Da Mario revisited!

This was seriously an unplanned visit which also happened to be the result of trying to search for some place to quell a calamari craving. In the end somehow, a pasta turned up and a dessert too. Lol. Not that I'm complaining here, but so far, I have to admit to liking Da Mario and having it filed aside as a place for less expensive but still hearty Italian food.

That being said, the calamari was pretty good. Light on the crispy batter, mildly salted and I didn't even think that the tatare sauce was necessary. I had the unique experience this evening of having a large squirt of lemon juice heading straight for my eyes (seriously, it couldn't have been better positioned) while trying to squeeze that wedge over the fried seafood. I thought it felt like a scripted funny moment in Mr Bean with canned laughter, except that I certainly had not planned (nor ever will) to have lemon juice in my eyes.

There was a spaghetti al tartufo nero which I missed back at the first visit because they were out of truffles. Portions were heartily generous for both the pasta and the shaven black truffles in a light Gorgonzola sauce that wasn't too saltish. I think we had one that was perceptibly past al dente tonight. Having the notion that the truffle might be overwhelmed by the sauce I was wondering how the flavors would turn out, but as it was, both flavors contended amicably if you catch my drift. So while I wouldn't have minded a stronger Gorgonzola there, it could have well taken out the flavor from the fungus if it had been so.

Last visit, we had to leave out the zuccotto della cassa because there was simply no more room. In retrospect, we didn't really miss anything great. This was merely some pistachio and almond based semifreddo in a dense chocolate cake shell. The frozen cream centre did taste more of the almond than the pistachio and the cake was just unremarkable. Now I know I can safely discount the desserts here and just shoot straight for the food.