Dinner at Paolo's

In this new section of the site I will tell the experience I had at some places in Norwich that feature Italian dishes.
I start off with a dinner at Paolo's in St. Giles.
A Monday of August, 6.30 pm.
As I get in I am approached by a lovely waitress, without an English or Italian accent, probably from the East Europe, but smiley and kind. The only other waitress has the same features.

6 tables being served, quite environment.

The background music is Italian: Venditti, Raf, Battisti, Vanoni and Morandi among others.

Quickly given the Menu I order in 5 minutes.

The Menu, a bit sticky if I'm honest, has a generous selection of typical Italian dishes. Among others Lasagne, Spaghetti Carbonara, Antipasti and a neverending list of Pizzas.
The Menu is satisfactory.

There is also a board of Specials that comprises Ravioli, Melanzane (aubergines) and Affettati (Prosciutto, Salami...)

Basic selection of Beers like Peroni and Moretti.
Wine list satisfactory with Chianti Classico, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo,Valpolicella, Verdicchio and Pinot Grigio.


I order Calamari fritti, Spaghetti Carbonara, a selection of cheese and sparkling water.
And here they come the problems....

The Calamari are served in 10 minutes with tartare sauce (not home made), tomato, cucumber and rocket.
Fish should not smell fishy when they are cooked, but they do in this case.
The batter is a bit heavy as you can see at first sight, brown color. 4/10

Main course is Spaghetti Carbonara. I wanted to compare the ones I make at the classes with this one.
Smelled of garlic at first I soon realized that it also has a lot of onion.
The thing is ..... in the kitchen one must choose onion or garlic, not both of them.
In the case of Carbonara garlic is not acceptable for the only reason that the recipe requires onion and that excludes garlic.
Moving over, the sauce is a bit too liquid mainly because of the cream, which is like swearing.
But this is the english way. Even if olive oil was among the ingredients, it is not recognizable among all that cream.

The Pancetta is smoked and this is not good, it clashes with the tradition.
The Spaghetti are AL DENTE, after all, and this is reassuring.
In the end, my vote is 5/10

The board, actually a plate, of cheese is made of Taleggio, Brie and Smoked Cheddar Cheese.
This is when I thought I was missing something. Should not have they been all Italian?
4 on 10, I am afraid.

I should have chosen a dessert but I fell over my passion for cheese. This time I got hurt.



Finally
Environment, Music, Menus, Service Pass
Food quality, tradition, Resubmit





Next time I will have the lovely pizza which I already had but carefree....