Va Bene Pasta Deli, Bonifacio High Street

Rather than dwell on the sadness brought upon by news of the demise of a beloved aunt, I've decided to write about a recent lunch experience. I find writing to provide some healing as it helps me think about lighter topics. And the mental exercise I get from it also provides me with a more focused mind that keeps the sad thoughts away.

Looking for a place to have lunch at the Bonifacio High Street one Saturday after our daughter's play school, we ended up at the Central Square where there were also restaurants mostly at the top (cinema) floor. The Clairvoyant quickly saw Va Bene, which was familiar to her and it wasn't so difficult for us to decide to eat there once we saw their menu just outside their door. There were also many other people eating there despite us arriving towards the end of what is typically the lunch hour. Most were foreigners, families actually, and so we took that as an indication that the food must be good.

We were already so hungry that we thought about taking photos after we had already eaten some of the food that we ordered. They make their own pasta (thus the 'fresh' tag in their menu) so that was probably one of the reasons the pastas we ordered were flavorful and having just the right texture (definitely not soggy nor hard as if it weren't cooked properly).

Bianca pizza - this looks thick but isn't heavy as an appetizer. The cheese blended really well with the honey and the crust was the right crunchy

Parma ham with greens, cantaloupe melon and shaved pecorino - we didn't expect the serving to be so generous considering parma ham wasn't cheap to begin with

Potato gnocchi - the Clairvoyant enjoyed this very much and so did our daughter who continues to surprise us with what she likes to eat. I was expecting her to like the bolognese more than this dish.

Bolognese tagliatelle this is perhaps one of the best bolognese I have tasted

Va Bene offers high quality food and the prices make it good value for your pockets or wallets. Located at the cinema level of Central Square at the end of Bonifacio High Street, it is away from the other, stand alone restaurants along High Street. It's not really a secret that its there but perhaps its location keeps it from being too crowded. We are definitely keeping this on our list of restaurants we should eat at again sometime soon.

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