La Carbonara Italian Restaurant on Westcott Place – on the way into town from the west side of the town – is cooking with gas again. As it were.
Well that was all jolly pleasant. A lunch in La Carbonara Italian restaurant with a couple of friends that is. One of whom has some, shall we say, tricky dietary needs? She’s vegan, coeliac and has a nut allergy. Aside from that she can eat anything! But Carlo was able to accommodate her with a gluten free, cheese free pizza and a dish of asparagus in a tomato sauce for her starter. Thus she was happy!
The menu
So the lunch menu has the standard sort of stuff on it. But what they’ve also got now is a Romano menu with a selection of anitipasti, Primi Piatti and Secondi Piatti dishes.
So what are they about then? Well, this as Eataly blog explains in the anatomy of an Italian dinner:
Dinner in Italy is an affair that’s eaten at leisure. It tends to start around 8pm and continues late into the evening. It involves settling around the table for course after course. All designed and timed to maximise flavours, pleasure – and even digestion.
First up is the antipasto – a rough translation being ‘pre-meal’. Much like the aperitivo it’s designed to prepare one for the meal to follow.
Next comes the primo piatto/piatti. This firs plate is a little heavier than the antipasto. Enough to satisfy your hunger but not totally sate it. That wouldn’t be good – not when you’re only halfway through dinner.
Risotto, polenta, and pasta are among favorite primi piatti.
Now we come to the second plate, the secondi piatti. This is the heartiest/most substantial of the courses. It’s one to savour in good company – along with a robust red wine for preference. Secondi piatti dishes range from fish to pork to steak.
Dessert – dolce
A good Italian dinner ends with dessert of course. Often accompanied by an amaro, digestivo or espresso. Delicious dolci could be creamy tiramisù, espresso-gelato affogato, or crunchy cantucci and dessert wine. Affogato is a fave of mine and I did have one! I’m not an ice-cream fiend or even big on desserts in general but I do enjoy an affogato. And cantucci biscuits dipped into dessert wine are also scrummy.
Now for some food pics
