I know that Eating Like a Neapolitan does not sound quite as catchy as that quirky 80s hit Walk Like an Egyptian, but I was lapping it up at Ciao Napoli.
I felt as though I had walked into the arms of an old friend as we had not visited this excellent Aberdeen restaurant for three years.
The night was a variation on “When in Rome…”, except I had to imagine I was in Naples and the surrounding region, from where Ciao Napoli gets its inspiration.
Sitting in front of me in all its glory was a dish with the grand-sounding title of Costaletto e Salsicce – “a traditional Neapolitan dish”, as the menu proclaimed proudly.
By the time I was barely halfway through, I made up my mind to move to the Naples area (although I haven’t mentioned this to my wife yet). After all, if this how Neapolitans eat all the time, it would be hard to resist.
I crossed the threshold of Ciao Napoli with some trepidation on my return visit. I had fallen in love with it the last time, but what if the romance had died and things were not the same between us anymore?
My fears were soon allayed: fine food and service, great surroundings and attention to detail were still the watchwords here, I was happy to see. It was hard to fault, so why try to look for anything negative just for the sake of it?
Book early, though, because tables fill up fast here. I had to negotiate my way in, more or less, as I originally booked in the downstairs dining room, but then decided I preferred the street-level dining area for its rustic charm and atmosphere.
That was OK, they said, but we would have to arrive at 6pm and leave by 7.30pm on a Saturday night. We were fine with that because they were trying to be helpful and it suited us to be out fairly quickly. As it turned out, we had finished by 7.20pm. And, to top it all, they even let us select our own cosy table by the window overlooking Bon Accord Crescent and brushing up against a lovely wood-panelled wall.
Back to Eating Like a Neapolitan: what a sumptuous dish, with a 10-ounce pork chop taking pride of place, marinated with lemon and rosemary, but a thick char-grilled Neapolitan spiced sausage alongside giving it a run for its money. Friarielli (Neapolitan broccoli) and some sauteed potatoes rounded off the picture. It was bursting with flavour and heavy, rich flavoursome seasoning. What a wonderful dish.
My dining partner had gone a little more traditional with a 10-ounce rib-eye steak, which had been recommended by relatives who visited recently.
This didn’t disappoint, either, but was given a typical Ciao Napoli treatment: rich meat juices flowed from the steak, which was topped with wild rocket, parmesan shavings and balsamic vinegar glaze, and served with sauteed potatoes.
By the time we had finished our main courses, the place was virtually full. Yet we noticed that staff numbers had swelled, too, and they snaked their way around the tables constantly to ensure we were not left wanting for anything.
We had begun with two equally memorable starters: stuffed aubergine, packed with cherry tomatoes, capers, olives, parmesan cheese, pan-fried then oven-baked with mozzarella, and a pasta dish – a wonderful concoction of flat spaghetti, mixed seafood, including tiger prawns, calamari, monkfish, fresh mussels and clams in a garlic and cherry tomato sauce.
My mouth is watering just writing about these dishes again.
It is worth noting that the pasta dishes can be taken as a starter or as a half portion, which is what I did.
It can get a bit messy with pasta dishes and I felt like an idiot when I adopted the eating style of mobster Joe Pesci in Goodfellas, with my napkin tucked into the top of my shirt, but it was safer that way for me and other diners.
To round off our visit, we enjoyed generous portions of creamy pannacotta, with Amaretto liquor and topped with a cherry coulis, and delicious coffee and cocoa-soaked tiramisu.
Our brief encounter with Ciao Napoli had been a joy once more, but it is always hard to say goodbye to this place.
CIAO NAPOLI
10 BON ACCORD CRESCENT, ABERDEEN. PHONE 01224 213223
1 LINGUINI AI FRUTTI DI MARE £8.50
1 MELENZANE SCARPONE £6.95
1 TAGLIATA DI MANZO £21.95
1 COSTOLETTA E SALSICCE £17.50
1 TIRAMISU £5.10
1 PANNACOTTA £4.95
3 SOFT DRINKS £6.60
3 GLASSES PROSECCO £14.85
2 GLASSES RED WINE £9.90
TOTAL £96.30
GRACE LEFT £5