I think everyone should experiencing eating in Italy in their life, even if just once. The Italians understand pleasure and they understand food – and more over, there is awesome produce readily available in which to create delectable delights.
Me with my favourite aperitivo, spritz con aperol
Last night, Zorba and I took Mum and Dad out to dinner. Susie and Ben just arrived back from their little romantic mini-break to Roma for one night and it was time to get the parentals out of the Umbrian palace and out to enjoy some of Italy’s gastronomic delights. A passagiata though Orvieto for about an hour, followed by an apertivo of my favourite Spritz con Aperol, was a wonderful way to start the evening. Orvieto is such a pretty, pretty town.
We chose to dine at the number one restaurant on Trip Advisor for the area, aptly named Numero Uno.
The indoor restaurant looks like it could be in a cavern and Mum poetically described it as reminding her of Cooper Peedy in outback Australia. “We are in the middle of Italy, in a town that boasts a history of thousands of years, and this reminds you of Cooper Peedy?” I ask. “It’s the domed roof – they use a massive truck with a roller with teeth to dig out dirt to build underground houses…blah blah blah,” Dad chimed. I kind of stopped listening…
Back to restaurant Numero Uno. The inside was like a cavern and could have once been horse stables. There was some antique looking items on display and a big blackboard listing the day’s menu. Note the prices.
We chose to try something different, mille foglie di melanzane, or eggplant sliced thinly and baked with a gratin top. Since this is usually made with cheese, we ordered two, one with cheese and one without for cheese-hating Walter. We also had five different crostini – like a bruschetta – topped with mash broad beans, tomato, tomato and basil, truffle, and a vedura and lard. Yes, lard. The lard in Italy is the tasty smokey lard usually found edging proscuito, and whilst it was once cheap, it is somewhat of a delicacy. Our starters were ok but we all agreed is was average fare, no more than a 6 out of 10.
For mains, Dad and I both had the pork with peaches. It had a gorgeous sauce and was really delicious, thick and peachy sweet. It was really, really good. Mum and Zorba both went for the fish, bacala with gratin. It was a big chunk of cod, beautifully moist and flakey. It was delicious. Both main meals get a 8 out of 10.
Us!
Dessert was heavenly. I’m not exactly sure of the name of what I ordered – it was tiramisu like in the there was a layer of soaked sponge in a glass between beautifully creamy sweet ricotta and white chocolate cream, topped with roasted slivered almonds. OMG. I was in dessert heaven.
Zorba ordered the tiramisu, something we never usually do because the tiramisu I make is so good that ordering it out more often than not leads to bitter disappointment. But not at Numero Uno. Their tiramisui was amazing. Truly delicious. Ten of ten for desserts!
Our gorgeous waitress Diana (great name!), served us efficiently and in a friendly welcoming manner. Chef Angelo came out and chatted to us at the end of the night which was a lovely touch. Chefs don’t do that enough these days.
The house red at 12 Euro per bottle was from Umbria and perfectly quaffable with dinner. We went through 1.5 bottles and took the rest home with us.
It was a great night. And we remembered where we parked in Orvieto this time and had no dramas getting home. A big shout out to Zorba for doing all the driving x
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FACT FILE
Osteria Numero Uno
Via Ripa Corsica, 2/a, 05018 Orvieto, Italy
Tel: +39 0763 341845
Email: info@osterianumerouno.eu
Closed on Monday