Monday, June 26, 2006

Review: Pasta Fresca Da Salvatore

In the search for good italian food, one apparently draws up to Pasta Fresca.
Recently opened up in Chennai, at 32 Thirumallai pillai road, (opposite vidyodaya school, TNagar), i was blown away with a lot of things there.

there were four of us, one chef, one self confessed pasta lover, and two foodies. We decided to embark and try out the new "Italian" joint.
There was a strong professional touch to the entire thing, the Head chef is Italian, and the restaurant chain is an international one headquartered in Singapore. Their website is http://www.pastafresca.com/

We had starters, a main course, dessert and expresso (apparently, it is a tradition to close dinner with an expresso). the bill worked out to about Rs 350 per head, which i felt was well worth it due to the wonderful food, excellent ambiance and brilliant service.

The starters was this bread with cheese on top, it had a very italian name, which for the life of me i cannot recollect, but it was brilliant, had authentic olive oil, and cheese. There was a bread basket with an assortment of nice hot bread that was on our table, and the water glass never became empty.

Ratings are on a scale of 1 - 10, where 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest.

Ambiance : 9
the quaint interior had just the right lighting and the decor was adequate. There was however the irritating "pesto-flash" cracking away in the room, with a UV glow filling it. the kitchen was an open kitchen, yet it provided the privacy to it. The excellent cutlery and the plates were thoguht right thru.

Food: 10.
the freshest vegetables, most authentic food, and generous quantities would definitely tip the scale in favor of Pasta Fresca. I ordered a fried chicken of sorts, there was a pasta, a pizza and a non vegetarian platter that was ordered. These portions were generous, and the food tasted authentic. the pizza was flat, hand spun and brilliant. The meat was well cooked and fried just right. The pasta was delicious, they also have their own pasta making machine, that rolls and cuts it how ever they want it, as Spaghetti, Fusilli, Rotini etc. the desert was mind blowing, had souffle that was not made out of egg white but out of alomond milk. this apparently has the same properties of thickening as egg white.
The food was also very well presented, with care being given to the kind of vegetables being placed on the plate that go with the dish.

Price : 7 - 8
The price was a bit on the high side. there was the avg. price of the dish being in the range of 250-350, but this is a substantial dish and does not require anything else to go with it.

Overall: 9
with all the factors combined, i felt this was a rather authentic italian experience. the music, layout, and ambiance was nice. the restrooms were clean and functional, and the kitchen was well laid out, with high stress on hygine. i did get to go into the kitchen as we were the last people to be there (they were closing by the time we finished dinner) and i was quite impressed with many things.

Do go there if you find the time, and want to eat some nice food! we had a nice chat with the head chef Carlo who is italian.
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