Making pizza and pasta has been on the to-do list for a while and I’ve long been daunted by this seemingly difficult task. That theory went out the window after I was invited to cook and eat with the chef at Parma Cucina.
Parma, a 120 seat modern Italian restaurant, is a relatively new kid on the block, in a roomy two-storey building on Crown Street in Surry Hills.
Parma uses fresh ingredients including fresh Buffalina Mozzarella from Italy. Aside from fresh pasta, a speciality is the light and crispy pizzas, with gluten free bases also available.
Chef Alessandro Vinci-Cannava, or Alex as he introduced himself, has an an unmistakable passion for food and talks about with gusto. His enthusiasm is infectious! It took me a few minutes to adjust to his fast pace and high energy.
Alex kindly came to work on his day off to treat a group of bloggers to a pizza and pasta making class. There was a lot to take in and I’m sure it will take a few practice goes to get right, but I’m happy to say that it seems like a much easier task than I anticipated.
After a few hours crammed in the hot kitchen, we all sat down to an amazing meal which included some very delicious vego options:
- Pasta with peas and tomato sauce rolled inside a slice of grilled eggplant and baked with cheese on top
- Ricotta filled ravioli with burnt butter and sage sauce
- A thin pizza with grilled vegies
- Orange polenta cake
The large open bar offers local and Italian beers, wines and cocktails and with so much room, Parma would be a great place for a long lazy dinner with friends. After work drinks, anyone?
There pizza was pretty damn good wasn’t? And I’ve been making LOADS of burnt butter sage sauce since this class – YUMMY.
YUMBO. I wonder if it works as well with dairy free spread.. I must experiment and find out!
Wonderful looking class! Looks like lots of fun.. How nice of him to come in and do this on his day off
It was a lot of fun and tasting everything afterwards was the best part
Now this kinda food I LOVE!
Birthday coming up. I will have to casually mention this to the hubs!
Great idea! The food is really light and fresh.. plus the bar is huge! Perfect for a birthday
Ooo I have walked past this place so many times and was curious if it was any good. Must try soon!
Yes! In fact, I’d like go there again too!
Those pizzas look amazing! Want
They totally were! I want them again too
Parma seems to be a pretty popular name- I’ve come across at least half a dozen places named Parma! P.S loving the look of that polenta cake!
Oh and it tasted fab too! Yum
I am really digging that eggplant dish – it looks absolutely gorgeous! Actually, it all looks fab. The sound of the polenta cake has really got me intrigued
The eggplant and pasta was awesome, it was a vego dish made on the fly. It seemed surprisingly easy too!
pasta looks great. good to know the chef is very passionate about the food.
And you can tell when you eat the food that it’s been made with love