After staring blankly
at a screen for nearly two hours, surrounded by intense Gaelic football
supporters, I badly needed a treat. As we happened to be in the Queen’s Quarter
and both feeling famished we didn’t think twice and walked trough the doors of
Villa Italia.
Enveloped by a
scrumptious smell of melted cheese and garlic, we were instantly guided to our
table by a smiling and efficient manager.
The restaurant was
packed and bubbling with families, friends, couples providing an inviting
atmosphere. From the red and white, checkered tablecloths to the rustic and
comfy wooden furniture, everything felt warm and welcoming.
A chilled glass of
chardonnay in hand, we opted for two different dishes of pasta. My partner had
the “fusilli boscaiola”, a clever combination of spicy chilli and cream that
contrasted with the smoky flavours of bacon and were refreshed by garlicky
mushrooms and peas. Delicious and surprisingly not too heavy, just the right
balance of ingredients!
As for me, I chose the
“penne mercantonio”. Give me spicy salami, sundried tomatoes and cream and I am
in heaven. This was just what I was looking for, the ideal comfort food:
perfectly cooked pasta smothered in a rich creamy sauce exploding with the heat
of the salami and generously garnished with fondant chicken and beautiful
mushrooms. It was very filling, very certainly fattening but decadently
satisfying.
We obviously didn’t
stop at our main courses. Comfort food wouldn’t be comfort food without a
little bit of chocolate. We ordered the chocolate fudge cake to share, hoping
for the best, considering that from my personal experience it can be either
particularly good or really disastrous. All I can say is: “that is too bad the
cake was so small because it was absolutely outstanding”. It came covered in an
incredibly thick and fudgy chocolate sauce that just completed perfectly the
cake already smooth and moist and layered with a deadly dark chocolate ganache.
I was honestly going to order another one if it wasn’t for my partner that was
able to put some sense into me! Definitely the award of the best chocolate
fudge cake in Belfast or the rest of the world so far…
No comments:
Post a Comment