Hearty welcome at Da Eros

 It was a beautiful day when I visited for lunch so we sat outside in deep shade. A smiling host came out to welcome us, seated us and in no time our waiter Onias was introducing himself and bringing drinks.
Complementary on arrival is good fresh bread and butter and an array of house sauces — garlic, very good fresh chillie and the dip of the day — on this occasion — courgettes  and tomato. We ordered deep fried haloumi to start and shared chunks of cheese smeared with the garlic and chillie. A welcome addition on each table is a cruet set of good olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Da Eros is Italian, specialising in pizza and pasta and is run by the Ethiopian-Italian Prandini family who kept the Italian Bakery in Avondale popular and vibrant for years. From the extensive menu we both chose pasta.
My companion op-ted for fine spaghetti with olive oil, garlic and chillie (US$8). She was certainly going to have to keep to herself back in her office that afternoon! I chose penne with mushrooms and pancetta in a tomato sauce (US$9).
I would rather have had hers. This seems to be happening to me a lot lately — the grass always looks greener on the next plate! I obviously need to get back in touch with what I really want.
My dish was good but I realised I wasn’t in the mood for something as rich.  Portions are big and neither of us could finish — maybe too much bread and lovely sauce before we got started.
My friend is staying in a self-catering place with only a microwave for cooking, so really enjoyed a tasty meal out. She took the left overs back to be easily nuked for another meal.
A variety of Italian mains ranges from grilled chicken with piri-piri or garlic sauce at US$9 through fillet steak US$11 up to seafood combos at US$16. These are substantial meals accompanied by rice or chips and vegetables of the day.
There is a custom-built pizza oven and the pizza is very good — light crispy base and good toppings. I called in on another day for a takeaway Sicilian with anchovies and olives (US$11 — easily fed two) and again noticed the friendly welcome. I was greeted by proprietor Nevio Prandini and his beautiful and charming wife.
The family’s constant presence and hands on approach shows in the attention to detail. For example the water is bottled for Da Eros and carries the restaurant label.
Nevio told me that they had been importing the olive oil and vinegar direct from Italy but have now found a South African supplier for the Italian oil. It makes a difference to have authentic ingredients.
Another nice touch, that will keep me coming back is the complementary homemade limoncello liqueur ser-ved in a little shot glass at the end of the meal.
I knocked mine back quite quickly and was offered another. Which I declined — one was perfect along with the good espresso.
Fruit was also complementary at the end of the meal — and my kitchen challenged guest was happy to take that home too.
It is lovely to be welcomed into a restaurant as if into a home and if I lived in Avondale it would definitely be my local.
Lunch for two — one starter, two pastas, drinks, due espressi and vanilla ice cream was US$30.
– g.jeke@yahoo.com