La Grotta

A conspicuous, blue shining light on Silom Soi 19 was the first thing tempting us into this outlet, so we headed over. The two-floor restaurant with a transparent glass door gave us an interesting view of the interior from busy Silom Road. Upon stepping into the eatery we were greeted by the waiter and brought up to the second floor, though not before we noticed some available seats for us on the ground floor. We assumed that we had been dressed too casually for the place and seating us on the second floor was the best way to hide us from other’s view. Fine! We didn’t mind as long as they served us great food. The waiter came at once to advise us of the specials of the day as well as what wines they had available, but he was a little bit too pushy for us. We tried to ignore him, but still took a couple of his suggestions. We shared two starters: Instata di Rucula e Copesantes (sea scallops in Italian dressing) and Cezze al Arabbiata (sautéed NZ mussels with octopus in Arrabbiata sauce complimented by dry crispy chili). The dressing for the first dish was stunning—though we expected some ordinary Italian dressing from a bottle, this concoction was impressively homemade. The scallops and salad ingredients combined excellently with the dressing and we had to praise it as quite yummy. The mussels also came out fantastic. We could taste a little bite of chili at the end of our tongues but it didn’t live long enough to burn our lips. Both dishes were presented very well. Then came the main courses: Salmone (grilled filet of Tasmanian salmon with green leaf and masal sauce), Tresciutto e Mascapone (pama ham pizza with fresh tomato and mascarpone) and pasta with tiger prawns in tomato sauce. This last dish was recommended so fervently by the waiter that we ordered it just to stop him from yapping at us. Each dish came in huge, American-sized portions. The salmon was crispy on the outside but tender on the inside and we admired the delicate taste—especially with green leaf and Italian salad dressing. The pizza was also excellent. The last dish, the heralded tiger prawn pasta, came in a splendid presentation, though it had a very small amount of pasta, to be honest. The only way to finish this evening was with Da La Grotta (baked seasonal fruit with vanilla ice cream with egg, raspberry sauce). It took about 15 minutes for the dessert to be prepared, which was good—it gave us time to digest the earlier dishes. The sweet was not that impressive to us, though, being just plain baked fruit with meringue on top. Overall, a fantastic meal—except for the overattentive waiter who never got the hint no matter how many times we tried to ignore him.