Given the coincidental timing of our visit on Woman’s Day, it was just as well that La Mia Casa has mastered the concept of the production line.
The QR code was the clue that LMC (they like calling it that on their attire) is a true western restaurant; drinks come first on the menu to which that code leads.
Part of that is hereditary. For LMC is located in the space previously occupied by Bellini that was a firm favourite with the foreigners. Such a popularity remains in the Casa of today too, with quite a few present this International Woman’s Day.
So too does the stone industrial vibe amounting, barely, to interior design, and the absolute minimum of effort on the part of the latest tenants.
Up north provides for the rest of the influence, in so far as LMC is the creation of a Beijinger. Many of the staff working therein daily are also northerners; their height being a dead giveaway.
The lasagne (¥60) ordered by one of our dining companions disappeared in, like, 10 seconds; the paella (¥68) by another was met with a polite “comme ci comme ça” while the Caesar salad (¥36) by the teenage member of our party (and aren’t they the most fastidious of diners?) was pecked at and then slid in the direction of this correspondent. I understood her drift.
By this point, a trend had emerged; predictability. But perhaps one that explains LMC’s reported growth and popularity among the locals since its opening in 2018; lava cake, Italian ice cream, tiramisu, minestrone and clam bacon cream soup. A little more imagination could go a long way.
Time for the main, critical event. In a classic case of “hot or not”, our DIY pizza was top notch, earning a full 10/10 from the fastidious teenager. The final couple of slices, however, eaten after it had cooled considerably, were far from. And is not the hallmark of a good pizza that it also taste awesome cold?
Then there was also discovered the paper menu, complete with all the usual suspects as to pizza offerings. Had we been made aware of its existence, perhaps the inevitable trappings of DIY could have been avoided.
The same cannot be said for the Peroni beer (¥32), again virtually the first thing on the menu and again highlighting the establishment’s western credentials, which, together with a glass or two of Pinot Grigio (¥35) makes a visit to LMC obligatory. But perhaps just the once.
La Mia Casa is located at 14-1 Nancxiucun, off Shanghai Lu 南京市上海路南秀村14-1. Tel 58578887
