Paesan: Exmouth Market

For the past few months I've been walking through Exmouth Market to get to my internship. Over these months I've watched the former 'Dollar Grill' close down and then turn into an Italian cucina povera (peasant kitchen) called 'Paesan'. I finally had the chance to visit today and it really exceeded my expectations - the food was so fresh and the service was great.

(Sorry for the instagram photos, I forgot to bring my camera!)

We had planned to just grab something on the way to the library, but after seeing Paesan was open I managed to run in, plop myself down and ask for a menu before my boyfriend even had the chance to blink.

The menu is split into antipasti and piccolo - smaller dishes that you can share - for starters and then the mains are split into meat, fish, pasta and pizza fritta. I went for the fennel sausage pizza fritta, which is a deep fried pizza (clearly I'm watching my weight) while my boyfriend chose the clam linguini. There is one thing about me - I only choose the same meals over and over again. If its a pizzeria, I will have the margherita pizza. A burger place? A cheeseburger. I basically choose the safest options over and over again. People tend to poke fun at that but I think hey, these have served me well over the years, why change now? And whenever I do go for a pizza with toppings I'm disappointed and spend the whole meal thinking 'why on earth did I choose the artichoke/sardine/broccoli pizza?'. This pizza though has really made me rethink that.

 Look at this! It is seriously an amazing pizza. It wasn't one of this pizzas that is far too big and you think 'who can finish this?' and 15 minutes later you've shamefully shoveled the whole thing down your gullet. No, this pizza was the perfect size, with an amazing crust and really flavorsome mozzarella. I am pleased that for once I chose a pizza with toppings, the fennel sausage was really lovely. 

I sadly wasn't able to get a photo of the linguini since it was inhaled before I even had the chance to get my phone out of my bag. Instead, here are some empty clams for you to take a gander at. 

All in all Paesan serves delicious food that is fresh and generally just lovely, and I'm definitely going to be paying them a visit again!