Another offal lunch

Two days after seeing my friend for dinner, the two of us are dining together again. He had been wanting to try out Testina so I agreed to join him for lunch today.

I still have no interest in taking a tasting menu when dishes are availale à la carte, so we agreed on a selection of dishes and would make both of us happy.

"Lingua tonnata:, veal tongue and tonnata sauce - this was very, very good. The very thinly-sliced tongue was so tender and tasty, and of course that tuna sauce was just so, soooo delicious and leaves one wanting so much more.

"Trippa fritta", fried honeycomb beef tripe and rosemary - happy to have this again... as the texture is just so unique... being somewhere between crunchy and chewy.

Chicken offal pasta - the daily special pasta. We have ourselves some chicken comb, liver, gizzard, yolks from ovaries, and... testicles. As much as my friend and I loved this pasta, both of us stayed away from the testicles. Love the herbs mixed into the sauce.

Ravioli del plin, veal and mushroom jus - loved this on my last visit, and totally happy to have it again. It's a little on the heavy side but that's never stopped me... I do love that Parmigiano-Reggiano in the filling.

Codfish tripe, spicy nduja and bell peppers - I found this dish very, very interesting. The cod tripe tasted very much like the fish maw we are used to eating in Chinese restaurants, and the peppers, together with the acidity and heat from the nduja, reminds me of flavors round in Sichuanese cuisine. We've also got some teardrop peas and other crunchy bits which looked like buckwheat. Mixing it all up with the creamy, gooey polenta worked really well and gives a whole range of textures.

Hazelnut cake and Piedmont hazelnut zabaione - my friend really wanted dessert, and I wasn't the least bit surprised that we were recommended to have this. Wonderful hazelnut flavors all around.

A very happy meal, and great to catch up for some conversation with my friend. After two visits without her, methinks it is high time that I bring Sankala along on the next one...