A casual-dining Pasta Bar based in the centre of Newcastle serving simple yet delicious, fresh pasta dishes and refreshing cocktails in a relaxed setting. A perfect place to visit with friends or as a couple for a tasty lunch or pre-night out 🙂

We stayed over in Newcastle City Centre for Ben’s birthday recently and I wanted to take him somewhere highly recommended by foodies in Newcastle and this place came up a few times!

I had expected more of a formal restaurant for some reason but was actually pleasantly surprised by it’s simplicity and relaxed atmosphere. If anyone has been to Sarto in Leeds before, it is very similar to that. Here the décor is very casual with a bar in the middle and an open kitchen, the dining area being an open, bright space with simple wooden dining furniture.

The menu here isn’t vast but is concise and focuses on quality flavours and ingredients, enabling them to produce fresh, affordable and traditional pasta dishes on a daily basis. Golden hand-rolled egg pasta is made fresh and hand-rolled every day at Zucchini.

Onto our food…

As we were going “out out” after our meal, we decided just to stick to main meals and no starters. I went for – Pappardelle Tuscan Lamb & Orange Ragu – Roast Lamb Shoulder, garlic, plum tomato, roast carrot & orange zest. I thought it stood out as a little different with the orange on there. The subtle taste of orange really helped the dish stand out and it was refreshing and delicious. Just the right amount of each ingredient and a filling enough main dish.

Ben went for – Fettuccine Spicy Sausage, Tomato & Nduja Ragu – Italian pork & fennel sausage, crispy sourdough crumb, Calabrian nduja & tomato. A firm favourite of ours with the sausage meat and a little bit of a kick to it. This as rich and mouth-watering.

We also got a side of Burrata, tomato nduja sugo & sourdough bread which I expected to be crusty bread to dip in but the bread was baked in the sauce which made it soak it all up and was actually surprisingly enjoyable but just a warning for anyone who doesn’t enjoy the texture of “soggy” bread.

I washed this down with a few refreshing cocktails of course!

Pasta dishes are anywhere between £6.50 – £10 and they have gluten free and vegan friendly pasta available too. For more about Zucchini, visit their website here.

We really enjoyed our food here and would recommend Zucchini Pasta Bar to anyone that enjoys pasta and is in Newcastle!

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Happy munching 

🙂

Jen@jensfoodblog

#jensfoodblog

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