Strada 241. Otherwise known as that Italian restaurant in Chinatown.
Strada 241 is a coffee shop at the front, restaurant at the back. Check. Exposed brick walls. Check. Warm wooden beams. Check. Pizza oven smack down in the middle. Check. The focus is rustic Southern Italian cuisine. Check, check, and check. All that said, it’s a pity that the food did not live up to expectations.
The Margherita pizza and the bucatini (with tomatoes, parmesan, and shredded basil) were unremarkable. The fried calamari was a dud; oily and speared on what looked like a torture implement, more confusing than appetizing. Their salumi selection, however, won me over. Most notable was the wild boar sausage.
But Strada does have desserts, and their cafe front, we were told, serves coffee until they close. As someone who usually craves a latte or ice-cream after a bowl of pho, I’m more than happy there’s finally a place in Chinatown to fulfill that need. (Leo would claim that it’s a want, not a need to have sweets after dinner. I ignore him every time.)
Canon AE-1 | Kodak Portra 400 & 160
