Cafe Roma review
This is a funky little hideaway in Sheung Wan where the building gets so narrow you’d think that there couldn’t be room for anything in side. Luckily There is just enough room for a kitchen and a about four tables.
One side is little more than an alcove. One of the tables has been tailored into the curve of the wall. Above it there is a gallery of old black and white prints of film stars from the forties and fifties.
The menu reflects the flavours of the southern Italian countryside from Rome to Sicily. According to the menu the recipes have been passed down through the generations using the simplest of cooking methods. They use fresh Mediterranean ingredients with fewer dairy products.
I started with crisp and flavourful Insalata di Spinaci ($52). This, quite simply, is baby spinach with pine nuts, sun-dried tomatoes and parmesan cheese with a balsamic dressing.
I’d been slightly disappointed that bread needed to be ordered separately. But since quality Italian restaurants for the budget-conscious are something of a rarity anyway. So I decided to forgive them.
In the end I was glad not to have had bread because my second dish of the evening, Melanzane all Parmigiana ($48) was really quite filling. This consisted of layers of eggplant and mozzarella cheese baked in a rich tomato sauce.
The pasta I had ordered, Penne Ciociara ($80), is from the Lazio region just to the south of Rome. It’s a marvellously sharp and tangy dish mad with olives, capers, anchovies and pine nuts with just a few raisins as a counterpoint. I’m not sure if it is a dish that rarely appears on menus or if I’ve simply overlooked it in the past. But it is certainly one that I will be remembering in the future.
I finished off with a slice of cheesecake and a coffee.
Cafe Roma are happy to prepare food for take-away and also serve breakfast, afternoon tea and sandwiches.
G/F Jervois House
1 Jervois Street
Sheung Wan
Tel 2517 8484
Posted: January 28th, 2010 under Italian, Sheung Wan.