple selection of barbecue and garlic mayonnaise dips.

It was a good start, but the mains were better.

I went for the Pizza Milano (£6.95), which was nicely crispy, peppered with decent quality pepperoni – although perhaps not as much as I would have liked. It was covered in very good dolcelatte and lashings of red onions, which gave it a deceptively feisty kick.

My wife went for lasagne (normally £6.95 but £3.95 at happy hour prices) which was pretty good quality, offering delicious pasta and a rich beef filling. It may perhaps have been a little too reliant on its delicious tomato sauce and a little light on beef, but overall it was an admirable effort.

My son went for tagliatelle carbonara (again £6.95 under normal circumstances but £3.95 in happy hour) which was also very tasty, crammed with bacon and mushrooms and cooked in a thick parmesan and cream sauce.

We added a couple of, with hindsight unnecessary, extras: a garlic bread with cheese (£3.50), which again was very nice, perhaps ever so slightly on the greasy side if I was to be really picky, and a tomato and red onion salad (£2.50), which was terrific.

All plates were cleared, which is probably testament to how good it was. The final bill for three, including soft drinks all round, came to an unbelievably reasonable £32.20, which probably represents one of the best value for money meals I can remember enjoying for some time, although admittedly bought at happy hour prices.

Deano’s Trattoria has made a pretty good start to life and will improve with the addition of drinks and desserts. On this evidence, it should do very well.

Food facts
Deans Trattoria,
Front Street, Lanchester
Tel: 01207-437572
Open: Daily, noon to 2pm and
5.30pm to 10pm
Food quality: 3/5
Service: 4/5
Ambience: 4/5
Value for money: 4/5