TGIF! It has been an extremely busy week with work and with the lingering excitement over the free laptop I’ve just won, I’ve decided to give Mom and Dad a dinner treat at the Italian Restaurant down the street.

This is a family-owned restaurant with cozy ambience and a nice selection of  Italian cuisine. But we have opted for more traditional food instead this time to suit our palette for fresher, simpler yet tasty ingredients.

Browsing through the menu, we picked some humble food which Italians usually savor at home. Worth mentioning here are the few dishes we can’t sing enough praises for.

There is the gnocchi, a tiny dumpling made from various ingredients like egg, flour, potato, greens, cheese and breadcrumbs. We ordered the potato gnocchi, which was soft and tender and it tasted real good with simple tomato cubes and some basil sauce. It was a very refreshing home recipe.

The veal escalope is another great comfort food- a thin slice of meat coated with egg mixture and crispy breadcrumbs and pan fried to a perfect golden brown. The meat was tender and juicy, accompanied by some salad and herb leaves.

We also had the pattona to satisfy our sweet tooth. It’s a rustic peasant cake rich in flavors and mildly sweet. When served warm, it literally melts in your mouth!

So, with the good food and all, it was a very pleasant evening and every bite was so satisfying!