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La Strada: Go for Pizza and Tiramisu
Friday, 23 April 2010 08:00
Written by BEVERLY!

A few friends have been telling me to check out La Strada for months, but we never had a chance to go because it's a little out of our usual hangout areas and we kept getting side-tracked. Boy, am I glad we finally found ourselves there!

Owned by Craig Willis (of Mr Willis restaurant above La Strada), the restaurant is casual and bustling with diners when we arrive for dinner. We're lucky to score a corner table by the window despite not making a reservation, and happily settle down to peruse the menu with a glass of wine in hand.

The menu is not huge, but since it's our first time, we were happy with the selections available. We are particularly impressed with our pizza, whose base is thin and crispy and isn't at all soggy (so many thin crust pizzas in Shanghai fall prey to the soggy factor). The ingredients are fairly generous though I wish they'd put the ingredients on the outer edge of the pizza too so I'm not left with a large piece of plain crust at the end. The spicy salami and mushrooms are fabulous on the pizza and we merrily devour it.


The macaroni and cheese gratin sounds simple, and is. However, it's beautifully cooked. Juicy macaroni shells baked in creamy cheese and scattered with some bacon bits. The bacon bits are a little pathetic as there should've been 3 times more of it, and it seems the chef entirely forgot to add herbs/salt to the dish - it has an extremely bland flavour. That said, we sprinkle on some herbs (in a little pot on every table) generously and the pasta actually tastes very good.

But the winner, by far is the tiramisu. It is, frankly, stunning. It's hard to come by a good Tiramisu in Shanghai (many of them come with little/no liquer or weird 'cream' is used), but La Strada do it well. A hunk of tiramisu arrives in a bowl, and it is slightly wet and oozy - just the way I like it. It's creamy and soft, with a great perk of flavour, and is absolutely enjoyed by us down to the last mouthful. The portion is a little small for me though, and you'd agree unless you have a tiny appetite.

A lovely, casual restaurant for a simple date or to catch up with friends. I'm looking forward to our next visit :)

Macaroni and cheese bake

The amazing tiramisu


Comments 

 
#8 RE: La Strada: Go for Pizza and TiramisuMirna 2010-04-28 14:28
Quoting erink16:
mirna next time you are around here let me know and we will have to meet there! the family i nanny for goes there often and i have yet to go!!! but they have the same feelings say its the best theyve had!!


great idea girls, lets meet up there sometime in May...
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#7 RE: La Strada: Go for Pizza and Tiramisuerink16 2010-04-25 17:35
sounds like a great idea beverly!!! im in!!
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#6 RE: La Strada: Go for Pizza and Tiramisubeverly 2010-04-23 22:43
Agree - the toppings are a little on the trim side but fortunately the base is awesome.

Next time let's plan a dinner there... maybe in a few weeks :) We can order our way round the menu muahahahaaaaa
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#5 RE: La Strada: Go for Pizza and Tiramisuerink16 2010-04-23 20:27
mirna next time you are around here let me know and we will have to meet there! the family i nanny for goes there often and i have yet to go!!! but they have the same feelings say its the best theyve had!!
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#4 More meat on the pizzaSusan 2010-04-23 20:13
I have tried their peperoni pizza and their potato pizza (shared with boyfriend, did NOT eat them both by myself hehe). We asked the staff to make the potato pizza with ham on top. No problem. And it was delicious! I think adding double ham would have made it even better - they were a bit stingy - but it was a really nice pizza. :-)
However, my favorite is still Da Marco (XJH).
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#3 RE: La Strada: Go for Pizza and Tiramisuelena 2010-04-23 16:36
Pizza is really good there. It's the thinest crust I saw in Shanghai. However they don't seem to have many meaty pizzas. My favorite is with paperoni and ham. One person can easily eat one pizza and be allright.

Tiramisu is wonderful as well. As a Tiramisu taste collector I think their Tiramisu can compete with one in the 'original' DaMarco.

Went to eat in Amokka (next door to La Strada) yesterday. Their menu includes pizza from La Strada. That's very cool, cause I like Amokka's interior much better! I was a good girl though and had grilled vegies salad with chicken breast.
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#2 RE: La Strada: Go for Pizza and Tiramisubeverly 2010-04-23 15:55
Hehe let's go soon then Mirna! Chris adores the place so he will def be up for it. Tonight we're going to Bella Napoli instead... i like 'em too :)
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#1 Beat me to the punch!Mirna 2010-04-23 15:53
I was just on Anfu Lu and thought, hmm we should go in there, keep hearing about their amazing pizza, let me ask Bev and Chris...next time!
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