Themed Restaurant: Italian

I live in a small city south of the Philippines. One of the things I miss after having lived in Metro Manila is the huge selection of restaurants. Thus, I have tried a lot and now that I am based here, I miss them!

This will be the first in a series of articles I will do on themed restaurants. Let me clear that I am in not a particular expert in several themes but I will do my best to give you the good information on themed restaurants.

I choose to write about Italian themed restaurants today. I choose Italian because I love pasta and natural tasting, fresh sauces. I particularly like pasta tossed in chopped tomatoes and olive oils.

One thing I have learned about Italian cooking is the use of simple recipes that spell fresh, vibrant, flavorful in every bite. It means using authentic ingredients, if possible, like olive oil, sea salt, coffee, pasta and the like. Of course, this is dependent on your possible sources for these products. I particularly like the use of fresh chopped herbs, tomatoes, pepper and cheeses. Italian cooking is always fresh and rustic so the ingredients have to be right.

If you do plan on having an Italian restaurant, like in any restaurant, a lot has go into recipe research, ingredient sourcing and testing these recipes so that they do taste Italian. The last thing you'd like to hear from your customers is that it does not taste Italian.

I particularly like Italian restaurants that does not all look green and red. Those are, of course, the colors of Italy, but it would be great to spruce them up with some complementing color.

It is important to be correct in spelling your menu titles. Your staff should also learn major greetings they can use in the restaurant. Don't forget to liven up the mood with some Italian music.