Since this post is in Italy, should it be in Italian? 🤔

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On my first day here, my Uni’s receptionist told me of lunch and dinner discounts for students in my Uni offered by four restaurants. She however suggested that I visited Mokha as it was very good, and I cannot deny that.

Mokha’s lunch deal lets you choose 2 courses for only €6 when ordinarily, one would be paying the same amount for only one dish. Their meals are not expensive, to begin with, but seeing how their menu is laid out, I would assume that most people usually order more than one dish. So the discount was very welcome. Also, not having to pay an extra €3.50 for dessert was enough for me.

Now let’s discuss the menu. It was in Italian and I had to spend time translating it (Thank you Google Translate) after asking the owner (I believe) for the vegetarian dishes. Good thing the owner spoke a bit of English too. After what felt like a long time, I was ready to place my order.

However, while I was waiting to do so, something weird happened. The waitress dropped a bag with a loud thud on my table. I was going to tell her that I didn’t order ‘it’ but I saw paper bags on other tables. I opened the bag, and ‘it’ turned out to be an apple (a very delicious apple, I must say). The guys to my right had bread in theirs though. The only logical conclusion I could draw was that I got an apple because I was a solo diner.

My order was the Rigatoni allo Scarpariello which translates to rigatoni pasta, cheese and tomato sauce, and chocolate soufflé for dessert. The sauce was fresh and the cheese complemented it nicely. The sauce was also a bit tart and slightly acidic. The little onion pieces added a good amount of flavour to the dish with the basil leaves being a welcome burst of flavour too.

On the negative side, however, the pasta was a bit too al dente for my liking; I wouldn’t have minded it being boiled a bit longer. The pasta also wasn’t evenly cooked across the plate as some of the pieces were softer, and therefore better, than others.

When I was almost done with my pasta, I got served my dessert and boy, the heavenly smell of the chocolate when it was placed in front of me was wonderful! You know that roll-your-eyes-back-in-happiness moment? That was it. My God. Dark chocolate goodness. When I took my first bite, the warm chocolate sauce in the middle of the ‘cake’ was a lovely, lovely surprise. They could have turned down the sweetness though, and allowed the dark chocolate to really shine.  The soufflé was a very rich dessert and reminiscent of a chocolate lava cake.

The ice cream, on the other hand, was quite forgettable.

This meal was worth every cent! I have found my neighbourhood restaurant.

I’ve shown you pictures, now make it yourself. Here’s a recipe (FYI my halal fam, don’t use lard, use olive oil)!

Mokha is located at Piazza S. Marco, 5, 59100 Prato PO.