Il Teatro, Hull: The new Italian restaurant in Yorkshire which is worth going out of your way for
To be perfectly honest, I’ve been trying to avoid reviewing Italian restaurants.
Not because of any xenophobic fervour, but partly because they’re relatively ten-a-penny and partly because I tend to holiday in Italy and very few places back home successfully recreate the tastes and quality of ingredient of even the most modest of restaurants over there.
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Hide AdI think most will agree that Italian cuisine is the easiest to make pay, being simple to prepare in advance and extremely adaptable. A couple of sauces, a few cuts of meat and a handful of pasta shapes and you can offer up a dozen or so different dishes.


For this reason, Italian menus are often a dozen pages long and, in turn, such menus are usually the first sign that you’re in for a really mediocre meal. That, and a bloke stood outside the front door all but begging you to come inside to eat.
Something has happened in Hull over the past half-decade or so, though, that has resulted in a sliver of highly decent Italian restaurants opening in or around the city.
Previously, there was probably only one I could confidently state was worth going out of your way for. Now I’d say there are at least three.
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Hide AdThat’s three really good, worthy of a place in any Italian city, authentic Italiano restaurants out of the twenty-odd listed on Google. Three times as many as, say, 2018.


The latest to be added to that trio is Il Teatro. Aptly named as it falls within what Hull City Council push as the ‘Theatre Quarter’ of the town centre, despite the area only containing one actual theatre.
It’s been opened by Ernesto ‘Tino’ Ceglie and a partner. Tino hales from Bari, on the heel of Italy, and is passionate about the simple, rustic food prevalent in the south of the country. I’ve noticed him working front-of-house in a couple of local restaurants before now and noted his energy and sincerity.
In his own place, he sweeps around the smallish dining space with practised elan and – passionately, but with a smile – recommends, explains, charms and delivers colourful, generous dishes to entirely delighted punters.
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Hide AdAnd it’s mainly Tino and taste that sell Il Teatro. The menu reads like most Italians everywhere, with all the bruschettas and parmigianas and branzinos you’ve come to expect.


The difference, though, is that the (sole) chef makes everything with excellent ingredients and they arrive looking like he just doesn’t know when to stop embellishing. This may be simple, southern Italian food but it’s hidden beneath and between everything but the kitchen sink.
Take, for instance, my starter – goat’s cheese. That’s all it says on the menu, but when it appears it turns out to be a large slate with a healthy portion of cheese at the centre and a virtual cornucopia surrounding.
There are lettuce leaves filled with various nuts, there is dried fruit, there are drizzles of oil and balsamic, there is honey, there are sprigs of mint, there is (delicious, lightly toasted) bread. And then there is the fruit.
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Hide AdA thick slice of orange, you may anticipate, even the grapes. But slices of apple, strawberries and – most surprisingly - kiwi seem to be additions too far. Simple? Southern? Rustic? It would very much appear not.
Strangely, though, it all works. Yes, the plate (or slate) is busy, but nothing is unwelcome and all of it actually complements and enhances the caramelised cheese at the core of the dish. Even the kiwi.
The same thing happens with the bruschetta, which takes the traditional toast, garlic, tomatoes, basil and oil and adds lettuce, cheese and balsamic but still tastes simple and fresh. Maybe simplicity isn’t so much about the number of ingredients but the way they are deployed.
A much simpler dishful of polpette proves much less faffy. Three juicy meatballs smothered in a rich tomato sauce and just the right amount of cheese. The unmistakeable sweet, acidic taste of San Marzano tomatoes in the sauce demonstrates the commitment to using the absolute correct ingredients.
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Hide AdFor mains, I went with saltimbocca, which I’d not had since the last time I was in Rome. At Il Teatro, it’s served with chips. Never had saltimbocca with chips before. No complaint from me, though. The meat was perfectly cooked and the chips help soak up the white wine sauce. Rome meets Hull on one plate.
A clear showstopper arrived across the table. Linguine alla scoglia was served in vast portion, topped with so many prawns, mussels, whole baby octopi and various herbs, tomatoes and lemons that the pasta itself was invisibly buried beneath.
A finger bowl arrived, which had to be replenished three times as crustaceans and molluscs were enthusiastically torn apart and devoured. ‘Good?’ I enquire of my dining partner. The response was a muffled splutter of shirt-ruining nonsense. I could only assume good was an understatement.
The kitchen being as relatively small as the dining space, it came as no surprise that all the desserts - a tiramisu in a kilner jar and a cannollo covered in candied fruit and cream - were pre-made but they were just as decoratively frenetic and delicious as the other courses.
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Hide AdPrices aren’t bad, hovering around the £100-£120 mark for a couple of three course meals and drinks. The portion sizes, though, mean that only the most dedicated gorger will manage more than two courses.
My chair certainly ended the meal an inch or two further away from the table than it started.
Tino, his partner and his chef have Il Teatro rocking along just a couple or three months after opening. Evenings are packed, afternoons busy and there are even people in early doors for coffee and cake.
It would appear that Hull’s so-called Theatre Quarter has a new best restaurant. All it needs now is some theatres.
Welcome 5/5
Food 4/5
Atmosphere 4/5
Prices 4/5
Il Teatro, 32 Albion Street, Hull, HU1 3TE www.ilteatrohull.co.uk
Open: Tues to Sat, 8.30am – 11pm
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