Venture a little further out of the city and onto the buzzy high street of Low Fell and you'll find a suburb with a burgeoning culinary presence.
For many years now, The Bank has operated as the area’s upmarket bar & bistro, whilst down the street, its sister venue Rosa 12 serves up a fine line in Italian cooking. This proved the perfect place to unwind on a Saturday afternoon.
Upon arrival the place was absolutely bustling, Rosa 12 is clearly a popular hub for Low Fell-ites.
Inside there’s a neat fusion of the old and the new as they’ve created a lovely open plan dining area complete with leather-bound chairs and mocha horizontal shutters. Splashes of block red and white emulsion combine with spot lighting to create a modern interior whilst the monochrome wall imagery and waxed chianti bottles provide a quaint throwback to Little Italy. Rosa 12 ticks all the boxes in terms of style and panache then and our imaginations were certainly captured on arrival.
A bottle of white? A bottle of red? Perhaps a bottle of rose instead? Neither my son Jack and I could decide, so we each plumped for a large glass of Shiraz and Sauvignon Blanc respectively. Both were solid choices here with some eye-catching Italian reds also available by the bottle and earmarked for another visit.
Throughout our visit, we were waited on superbly well by restaurant manager Alex who brought us over some warmed bread and verdant green olives whilst surveying a menu exciting and expansive.
Rosa 12 aspires to offer the best flavours from the Mediterranean and beyond with funky happy hour fayre, steak night deals and a sumptuous a la carte menu on offer.
Jack kicked off with the garlic king prawns, pan-fried to perfection in lemon & herb butter and served with sticky rice. Prawn cocktail was a similar sage choice; a martini glass brimming with plump prawns, fresh lettuce, tomato and cucumber in a gloopy marie rose sauce.
Following on, Jack chose the 5oz petite fillet steak in a red wine jus with all the trimmings whilst I greatly enjoyed the French-style trimmed chicken breast in a creamy mushroom & tarragon sauce with mashed potato and greens.
Totally replete, it would be coffees over desserts!
Despite looking rather diminutive from the outside, Rosa 12 is actually anything but and boasts three levels of floor space, each possessing their own unique charms. Fortunately, after a most agreeable luncheon, we got the chance to have a quick explore and discovered that the ground floor is actually a popular spot for coffee and a cake whilst the basement is a fully-renovated cocktail bar tailormade for live music and private functions.
Defined by low ceilings and lower lighting the “Lugano Cellar Bar” offers a trendy, rustic ambience. With all this to offer then, Rosa 12 struck me as a surprisingly multi-faceted venue with enormous character.
It’s clear then that the good people of Low Fell have a winner here in Rosa 12. I’d meet you anytime you want, at this Italian restaurant.