What does one do on a hot Friday afternoon when you are swamped with work and are staring at a 4hr deadline? Well, if you are me, go to lunch of course!
Well in my defense, I had to run a few errands and so I was basically killing two birds with one stone. I had three other accomplices with me so the decision to go to lunch was not 100% mine. I was unduly influenced. We went off to The Hub mall in Karen and decide to sit at the La Cascina restaurant that is right in the main central area of the mall.
It’s an Italian restaurant with an outdoorsy area perfect for the heat and the breeze was quite welcome. Our friendly waitress brought us the menus and being myself, I quickly thumbed through the wine list. Hey, important things first. It is a good wine list, heavy on Italian wines, obviously, but covers a different variety of tastes. They however have 21 different wines offered by the glass and this is something I appreciate. Just note that it is quite tricky to keep so many wines open and fresh and thus in such situations, one always runs the risk of getting a bottle that has been open to long. What you get in variety, you MAY lose in optimal drinkability. So, please do not hesitate to ask for a tiny sip to taste so that you can make sure that it is to your taste.
I wanted something light to eat as I had to go back to work and a heavy stomach was not going to be ideal. I settled for the beef carpaccio with rucola, artichokes and parmesan.
Now, this presented a slight problem because while it is beef, it is a very delicate dish with a lot freshness. Luckily, the wine list had just the ticket. Lamura; a Sicilian wine that’s organic to boot. The wine was a Nero D’avola, which is an indegenous Italian red grape native to Sicily. This wine was easy drinking and fresh with notes of cherry, raspberry, sweet spice and a hint of earth. It was pleasant to drink on its own, but went very well with the dish. It had a medium body, mild tannins and enough acidity to compliment the food. Exactly what was needed.
If ever you are in search of a good Italian meal with good wine as you ran errands around the Karen shopping center, try La Cascina and let me know what you thought about it. Maybe even call me, your ever faithful wine friend. Saluti!
PS. Yes, I did meet my deadline. Just goes to show what a meal with a good glass of wine can do!
