AsiaLIFE

Our resident foodie, Darren Gall, finds himself next to a wood fired oven in the old quarter of Phnom Penh.

I was more than a little delighted to learn that my assignment for this month was to review the Italian pizzeria La Volpaia: situated on the corner of Streets 102 and 13, looking across the old Post Office quadrangle, in one of the most architecturally beautiful and sentimental spaces in Phnom Penh. La Volpaia is a trattoria style establishment with an authentic Italian look and feel, simple wooden furniture, terra cotta tiled floor, pale yellow table cloths and an open kitchen – with big, plain glass windows that allow views of the colonial ambiance into the dining experience.

A healthy selection of antipasti is available on the menu followed by an extensive ‘primo’ list of pasta dishes, pizzas and calzone, followed further by a compact list of ‘secondo’ consisting of beef, lamb and Salmon steaks. The dessert menu offers a wide variety of ice cream and sorbet flavours with a couple of classic Italian dessert staples such as tiramisu and panna cotta.

On arrival, the table is immediately set with foccacia, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and glasses of water. I have always marvelled at the way good Italian restaurants have the service side of their establishments down to a fine art, almost performance pieces in themselves. There isn’t the typical Italian flamboyance and extravagance with the local waiters here, but the service is friendly and efficient.

The focaccia is home baked, doughy, chewy and very good. The olive oil is extra virgin from Costa d’Oro, a large commercial brand of only medium quality. Whilst the Italian Balsamic is authentically Italian but, from the French company Clovis, it is large format, commercial and low grade.

I select the insalate caprese (US$8.50) for my antipasto, the tomato is fresh and comes in thick, coarse slices, the bufala mozerella is laid on in thick slabs, it is fresh, the texture beautiful, the combination is lightly sprinkled with shaved basil leaves lacking in flavour, drizzled with olive oil and splashed with balsamic. The dish is a delight, sadly only three pieces of caprese were on offer with half the plate taken up by an unnecessary mix of lettuce leaves grizzled with oil, no doubt to keep down food costs.

The pasta arrives, good-old spaghetti bolognaise (US$8.50), and the pasta itself is perfectly el dente. Sadly, the bolognaise sauce is a disaster, almost bereft of tomato and that sweet intensity of a rich bolognaise sauce, the sauce is all mushrooms and depressingly, powdered, low grade formaggio parmigiano.

My main course is a pizza Calabrese (US$8.50), it is an absolute gem, a truly Italian style pizza. The pizza dough is thin, tantalizingly crusty on the outside with a thin layer of doughy, soft texture in between, perfectly balanced and thoroughly tasty. The topping is also correct, sparsely dressed with pizza cheese, tomato paste and liberal slices of salamino piccante, not too spicy but, fresh, juicy and rich in flavour. La Volpaia immediately vaults to the echelons of one of the best pizzas I have enjoyed in Phnom Penh.

For dessert I settle on an old favourite, tiramisu (US$5), the best of which have to be about two or three days old so that the rich, complex flavours of cocoa, coffee, mascarpone, amaretto and savoiardi can meld together like a well honed symphony at la Scala. The tiramisu at La Volpaia is very, very good indeed, rich and creamy with lovely, intense coffee flavour, perhaps only slightly lacking in liqueur.

Overall, my first dining experience at La Volpaia was pleasant and satisfying, successfully indulging my passionate disposition towards Italian cuisine and evoking sweet memories. The space itself is a lovely place to dine, the staff is attentive and efficient, the menu is well varied, containing plenty of the classics, the food quality on this experience was generally good to very good. A sage Italian restaurateur once told me that Italian food is all about sourcing quality ingredients and then treating it with great respect, keeping the dishes relatively simple and allowing the flavour and quality of the produce to shine through. With a little more traditional passion for their ingredients and a little less slavery to the bottom line La Volpaia could easily elevate the dining experience from authentic to exceptional.

La Volpaia, 20-22 Street 13, Tel. 023 992 739