Creamy mussels at Gioia Mia

The blackboard outside Gioia Mia on the Uxbridge Road, advertising a dish of creamy, garlicky mussels, had been tempting me inside for months. Finally, on a rainy Saturday afternoon, I answered its call.

Gioia Mia is a family-run restaurant in the heart of Shepherd's Bush, with a down-to-earth pizza and pasta menu. It also offers dishes such as chicken fillets, sirloin steak and tiger prawns, advertised on its specials' board, and, of course, mussels, cooked in white wine and cream with garlic, onion and parsley. Who could resist?

For a very reasonable £9.50, you can choose any starter, any main course and any dessert from the main menu, or, for an extra 50p, you can substitute these with dishes from the specials' board. Altogether a very good deal.

With its distinctive red tables and chairs, red gingham curtains and wood-panelled ceiling, Gioia Mia has a very rustic feel to it. On the afternoon we visited, it also had a very empty feel to it, which was surprising: I have often walked past after dark to see a full complement of diners, eating dinner by candlelight. The waiter confirmed that, indeed, it does tend to be far busier in the evenings.

The menu offered us a choice of several wines, but the only one available by the glass was the house wine. This turned out to be a reasonably good Montepulciano. Then came the mussels and, as promised, they were delightfully creamy and garlicky. The opportunity to eat respectably with my fingers was equally as delightful. Despite the very generous starter portion, though, I wished I had ordered them as a main course, because I could easily have polished off a good few more.

Although the service at Gioia Mia was a little slow, the staff were extremely child-friendly and even the sight of a baby throwing spoons and mussel shells on the floor failed to cause a stir, which was just as well.

For our main course we tried two different tagliatelle dishes, one with beef and one with vegetables; both were acceptable without being anything special. We also had a quattro stagioni pizza and this is where Gioia Mia really comes into its own: its thin and crispy pizzas, which have become a firm favourite in our household, look good and taste truly Italian with none of the over-the-top cheese smothering that so many other pizzas seem to suffer from.

We found Gioia Mia's dessert menu a little disappointing, offering only very traditional fare: ice cream, banoffee pie and tiramisu; the latter dish was sweet and creamy - perfect for children, but a bit too subtle in flavour for the more discerning adult.

Lunch for three people, including two glasses of wine, came to a very reasonable £35.00.

But be warned: the restaurant closes strictly at 3pm and any late stragglers, of which there were several, were swiftly turned away. The doors re-open for dinner at 6pm.

April 7, 2008