Friendly Italian Restaurant & Bar

Good food. Friendly service. Pretty tables.Lagar Portuguese Restaurant - Lagar is Portuguese for wine press - the sort where you press grapes with your feet.Borehamwood is a bustling little high street - there's nothing much in Elstree. Tables are black with two white runners - quite sophisticated, though the restaurant also has a friendly mother's kitchen atmosphere from the staff.the menu begins with tapas. I tried calves liver, which also appears as a main course. It was good. It appears on a small, saucer-size plate but is quite filling.The menu is a bit short on wines by the glass and cocktails, just a glass of house white and red. Could not see that old British favourite Mateus Rose.Starters included those familiar from italian menus, melon and ham, and tricolore (three colour), the colours of the Italian flag, green (avocado) and white (cheese). I asked what were the colours of the Portuguese lights projected on the wall.My main course of duck with orange was delicious. It was rather sweet so I was sure that they had added either sugar syrup or honey. The menu did not list desserts or coffee. I believe its a legal requirement to show a price list. Part of the contract with the customer. I ordered mocha coffee and never saw the bill.For dessert everybody else had the tiramisu which they liked.I should have finished with fruit salad but had to try the Portuguese speciality, a giant soft meringue, just egg white and sugar with a red syrup. I could not eat more than a couple of mouthfuls. I have a sweet tooth but I felt quite ill. Luckily the woman who runs the restaurant had asked after each course was served whether it was all right, and she really wanted to know. We told her it was too sweet and she said she would not charge and would give me a fruit salad instead. the fruit salad was fresh tasting. Dull to look at, no red fruits, all white pale yellow and green, kiwi fruit, apple and perhaps melon (since melon was served as a starter) and pineapple. Refreshing. Everything is freshly cooked and the menu says you might have to wait up to 40 minutes for your dish to be prepared. Jolly good.At night you can park for free in the car park behind the shops. It is a sunken area surrounded by weeping willow trees. Go to the end (far left) and you can walk up a ramp or steps to the shops near the restaurant. You walk over a long bridge across a stream.In the main street you can attach bicycles to bicycle shaped structures, like penny farthing cycles. Amusing.

A User - 12/06/2009 | report this review