Mushroom Soup

There is a new outpost of the Carluccio empire round the corner from where I work. It is restaurant/deli/takeaway all in a pretty blue and white package but I confess that I hate the layout of the takeaway section. Paninis, cakes and pastries lie on open benches at EXACTLY the right height for small children to paw, and although there are tongs and things as if for self-service, every time I have approached the tongs one of the staff members has bustled up, relieved me of them and served me. So I find it a little confusing to know whether I am supposed to help myself or if moving towards the tongs is just a signal to the staff that I am ready to order. But I keep going back because the food is good.

Today I was about to have the red pepper soup that was on the hot food counter, when the very helpful member of staff mentioned that I could have one of the soups from the restaurant instead. At the mention of mushroom and pancetta I was sold. And a good choice it was too! A broth, filled with lots of different flavours and textures of mushrooms, lovely salty, soft cubes of pancetta and cubes of potato just crumbling into fuzz to thicken the broth. And instead of bread - which may have been the healthy option - I had a handful of little gorgonzola and walnut biscuits instead. A lovely lunch on a rainy day.