I’m all for Italian food. I’m all for Italians in general. Their passion for food is so contagious I often find myself talking in a hideous Italian accent and fighting the urge to whip a floury pizza base around the ristorante.
The setting
My big gripe with Jo’burg is that most restaurants are in a shopping centre or overlooking a large carpark. Pomodoro Ristorante in Morningside Shopping Centre ticks both of those boxes. But they have managed (as with all of the restaurants lining the parking lot) to position themselves in such a way, you are not aware of either. Unless some special Jo’burg types feels the need to let you know just how powerful their engines are as they leave the parking lot.
The food
Simply put – rich and full of flavour. My dining guests and I went through three dishes and while I like to think I can really put it away, by the time the dessert arrived, I was lying on the floor waving a white flag. Don’t rush at Pomodoro, take your sweet time. Peruse the menu before you choose your wine. Ask the waiter for recommendations. They know this kind of stuff.
I came back from the bathroom to find the owner and the chef sitting at our table and realised my guest was fluent in Italian. They were going through the menu, explaining with such passionate detail how each dish was prepared, that I was pretty much going to relocate and go all Under the Tuscan Sun on them.
My favourites
Risotto with porcini mushrooms – A good risotto is hard to find in this town. As is a good man, but that’s a whole other story.
La pailard di vitello all Romana – that’s veal steak with olive oil and lemon to me and you.
Le pizza – You just want to spend some alone time with them.
La torre di mousse al cioccolato – Chocolate mousse with berries. Even though, by this stage of the evening I was writing my will, I managed to sneak a bite off my partner’s dish. If I had died eating that dish, I would have died happy.
Price range
Not bad people. You’re looking at an average of R50 for a starter and a R120 for a main course. Pizzas range from R60 to a R100. My perfect lunchtime pizza – Tomato, mozzarella and fresh basil sits at R49. Not too shabby.
Perfect for
A dinner with the fam, a relaxed, chilled date or if you’re an Italian looking to feel homesick.
Pomodoro Ristorante was reviewed by Baglett. Read her tea-snortingly funny blog here.