Aspasia

Read a few blogs about the place and had high expectations...

Bread is not as good as imagined. Prefer the ones in Angelini and Grassini. The dipping in the test tubes are cute but could not dip in it when the bread stick is getting short... The cucumber and yellow pea ones are of very mild taste and the bell peppers is the best of the three. Pity am not so keen on bell peppers.

They offered to let us try the three house red before deciding which we like. Don't know much about wine and picked Ripassa di Zenato simply think it taste better.

Fried mackerel with fennel salad - the fish is very tender with the centre still raw, perfect with the fennel salad.

This is only 1/4 of the pizza, so you can imagine the whole one is actually the size of a normal pizza . It's the very thin crust type and with just the right amount of toppings.
The pumpkin ravioli is surprisingly sweet, with a tint of cinnamon.
First time to come across a donkey dish - braised donkey with polenta and cheese. Have to try it, just for the experience, as never seen donkey on the menu before. It turned out to taste a bit like beef with a different texture. The sauce is quite thick and heavy so can't really tell if donkey has any distinctive taste. According to the Chef, it's good for cleaning stomach!?

The original dessert should be Basil gelatin with blood orange ice cream and sesame ice cream. But by the time we finished our lunch, that was all gone and the alternative is pistachio and passion fruit cake with strawberries salsa. The strawberries salsa is very nice and refreshing while the cake is light and not too sweet.

On the whole this was a lovely lunch - good food, nice environment, helpful service and great value for money. Definitely worth going again if in TST.