Whilst not strictly in East Dulwich, Rocca, in the village, will no doubt have been visted by many and be a place marked up to eat in for those who have not yet been. The food was poor but the service was excellent. The food seems to be pre-prepared before it arrives at Rocca. Arancini did not contain risotto as it should but some amalgam of carbohydrate that resembled rice. Mussels tasted fishy and on a blind tasting were not that far removed from boiled rubberbands in a ubiquitous tomato based goo. Pizza was made from a spongy bread or so it seemed to me as opposed to pizza dough. The crusts were burnt and they were as close to the Neapolitan classic as the frozen variety offered by the superstores. Pasta was dreadful. Spaghetti Carbonara consisted of a sauce that could have passed for cat vomit with undigestible bacon mixed into the worst pasta imaginable. The pasta itself was tasteless brown strands of hard (not al dente but al raw) string. Even the supermarkets' own brand pasta is of a better quality and it does not take a michelin starred chef to boil it in water for crica 12 minutes. Surely they could do tiramisu I thought. But nope. This turned out to be a sugary splodge of baby food and an offence to the Tuscan pud we all love. The wine list is okay for a chain but the boil in the bag rubbish we were fed still leaves Dulwich without a decent mid price Italian restaurant.
