Just days after the wedding of the year between Sally Li He from Qingdao, China and Riccardi Negri from the L’osteria in Barga, new things are afoot once more in Piazza Angelio. Riccardo’s osteria now has a radically different menu available for his customers.
From this morning he is offering not just his traditional Tuscan fare but also the possibility to eat traditional Chinese home cooking.
As the food is prepared freshly on the premises each day by Sally Li He, clients will have to book with at least three hours notice.
The menu this evening consisted of two meat dishes – pork and chicken, a vegetable dish and egg fried rice …. and the price ? A very modest Euro 20 a head not including drinks.
Guest of honour this evening was Frank Viviano, long time Staff Writer for barganews (articles are here) whose long journalism career began in 1977. He travelled widely from 1979-1987 for Pacific News Service and from 1988-2002 as the at-large foreign correspondent for the San Francisco Chronicle. He was the Chronicle’s Asia correspondent until 1990 and also co wrote the book ” Exploring the Best Ethnic Restaurants of the Bay Area” – the first complete, authoritative guide to the best ethnic restaurants of the SanFrancisco Bay Area-reviews and information on more than 200 restaurants representing 50 kinds of ethnic cuisine – so, to put it mildly, the knows a bit about Chinese cooking.
Click on the link to hear Sally and Riccardo talking (in English and Italian) about the new Chinese menu
Congratulations Riccardo and Sally and good luck with the Chinese menu. I hope the locals are willing to experiment with what is one of the worlds oldest and finest cuisines. Why not bridge the taste gap with a bit of fusion cooking? I have included for your inspiration a firm favourite of mine from a Chinese resturant in Wales that is staffed by Italians.
A crostini of polenta rarebit topped with Chicken feet in Black Bean sauce
What do you think the patrons of L'Osteria would make of that?
????
Mao Tse Zambonini
Say yes to monosodium glutamate and fortune cookies.