La Pavoni SPL

Advantages: Absolutely fantastic coffee is possible (better than any chain store).
Disadvantages: Quite difficult to master, and not especially forgiving.

...When a company sells a product that hasn't changed for nearly a century, and still commands one of the highest prices on the market, there is a reason. In the case of the Professional, a very good reason. La Pavoni have built their reputation on the performance of their lever driven espresso machines, which haven't changed significantly since their introduction in 1961. The Professional is the big brother to the Europiccola, and your extra £200 doubles the capacity of the boiler and adds an arguably unnecessary pressure guide to the sight level on the side of the boiler. The name Professional is somewhat misleading, as the machine is designed and intended for the domestic market. The Professional's baby brother, the Europiccola is more widely available and as it is often seen second-hand is almost certainly a better buy than... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Robust engineering, excellent performance, beautiful styling
Disadvantages: Heavy, hard to keep clean, very expensive

...Have you ever wondered why coffee in the coffee shop is better than coffee at home? Coffee shops use freshly ground and roasted coffee, and machines that can extract the full flavour from that coffee. If you want to replicate this quality of coffee at home, you need a machine that's up to the task. La Pavoni produced the Europiccola in 1961 and, some tweaking aside, they haven't changed the design significantly since then. The machine consists of a boiling chamber sitting on a base, with a glass level on one side and some curvaceous pipe-work on the other side. It truly is a thing of beauty, available (in ascending order of price) in chrome and black, straight chrome, chrome with wooden trim, gold, or gold with wooden trim. Go to www.lapavoni.com (domestic line, lever machines) to convince yourself that this is no ordinary machine... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great food, reasonable fixed price menu
Disadvantages: None

...On our recent trip to the Loire Valley Mr Tart and myself arrived in Tours quite late on our first night. We drove down to Tours from Paris. We were going to stop for something to eat on the way but in the end decided to make our way straight to Tours and get settled in the hotel and then find something close by. A couple of minutes from our hotel we came across this place and were really glad that we did. LOCATION: La Chope is located at 25 Avenue Grammont. Our hotel was on the same road so we just came across it. It is about a ten minute walk from Tours? old town. The restaurant doesn?t stand out and the sign is not particularly bright so make sure you look out for it. THE EXPERIENCE: La Chope (which apparently translates as the tankard) is actually a fish restaurant. I?m not really a fish person (ok, that... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful