Delectable Dishes @ Da Marco

He Ate, She Hasn't Been Eating. I'm on an eating binge of late while I'm in Shanghai. Another night, another restaurant.

Da Marco is where the Shanghai locals go for homestyle Italian fare. That's what my friend Yut told me. So we made table bookings for this Italian bistro located on 103 Dongzhu An Bang Road, Golden Bridge Garden. The location is a little odd, set in the main building of a serviced apartment near Zhenning and Jiangsu Roads. We didn't really have a lot of trouble finding the place as some people did, and as we walked into the bustling restaurant we were immediately shown to our table by the window. Mind you, this is not your fancy five-star hotel trattoria, but the warm and friendly ambience made us all feel very much at home. The menu items looked very conventional, with the usual antipasti sampler, carpaccio, mussels and clam and caprese salads. There was also a good selection of meat dishes as well as a dozen or so pizza selections. Nothing bizarre or unpronounceable, just good old-fashioned Italian classics. We ordered beef carpaccio, air-dried beef and steamed mussels and clams. What stood out about Da Marco was the size of the servings, very big by local standards, and yet so reasonably priced.

For our entrees, we ordered spagetti aglio olio, seabass stuffed ravioli in a tomato sauce and shrimp capellini, and again, the generous portions were very delicious and well prepared. They were actually the size my Italian friend's mom would serve her dinners, always fearing that her guests would go hungry. Needless to say, none of us could finish our meals.

We were too stuffed to even attempt to share a dessert, so we asked for the bill, which came to a reasonable RMB700 for three persons, including a glass of prosecco and several rounds of tonic water. Not bad at all. In fact, it reminded me a lot of Cantina, another homestyle Italian bistro in a quiet neighborhood of Singapore with reasonably priced Italian dishes. I'm glad I discovered Da Marco, just like the many Italian expats in Shanghai who have become regular patrons at this popular eatery. This will come in handy when I have a craving for a late night carpaccio snack. I'm not Italian, but I know a good carpaccio or ravioli when I taste one.