Cipiace - Parvis de Saint-Gilles
Cipiace - Which means: “We love it”, in Italian.
Last week my friend from Perugia said: “Hey, I know this great little Italian place, let’s go have dinner there”. Now, when your Italian friend, who herself makes amazing homemade pasta, asks you out to eat pasta, YOU GO!!!
We went on a rainy Saturday night and it was packed! It isn’t a very big place, but very cosy. And they’ve understood how to organize a busy night. You can reserve an early table just for aperitivo (from 17:00 to 18:30), for dinner of course (from 17:00 to 22:30, the kitchen is open till 23:00 for all dishes) or a late table for deserts (from 21:30 to 23:00, they’re open until midnight). I find this concept very pleasing and I love the early and late night table options. Situated on the lively Parvis de Saint-Gilles, where there is never a dull moment.
We started by sharing some antipasti. We were lucky enough to be in the courgette season, so we shared some fried courgette flowers stuffed with mozzarella and anchovies, grilled pulpo with porc cheek and toasted frisella (a tartelette made of soaked bread and then taosted) topped with oozing stracciatella and roastaed peppers. Cipiace is well known for their cocktails, they have a very passionate barman who has some fun ideas! So we had our aperitivo with a negroni and a Japanese mule (which was adorned by cotton candy!).
Needless to say the mains were just as delicious. I can still taste my lobster troccoli (a thick spaghetti) with cherry tomates. My companion had tagliolini with pistachio pesto and tuna tartare, which had just the perfect touch of lemon.
And if you can still manage a desert, please try the ricotta and black chocolate mousse. It’s heavenly!
The owner is extremely friendly and the rest of the staff follows that example. I had such a wonderful moment there and will certainly be back for more!
