The Grand Journey..you don't need a drink to enjoy good times

5 July 2009

On our first night at our destination, we went out for dinner. Jamie was all tired out from the travel and was sleeping by the time we got to the restaurant the kind lady from the hotel (ok, ok, her name is Agnese) asked us to try. We had some time to ourselves.

I have always been brought up to believe both pasta Vongole and tiramisu gelato must be made with white wine and coffee liquour (almaretto?) respectively. Anything less would be..well.. less. I've not had this dish sans alcohol for many years now and when the restaurant said "no alcohol" in the dish, we ordered it promptly. Here's our big chance to see how the real Italians prepared this.

And it was fantastic!

The pasta was cooked with olive oil and whatever wonderful herbs only the Italian know enough to throw in. Finally, finally, Nisa and I had true Vongole. This just shows you don't need alcohol to have a great time; only the company of your family, a couple of clams cooked in olive oil and some herbs.

5 steps from the restaurant was a gelato outlet. Again - "no alcohol" was pronounced when we asked about tiramisu flavoured gelato. Another winner!!

Many times, restaurants serving Italian food over here in Asia feel the need to localise the dish. Nisa and I have grown to like our Italian food this way but when we had the dish as cooked in the land where it all started, it was something else. Way too often, life gets unnecessarily complicated, with one add-on after another - all with good intentions but they cloud the real thing. Like we all revel in the solitude of a run with just shoes, top and shorts, keeping to the basics, stripping away the add-ons, always work best at the end of the day.