Bronzo

This Sardinian restaurant opened in February 2024 on the Chiswick High Road. It is the creation of Fabio and Sara Dindi, a husband-and-wife couple originally from Sardinia. They previously ran a restaurant in Bristol. He is the head chef, assisted by his brother-in-law, and she runs the front of house. The dining room seats 36 covers and has plenty of natural light. There is also a garden at the back that provides some additional seating in good weather.

The menu features several Sardinian dishes as well as other dishes from around Italy. Starters were priced from £8.50 to £13.95, pasta dishes from £12.95 to £19.95, main courses from £23 to £29.95 and desserts from £6.50 to £8.50. The wine list was rather light on information. There were no vintages, and in many cases no producer either, so there were listings like “Pinot Grigio Veneto” and “Barolo”, the latter being made in 11 municipalities and over 1,200 producers. Who knows whether £63 is a good price, since Barolo ranges in price in a UK shop from under £20 to over £1,500. In all there were 22 labels and ranged in price from £28 to £72, with a median price of £38 and an average markup to retail price of 3.5 times, which might raise eyebrows in Belgravia, never mind Chiswick. Sample references were Pecorino Terre di Chieti IGP le Coste Abruzzo at £29.50 for a bottle that you can find in the high street for £16, Passerina Terre di Cheti IGB Sodera Abruzzo at £46 compared to its retail price of £10, and Treggiana IGT Villa Bibbiani at £72 for a wine that will set you back £31 in the high street.

Millefoglie di carasau was a starter, based on the Sardinian crisp flatbread carasau. Layers of this were interleaves with fresh diced tomato, olive pate and stracciatelli cheese with a little basil. The flatbread tasted fresh and crisp and the olive pate had reasonable flavour (12/20). Focaccia was made in house and served in small pieces, served warm. This was also enjoyable (12/20).

Wild boar ragu featured fresh pappardelle made in the kitchen, with a ragu featuring different cuts of the boar along with red onions, carrots and celery. The pasta had good texture but for me the ragu lacked intensity of flavour. It could also have been seasoned a little more (11/20). Better was spaghetti pomodoro with a little chilli added. The pasta was again made from scratch and had good texture, just a touch al dente, and there was a gentle but nicely judged kick of chilli in the tomato sauce to lift the dish (12/20). A side salad included olives, tomatoes and carrots with a few green leaves.

The best dish I tried today was the homemade tiramisu. This had sponge fingers with good texture, not too much mascarpone and plenty of coffee flavour, the lack of which often what lets down versions of this dish in the UK (14/20). Coffee (£2.50) was from Kimbo, a company originally from Napes, that has been running since 1963.

Service was friendly and the bill came to £38 per person for two course each, a shared dessert, coffee and water. If you shared a bottle of wine then a more typical cost per head might be around £55. Bronzo is a welcome addition to the Chiswick neighbourhood, a welcoming family-run affair serving enjoyable food.