Italian!

I notice that since I came back and in the past few months there are more and more Italian men who started their own food business. Most of these men are married to Indonesian wife.

The first that I know own "GRAZIE", it is a catering business that only sell authentic Italian dishes like spaghetti, pennette, lasagne, risotto, sandwich and pizza. Their business card said that their original recipes are from Pordenone Italy. I know this for sure because I am holding their business card in my hand when I type this blog entry and I got it when I was invited to my friend daughter's birthday party.

Then in a month or two I found out that every weekend Papaya Supermarket sell home-made fresh mozzarella and other things as well that was made from the same Italian man. I was pretty impress that the mozzarella look so authentic. I have not the chance to purchase it yet but I definitely will the next time I go there again on weekend.

I wish I have the name of the cheese maker so I can post it here.

And then I saw a new Italiano Restorante called Trattoria just opened near my home. And again my friend who invited me to her child's birthday party told me to go there and try their pizza so since today I have no plan to cook I ask my husband and my son if they want to eat pizza and they both said yes.

My first impression of this place was low budget. But that's okay with me, because I know that not everybody can directly open a restaurant that looks like 5-stars hotel. Simplicity can have it's own charm. I am a little impress at how small things can go a long way or have a big impact. I like that they tore down the ceiling and paint the ceiling beam all black. Than I like that they still using the old tiles too. They also paint all the furniture black. I even like that they use an ordinary brown paper for their menu and their table mats.

I like it even more that they have pretty good waitress and waiters and even the parking attendance. Yes sure they are still having difficulty at remembering all the Italian names for every dishes that this restaurant have but I believe they will remember the names soon enough.

I was a bit confuse when I have to order because everything was written in their original Italian names with English in small letters to explain what they are. It will be confusing for people who can't even speak English to decipher their menu.

Since I was told to order their pizza, we ordered a 4 cheese pizza. R ordered carbonara and I ordered mushroom pasta ( I asked the waiter to tell me what is their specialty ). I also order their salmon salad. For drinks, I order house white wine, my son ordered pineapple juice. R ordered soda.

I am happy to tell you that they are very fast. It wasn't long before they serve us with their bread and bread stick. If I can say a bad thing about this place is those bread and bread sticks. They are dry and they are served without butter or even oil and balsamic vinegar. Nothing.

The drinks come next. I like my wine just fine ( I can't differentiate between good and bad wine! ) but my son loves their pineapple juice.

R's carbonara came next. He believe they used commercial pasta and it shows. What he doesn't like about his pasta is they are not hot enough. It is more like a pasta that has been cook and then left on the table until they are only warm.

Pizza comes next and my friend who told me to come here said that the pizza is so thin and light and she wasn't kidding. The pizza IS very thin and light and they ARE delicious. They look big but I think one man can easily order 2 and finish them of on his own. For woman. well...depends...is it me or some skinny girl....

We are pretty satisfied with the pizza.

My friend told me that the pasta is just so-so and she is right again.

Yes, my pasta luckily taste better than R's. It was made from fresh pasta ( green color ) and it was served pipping hot. It doesn't have any salty taste to it so I have to keep adding salt while eating. This way can be good and bad. The good thing is for people that have to watch their salt intake can seasoned their pasta according to their diet requirement. The bad thing is.... since when Indonesian cares about health???

The salmon salad is okay too. They give me a big bottle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and I can seasoned my own salad. This can be good and bad also. The good thing is I can control the oil that I use and since I know how to cook, I know how to season my salad just right. The bad thing is ... 90% of their customer grew up with maids and cooks. They never enter their kitchen unless they need to tell their cook to heat up their meal. I wonder how these people handle their salad?

The next time I come to this place again I will order more complicated dishes like osso bucco or their lamb chops.

Another thing that I like, they have daily special menu that always changed. I like that they go the extra mile to keep their restaurant always fresh. I will never knew what to order until I saw their daily menu first. You never know what they have on specials that day!

Because I am happy with their pizza, I even order 3 more to go because we have guests at home.

I would like to order their dessert to next time I am here. I will definitely be here again and you know why?

Because I LOVE their price!!!

One pizza cost somewhere around Rp.27.000 or US $ 3. Pasta is the same also.

I think maybe because I spent a lot they give me free of charge 2 shots of limoncello. I spent about Rp.280.000 that night or US $30. I know that doesn't sound like a lot right? At home I asked my cousin who went to eat there earlier than me if he also get free limoncello and he said no but then again he and my other cousin spent less than Rp. 100,000 or $11.

Will I recommend you this restaurant? Yes I will. Overall they are pretty good. They are quick to serve your order and they are cheap which is a very important reason to succeed in Indonesia.

For reservation here is the information:

TRATTORIA

Jl. Dr. Soetomo 51
Surabaya
Tel: (031) 567-8557
Fax: (031) 566-8493
Email: trattoriabali@hotmail.com

GRAZIE

For delivery please call: (031) 734-2693 , 7154-7054, (081) 1330-197
Graha Family Kondominium PA 1106 , Surabaya
(Special only for West of Surabaya area )