Joya

Home

Joya

Melissa Blease finds a warm welcome and the very best in fresh Italian cuisine at this new Bath wine bar and restaurant

Last night I watched the sun set through a soft cloud of hazy rain over Bath’s historic Pulteney Bridge, and saw the ensuing rainbow that briefly appeared just before total sundown to its very best advantage. I witnessed the bridge perfectly reflected in mirror image in the stretch of calm water that segues into the bracing bubble and froth of the weir; I can now confidently estimate that – in late summer, at least – tourists stop to take a photograph of friends and family against such a backdrop at an approximate average of once every 1.2 seconds...and I know for sure that bocconcini mozzarella is at its very best when teamed with a sliver of bresaola.

All this I either saw, considered or stated as fact while sitting at a table for two by the window on the first floor of Joya, the restaurant previously known as the Real Italian Bar and Kitchen, itself previously known as the Rummer pub. Joya is another string to the utterly melodious bow drawn by the team also responsible for the Real Italian Pizza Co. on York Street (which offers exactly what the name suggests) and the Real Italian Ice Cream Co. (next door to the pizza HQ), which churns out the best gelati this side of Naples.

It comes as no surprise, then, that the Joya experience is an eminently – well, joyous one: properly cheerful, and effortlessly charming in a refreshingly spontaneous way. And even if you don’t manage to bag one of those window tables, there’s plenty to keep attention levels up in either the downstairs bar and eating area or upstairs in one of two spacious dining rooms, all furnished with comfortable, chunky tables and chairs. Both floors, what’s more, are staffed by properly welcoming folk who strike the perfect balance between ensuring that all your needs are met and leaving you to get up close and personal with your date or party on with a crowd.

And – typically for an authentic Italian-themed enterprise – Joya really is the sort of place where you could do either or both; the menu is an easygoing experience offering broad appeal without getting all confuso about the “modern Italian” idiom, relying on a blend of really good Italian imports and the best of British sourcing to present clean, fresh dishes packed with flavour – which is, after all, what decent Italian food is all about.

We started our Italian affair with a medium antipasto platter that turned out to be an enormo, delectable array skilfully combining multiple slivers of Italian dry cured meats and moist mozzarella bocconcini with fat, garlic-infused olives, chargrilled Mediterranean vegetables, a pile of freshly diced, super-juicy tomatoes and a stack of crisp, garlicky bread.

For mains, a linguine marinara that turned out to be a huge pile of fresh pasta packed with fresh seafood and bound together in a powerfully flavoursome, tomato-based sauce seething with garlic and just the right amount of chilli, and a perfectly cooked (and again, supremely tasty) 10oz, extra mature sirloin steak that would have come with twice-cooked chips had a certain Italian stallion not been watching his waistline; as good as I suspect those chips would have been, the salad substitute was, I can happily report, pretty darn perfect too. Why, after showing such restraint, he then opted to share an utterly bellissimo homemade tiramisu and a salaciously sensual crème brûlée with me I have no idea...but I’m very glad he did.

All this was washed down with a bottle of Joya’s house wine: a rich, smooth blast of the lesser-spotted Sicilian Nero d’Avola, in my opinion one of the most agreeable reds on the market.

The price for our dolce vita experience? Less than £60. That view of Bath? Priceless.

CONTACT

JOYA 6 NEWMARKET ROW, GRAND PARADE, BATH. FFI: 01225 460240

THE VERDICT A life-affirming, well-priced, upmarket taste of Italy