Gastronello

The house

A good cheese croquette and a properly filled grey shrimp croquette take time — which is exactly why so few kitchens still make their own. In 2000 Carl, chef-trained and stubborn about it, decided to take that job off their hands without cutting the corners that make it worth eating. The recipe has stayed in the family since.

What began as a favour to local restaurants grew into a family business with a serious team behind it, and a range that now runs well past the two classics. The method has not moved: fresh, often local ingredients, no preservatives, no flavour enhancers, no colourings — and every croquette still rolled and breaded by hand in the area where it started.

That is rare enough now to be worth saying out loud on a menu.