Cameo performance - plain luxury, Italian style

2008-03-05

    Italian restaurant Cameo serves authentic cuisine in a stylish setting, making it a safe bet for a first date or a birthday, or even just to combat cravings for classic quality pasta.

    As with many Western restaurants, the meal at Cameo started with complimentary bread. But unlike most of these experiences which involve chewing one's way through crisp or dry pieces of white bread, Cameo offered a true treat: real Italian style bread served with fresh tomato and basil, virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

    One dish that may cheat the eye is the cream of mushroom soup (45 Yuan) which at a glance does not look like much with its almost greenish brown liquid. But once savored, this soup is mild and flavorful, creamy yet healthy.

    Another recommendation is the seafood soup, priced at 55 Yuan, which makes for a good appetizer. Full of chunks of fish, whole mussels and small pieces of squid, the ingredients of this seafood soup are refreshingly obvious.

    To go along with the meal, we opted for the classic Italian sparkling water San Pellegrino as well as a glass of Campagnola Montepulciano D'Abruzzo red wine.

    The main courses were simple, yet flavorful green spaghetti with basil pesto sauce and classic lasagna, price at 70 Yuan and 75 Yuan respectively. One might argue that when eating at a fine Italian restaurant like Cameo, one really ought to go for the more expensive or unusual dishes. At the same time, it is exactly pasta dishes like these, and pizza which has made Italian cuisine well-known around the world.

   Classical ingredients like olive oil, basil and fresh tomatoes are paramount to Italian cuisine, known for being mild yet flavorful.

    To end an otherwise very good meal, we took a cup of Italian coffee, which �C although served beautifully with homemade biscuits �C was a tad on the bitter side. The Italians surely like their coffee strong, so much that I ended up by adding an entire small jug of hot milk to my cappuccino before it was tamed to my taste buds.

    The service at Cameo is without a doubt at the high end of the scale; but nothing less could be expected when looking at the stylish restaurant where even little details seem to count.

Cameo Italian Restaurant and Bar
Add: A2, No.600 Lantian Road, Jinqiao, Pudong, Shanghai