PrimaVista, Quiet Street, Bath

It takes a tonnellata of brave entrepreneurial chutzpah to open a new Italian restaurant in a city that’s already home to around 40 ventures that lay claim to serving the pizza/pasta/risotto/gnocchi/tiramisu/etc in the South West. 

From glitzy high street attention-grabbers to a fair few elegantly flamboyant, contempo-trad trattorias by way of a handful of promising pasta purveyors with cult followings and a solid array of pizza pitstops good enough to give Naples, New York or even a Nonna a run for their money, the restaurant world version of a modern Roman invasion continues to dominate eating out options in the Heritage City.

But not all of those options are equal in either style or standards… and this is where the story of PrimaVista not only begins, but is already creating its own legend.

If the Bath restaurant scene was in need of a bit of a shake-up, PrimaVista has triggered a little earthquake: shiny and vibrant from the get-go, with a subtly exciting vibe. But despite the restaurant’s novelty factor its charms are timeless, with cross-generational appeal; it isn’t hard to imagine Sophia Loren and Pierfrancesco Favino enjoying a long, lazy late lunch here, both of them finding both the environment and the menu molto gradevole.

While you’re certainly not required to do so, you too might want to use your PrimaVista booking as an excuse to dress up nice and party on. It’s glamorous in a distinctly modish way, with several subsections adding intimacy to the overall spacious environment and thoughtfully smart décor flourishes (sparkly bar; chic wall art; iconic Italian moped parked up in the centre of the big picture window) adding interest throughout, and a range of gorgeous cakes/desserts/dolci given the beautifully-lit spotlight they deserve behind a shining glass counter. 

Diversions digested, the cocktail list opens with a heady range of proper Italian muddle-ups before smoothly gliding us through classics both ancient and modern. But having brought that fascinating flag-up to your attention, you definitely don’t need a stiff drink before perusing the rest of a menu that at once excites, soothes and tempts at all bases. As a result, PrimaVista’s promising-looking pizzas were kicked to the kerb in favour of new (to me, at least) dishes that demanded discovery.

Starter one, Polpette and Pecorino: distinctively beefy meatballs resting on an intensely tomatoey bed of San Marzano sauce and topped with a glossy lake of indulgent Pecorino Romano cream. Starter two, Sauté di Mare: an opulent melange of fat mussels, tender clams and plump prawns in a classy version of a classic tomato, garlic and parsley combo served on a slice of fragrantly nutty Altamura bread that I’ve never met before but want to forge a lifelong partnership with from here on in.

For my main course, I couldn’t move past the intriguing ‘Chef’s Favourite 5P’ — and I’m very glad I didn’t: five elements, one dish and multiple flavour hit variations in every forkful, with sweet, vibrant Piselli (basically a pea sauce), buttery, deeply umami Prosciutto Crudo Essiccato, smoky, crisp Pancetta, salty/fruity Parmigiano and nutty, beautifully-textured rigatoni all playing their own part in a perfect partnership. It takes an intelligent chef with a great palate to create a dish like this; Jack is clearly that chef.

Meanwhile, if you think you know Spaghetti Bolognese… you don’t, but Jack does, and he calls it Una Bolognese in Calabria: velvety, slow-cooked beef and pork ragú fired with a subtle blast of fennel-, paprika- and chilli-infused Calabrian sausage, hit with a nudge of smoky, spicy ‘nduja and tangled up in the kind of smooth but still robust tagliatelle that, if you were a Bolognese sauce this special, you’d want to wrap yourself up in too.

Leave without a Dolci? You definitely can’t. Return? You will, for sure.

Chef Jack and his business partner Kelvin’s tonnellata of brave entrepreneurial chutzpah was neither conceived nor built on unstable foundations. They opened their first branch of their modern trattoria concept in Bury St Edmunds to great acclaim less than a year ago, and are clearly already so confident in their mission to “celebrate the authentic flavors of Italy reinterpreted with a contemporary twist where tradition and innovation come together in every dish” that introducing a second branch to a city that shares similar personality traits with Suffolk’s historic tourism/cultural/foodie hotspot was a natural way forward… for them and for Bath. 

Saluti, PrimaVista!