Pasta and Basta (Sretensky Boulevard, 4/1) was closed, but reopened – now with Italian recipes with elegant inventions from chef Igor Alexandrov (Cantinetta Antinori).
Pros:
— so comfortable and beautiful that you don’t want to leave at all. A lavish interior with painted ceilings, pendant chandeliers and a tiled pizza station. And even in tall candlesticks, real candles burn;
– a collection of types of egg paste in the form of coats of arms in the same place – on the wall. There is no better visual to explain the difference between fettuccine and tagliatelle;
— in the atmosphere one can feel the old-fashioned Italian chic (this is easy to find somewhere in Noto);
— chicken liver pate with champagne jelly (390 rubles) served on a fragment of an improvised ancient Roman column. Silky pink pate with a scattering of transparent jelly cubes on such a plate looks luxurious;
— thin-dough pizza with truffle (950 rubles), a lot of arugula and a good amount of cheese. Truffle on top, in thin circles the size of a five-ruble coin. Smells amazing and tastes exactly what you want. None of the ingredients pulls the blanket over itself;
— Absolutely classic Linguini Amatriciana (780 rubles) with tomato sauce served in a magical Sicilian ceramic plate, which is a hundred thousand times tastier;
– if you order a glass of champagne from Monday to Wednesday, they will give you a free sea urchin. And if you order a bottle, then there will already be half a dozen hedgehogs. There is also a special menu “Hedgehogs in the Fog” with tuna tartare and spaghetti (all with caviar of those same hedgehogs);
– friendly staff.
Minuses:
– bread is not served with pate. You need to order, for example, focaccia with parmesan (this is how a minus can turn into a plus before your eyes);
– you need to come up with something with the front door and a draft, from which no ravioli with burrata and langoustines (850 rubles) can save you mentally and physically.
Photo: courtesy of the restaurant
