My Kind of Food

Almost all Italians are interested in, and passionate about, food.  A typical conversation amongst friends travelling to work together on the train might start about the weather, politics or the economy, with a consequent set of frowns developing on the faces of the interlocutors.  Then all at once someone mentions a particular dish they’d recently eaten and smiles return, the volume increases excitedly  and everyone is at ease, the problems of the world forgotten for a while.

I’m fortunate to have got to know a range of people who travel around Italy for work, often staying over night and therefore needing to eat in out-of-the-way restaurants.  One of these friends is especially good for instant recommendations.  When we last saw each other last Friday I asked him if he knew anywhere to eat that would show-case local food, well prepared, and located midway between Lodi and Bologna.  That would place it in the Emilia-Romagna region, somewhere near to Parma.  It was to be the venue of my meeting up with some friends from the UK who are currently taking a break in Bologna and it’s about an hour’s drive for each of us.

As quick as a flash Massimo named a restaurant and sent me a link on What’sApp.  There was no need to ask detailed questions, I trusted his judgement completely after he’d told me where to eat during the Bra (in Piedmonte) international cheese festival last year. More about the cheese festival on another occasion.

The restaurant, Ristorante Romani, is in a tiny Borgo (hamlet) to north of the city of Parma.  The only difficulty of the evening was trying to find the way into the restaurant.  Having parked in the car park at the back of the building we headed for the nearest door and discovered first the kitchen, then the staff rest area and finally the loos but no restaurant.  None of the back-room staff seemed at all bothered by us wandering round in circles but eventually we found an external staircase which took us to a very rustic dining room, entirely empty except for gli amici Inglesi who were patiently waiting at a table.

Not being able to decide what to choose from the menu isn’t really a problem in Italy as its often possible to have a little bit of this and a little bit of that and eat ‘family style’ with everyone sharing.  We decided to put off deciding what to order for the pasta and main courses by sharing an enormous platter of cured meats and a plate of the hugest chunks of parmigiana reggiano. On the side we also had two great piles of the gnoccho fritto that I wrote about here.

For the primo (pasta course) we also decided to share, three different ravioli dishes between four of us.  If I say they were nothing out of the ordinary, please understand that they were very good but also quite filling.  Filling enough, in fact that the plan to have secondi (main courses) was abandoned altogether.  The menus offered a number of main course options based around beef, horse and veal belly.  I don’t usually eat horse meat so I would’ve probably opted for the veal but I reluctantly gave in to peer pressure and made do with a soft, yielding pannacotta for pudding, which, along with tiramisu, is one of the staples of any Italian menu, anywhere.

I should imagine this is a lovely place to eat in the summer, with tables set in the courtyard but in any case I’d be happy to go back and eat my way through the rest of the menu.  It’s not the sort of place you would ordinarily find yourself driving past but would be perfect for anyone driving down the Via Emilia or staying in Parma.