Plus

Grandma’s recipes made with love

Colombo’s latest Italian restaurant boasts of wood-fired brick oven pizzas and a chef flown down from Italy

By Smriti Daniel, Pix by Berty Mendis

Barbara Avossa-Gamage counts her grandmother’s recipe book amongst her most cherished possessions. Today, fittingly, the recipes contained within this old, beribboned diary are finding new life at the Regina Margherita – Colombo’s newest Italian restaurant. The proprietors’ quest to serve only the most authentic Italian cuisine finds delicious life in a menu that features a wonderful array of handmade pasta being made in-house and speciality meats, cheeses, wines combined with other ingredients imported especially for the restaurant. But the crowning glory of the Regina Margherita may very well be the wood-fired brick oven for pizzas – Colombo’s first – and, wonder of wonders, a pizza chef, flown down especially from Italy.

Barbara

It’s been five years since Barbara decided to settle down in Sri Lanka. She’s spent most of her time down south, where with her husband Dimithu Gamage she owned and managed the Galleria restaurant in Galle. The shift to Colombo, prompted by their two children beginning schooling, has led to the opening of the Regina Margherita. Barbara is an exuberant, welcoming person and for her the restaurant is meant to be nothing less than a complete Italian experience. She brings to the table not only a deep love and appreciation of Italian cooking, but the warm hospitality that the country is renowned for.

The restaurant, itself, with its warm terracotta interiors, and small “fountain” courtyard can hold up to 62 people. Green checked table cloths, flagons of wine and dish after dish mark the course of a leisurely meal here. Basics like olive oil, fresh basil and parmesan cheese are all flavours intrinsic to her cooking, says Barbara, adding that the quality of the ingredients is everything. The menu which features the likes of Italian Antipasto, veal tenderloin, and fresh seafood also has a range of pizza. The handmade pasta is accompanied by a range of sauces including quarto al formaggi – or four cheese sauce. Helping Barbara in the kitchen are two other chefs, both of whom have lived and worked in Italy for some time; some may know Chef Raja by his former position as the chef at the Italian Embassy in Colombo.

The pizzas are likely to be the biggest draw. The thin rounds, loaded with Italian favourites are flavoured by the wood fire over which they are baked. When stocked with dry cinnamon wood, temperatures inside the oven reach 350–400 degrees centigrade and it takes pizza chef Luigi approximately 3 1/2 hours to bake a single pizza. In Luigi, Regina Margherita boasts another connoisseur of Italian cooking. At the heart of his native cuisine are the “associations”, Luigi explains, for example between cheese and wine - for every meal, there is the correct wine. Barbara’s cellar stocks a range of Italian wines, with a few more soon to be added. To finish off the meal, Barbara plans to offer traditional Italian desserts like tiramisu, crustcake and affogato, again drawn in part from her grandmother’s recipes.

Delicacies like parma ham and the paper-thin bresaola beef (served with rucola leaves) are far from common, but Barbara has not only added them to the menu, she has also made them available for purchase at the little kiosk at the entrance. Displayed alongside are other mouth-watering, yet hard to find Italian classics including quality mozzarella, salami felino, salami milano, gorgonzola, and mortadella. Soon, ready to cook portions of ravioli, gnocchi and lasagna among others will also be on sale at the kiosk. Barbara adds that home delivery will be up and running within two months.

The appreciation of fine food seems to run in Barbara’s blood. A lawyer with a degree in criminal law, Barbara says her true inspiration continues to come from her family.

Her best memories as a child are of sitting in her grandmother’s restaurant - La Sambuca in Milan - learning to make handmade pasta and meatballs. It is an experience that she hopes to gift to her own children.

Regina Margherita’s business hours are from 10.30 a.m. to 11.00 p.m. Address: No 151, Park Road, Colombo 5. Tel: 011-7394440/1/2/3

 
Top to the page  |  E-mail  |  views[1]
 
Other Plus Articles
Who sanctioned the rape of a sanctuary?
Time to start building our national edifice of harmony - Letters to the Editor
Shaken up, flung around-welcome aboard - Letters to the Editor
Australian cricket team’s slip showing - Letters to the Editor
LP gas in affordable amounts - Letters to the Editor
A gentle scholar and a just professional - Appreciations
Compassionate nurse who comforted countless people - Appreciations
Much-loved Kandy personality served his country as lawyer and diplomat - Appreciations
A month of spirituality inspired by guidance and teaching of Allah
Happy to be home
A well known quest told differently and vividly
History: Time for clear vision
A guide to facing challenges in clinical situations
Fanfare for ancient Sri Lankan Kings
Her vision through a canvas of east and west
Spreading peace and harmony the Don Bosco way
For the first time bouwwas take a bow
Grandma’s recipes made with love
Step into colonial chic
Models to take you by storm

 

 
Reproduction of articles permitted when used without any alterations to contents and a link to the source page.
© Copyright 2008 | Wijeya Newspapers Ltd.Colombo. Sri Lanka. All Rights Reserved.| Site best viewed in IE ver 6.0 @ 1024 x 768 resolution