Italy- Summer 2011- Post 1

All'Osteria Bottega on Via Santa Caterina, Bologna

We have a strange affinity to Italy and as a family, have fallen irrevocably in love with this beautiful country and its gorgeous food culture. This year when it was time to plan our vacation, Italy was, yet again, an obvious choice. It was our third trip and I will always remember it as one of my best and worst. The worst part will stay unmentioned as I am still trying to exorcise it out of my system and I really don't want to use this blog as one of my channels of exorcism. In any case, when you are in Italy, the good ALWAYS outweighs the bad :)

The high point of this trip was a meal at All'Osteria Bottega in Bologna. We read about this cozy little place in a New York Times' travel piece on Bologna and were determined eat there. We set out to find the place on our very first day in Bologna, we found it but it was closed, we were too early for dinner. Yes, it is one of those places that embraces the slow food movement fiercely and is categorical about quality over quantity. It opens from 12:30pm-3pm for lunch and 7:30-10pm for dinner and closed on weekends and Monday.

We finally made it for lunch and it was one of the best experiences of my life! The extremely chatty and nice owner, Daniele Minarelli took our order- plates of mortadella, prosciutto and cheese followed by a classic Bologna dish, tortellini in brodo - delicate parcels of pasta filled with a pinch of mince pork in a flavourful broth. For the main course, B had roasted rabbit, I ate some exquisitely flavoured cold sliced beef roast with rocket and parmesan salad and G ate Tagliatelle in ragu. G had stuffed herself with the cold cuts and could not finish her pasta, so I took over. I had difficulty moving after tucking into so much food but the walk back helped!

If you are ever in Bologna this is one place you must not miss!!