It was the afternoon of 29th June, 2014.
It was the one year mark of our relationship and we were going crazy surfing the internet looking for a nice restaurant to celebrate our anniversary at. You see, there’s a problem with us being huge foodies – my boyfriend and I – we eat out a lot! That means we exhaust our dining options really fast, going to lovely dinners almost every evening, trying out new restaurants and cafes while we’re at it.
We finally decided that we would go to ITALIANO Pizzeria and Pasta, a cute little Italian restaurant located in the Qurum Complex (right next to Chocomania) situated opposite the Jungle Restaurant and near the Rose Garden.
So all dressed up and excited to have a delicious meal (we love Italian food!), we drove down to the restaurant with a festive air around us.
We walked in and were greeted warmly by the staff and we decided to sit upstairs, at a tiny circular wooden table for two. The interior was decorated in warm tones, with wooden furniture that gave it an antique splash, the textured walls adding to the mystique and the sepia hued pictures on the wall adding that enveloping touch of comfort. The restaurant was tiny, just exactly how you would imagine a little cafe situated on an Italian street would be. (I can only imagine ’cause I haven’t been to Italy. Someday!)
Once we took our seats, we were given the menu to choose from, and all of a sudden we were in a dilemma. What should we order? Everything seemed so damn delicious!
So for appetizers we ordered a plate of Mozzarella Cheese Sticks served with a tangy Tomato sauce. This was the boyfriend’s choice; he loves cheese and no matter how much he eats of it, he doesn’t get fat – so jealous! When the cheese sticks arrived, we were both delighted and extremely hungry. The crispy outer coating, the center oozing with cheese and the sweet and sour sauce was a perfect tease for our taste buds. As we gobbled down those delicious cheese sticks, we knew we were in for a wonderful meal.
The boyfriend also ordered a mocktail – no this place does not serve alcohol – called Collins. It was a chilled lemonade infused with more-than-a-dash of mint; it was very refreshing- great summer drink.
For main course, I ordered a Crostini Chicken with Linguini in Butter-Garlic sauce and Baked Potatoes while he ordered a classic Chicken Alfredo Pasta. The Crostini Chicken with Linguini looked very exotic and tasted even more so; that crispy-on-the-outside-juicy-on-the-inside chicken was well-seasoned and it went really well with the creamy-buttery Linguini, and the baked potatoes were a great sidekick to the dish – something soft to cut through the heaviness of the dish.
The Chicken Alfredo Pasta was simply delicious – it was creamy and heavenly, the mushrooms were cooked just right, the chicken was tender and held the dish together and the cute, tiny bread-balls were just what added that homey feel to the dish. It was the best Chicken Alfredo Pasta we have tasted yet.
Feeling blissfully satisfied with our meal and verging on stuffed, we got our leftovers packed (we always leave room for dessert), payed our bill – which we found was reasonable- and left, feeling content with our choice to dine at ITALIANO.
Now you may be wondering why we didn’t have dessert there. They had quite a few mouthwatering options to choose from – the traditional tiramisu, chocolate fudge cake, cheesecake and ice cream. Truth be told, on any other day we would’ve sprung at the idea of having tiramisu or a chocolaty fudge cake, but not that day. That day we decided to have dessert someplace else, and that landed us at the Crepe Cafe at Jawarat Al Shatti, but that’s a story for another day!
Our recommendation – If you want to have a nice authentic Italian meal at reasonable prices, ITALIANO is the place to dine. You will not be disappointed. We really really enjoyed our meal.
The Foodscape 