If you like Italian food, you may already be familiar with Il Gusto. This Italian restaurant opened its doors about a year ago on Palestine Street, Il Gusto is beside Paninos and the Krispy Kreme Donuts shop.
We arrived early one evening to find the restaurant fairly empty. Two men were chatting away over their laptops while we found ourselves a table. Perhaps we had arrived too early; it is, after all, no secret that most locals prefer to dine after 9 p.m. However, we also wondered whether a lack of parking may have played a part as we had difficulty finding a spot in front of the restaurant and had to park further down the street and walk to Il Gusto.
The restaurant is long and narrow, a mix of gray and red tiles covers the walls and floor while hard décor tables and chairs run down either side of the restaurant ending at the kitchen. Along the walls, chalkboards show an indecipherable reversed text that is repeated throughout the restaurant.
A large wood-fired oven is at the center of an open plan kitchen and a glass partition on either side allows diners to watch the kitchen staff fast at work (once they’ve taken your order that is).
We settled down at our table and were attended to by a waiter and restaurant manager who both provided us with menus. Before we had time to choose our main courses, we were pleasantly surprised by the arrival of some courtesy ‘welcome drinks’ and a small plate of garlic bread.
There is no shortage of pizza here — over 12 varieties to choose from. It was good to see more interesting toppings — for instance, salmon, eggs, shrimp and various cheeses. We chose the ‘fungi alli Norma’, a tomato and mozzarella pizza topped with fresh mushrooms, pepperoni and oregano. And SR40 is very reasonable for a gourmet pizza. We started with a bresaola salad, which was mixed with rocket, mushrooms, parmesan cheese and vinaigrette dressing. The bresaola was soft, tender, and particularly good. The pizza was hot (as expected) and surprisingly thin, ‘Italian style’ we were told; the cheese and pepperoni topping mix was not too spicy, fiery enough to provide a nice ‘bite’. Although the pizza was a bit messy to eat — most pizzas generally are (unless served cold) — we had no complaints there. The staff were attentive but never tried to push an order which was a bonus, although the waiter did have difficulty elaborating on available desserts.
Fortunately the manager was able to save him by explaining that the menu was being upgraded and apologized for the reduced selection available. This was a shame, but I guess now we have a reason to go back!
Numerous fresh pasta dishes are also available along with soups and risottos. An extensive selection of meat and fish dishes are also on the new menu so it may be a good time to drop back into Il Gusto. Let us know how it goes!
Tel: 6600337 and 0550141266
Location: Palestine Road, beside Paninos.
(Rashed Islam is a food critic who hosts Jeddahfood.com)
