Folietta

I've always been a fan of the family of restaurants run by the Wentworth Hospitality Group.  These include Tableau, Maxine's and Homer St Cafe.  So when I heard they opened Folietta Italian restaurant out on Nanaimo Street, I was anxious to try it out.  Turns out that Viv beat me to the punch and went for their Happy Hour first.  With positive feedback, I decided to book it for my mom's birthday dinner.  Since it was an early reservation, we were able to order some items off the Happy Hour menu as well.

As such, I ordered quite a few things off of that menu including the Focaccia with Ricotta.  We enjoyed the creaminess of the ricotta combined with the black truffle and olive oil.  The flavours were not strong but definitely there to provide some aromatics.  The focaccia itself had a firm crispy exterior giving way to a softer almost airy interior.  We also ordered a plain focaccia with EVOO and balsamic.  That was great with the pastas.

Also part of the happy hour menu, the Wagyu Beef Carpaccio was sliced paper-thin.  As such it was also super buttery and tender.  The fact there was only a modest amount of fat helped its cause as too much would make it chewy.  On top, we found pickled mushroom, bagna cauda, smoked egg yolk and shaved reggiano.  The combined flavours resulted in acidity, brininess and nuttiness.  Didn't get a lot of smokiness from the egg yolk though, but loved the texture.

When Viv suggested we go for the Insalata Mista, I thought she was joking.  When she pointed out that there was cubes of salumi and crispy pieces too, I was sold.  That itself gave the salad plenty of robust saltiness to compliment the tanginess of the dressing and the pickled peppers/olives.  Greens were crisp and fresh while the generous amount of sharp provolone afforded extra body to the salad.

From salad to all meat, we had the Polpette e Sugo.  These meatballs consisted of veal and pork.  They were soft and moist with an almost fluffy texture, but while retaining a certain meatiness.  The slow-roasted sugo was bright and very tomatoey.  Nice tanginess and balancing sweetness.  That toasted focaccia was great with the sauce as it had a smoky crispiness.

Up until this point, the appies were quite good, yet the Calamaro was my favourite.  Each strip of Humboldt squid was soft and tender while having a slight chew.  Exterior was crispy and light as the coating wasn't too thick.  Yet what really made this dish was the Puttanesca underneath.  It was intensely flavourful with hits of brininess, salty tanginess and slight spice.

Rounding out our appies, that were all from the happy hour menu, was the Parmesan Crocchette.  These were $3.00 per piece.  I thought they were tasty with a crispy shell that revealed a soft and creamy mochi-like texture.  Definitely could taste the salty nuttiness of the parmesan.  With grated prosciutto di parma and reggiano on top, we got an extra hit of saltiness.

Onto our mid-course, we had some pastas including the Bigoli with Venetian duck ragu.  This was absolutely fantastic with firm strands of thick bigoli.  The texture of the pasta held onto the ragu well and each bite was impactful with rich meaty notes and sweetness.  Extra body and nuttiness was provided by the cheese. Loved the texture of the crispy skin pangrattato.

As great as the first pasta was, the Linguine was equally delicious.  It featured Zeke's spot prawns and the briny sweetness combined with the shellfish jus made this pasta memorable.  The natural shellfish flavours created a connection with the prawns.  Quite often, a seafood pasta is disconnected from the components as there is no seafood flavour.  Not the case here.

We moved onto the main dishes starting with the Pollo e Crostone.  As much as its appearance was fantastic, the chicken itself was rather dry.  However, the piece of charred focaccia with garlic jus was super tasty.  On the side, we had the Piselli Grigliati.  I wanted to like the grilled spring peas but they were so limp and overdone, there was no texture left.  On the other hand, the lemon ricotta at the bottom was creamy and tangy.

We weren't a fan of the chicken, but the Maiale was on point.  The spiced pork chop was cooked beautifully where it was slightly pink inside, but fully cooked.  Sporting a cheesy taleggio crust, there was some tanginess already, but the fennel sausage soffritto was money.  It was meaty, salty and tangy.  Really complimented the pork with brightness and umaminess.

Onto the sweets, we only shared 2 because we had a Trafiq cake waiting at home!   With the marscapone crema poured on top table side, the Tiramisu was quite good.  I found the ladyfingers to be soaked until moist while not being mushy.  There was a balanced espresso hit while the marscapone itself was creamy and purposefully sweet.  I thought the presentation was an interesting touch.

The other dessert we had was Dolci al Cioccolato Trio featuring dark chocolate terrine, chocolate salami and chocolate torte.  This was a chocolate lovers dream!  I loved the salami as the pistachios added crunch and nuttiness.  Torte was rich and smooth with an appealing density.  Nice sheen on the ganache in the terrine.  Those candied hazelnuts added crunch.  Overall, our meal at Folietta was good.  I'd skip the chicken and snap peas though.  Service was excellent and we would be open to a return visit.

The Good:

- Loved the pastas

- Lots of selection with the happy hour menu

- Excellent service

The Bad:

- It was busy, so food came out a bit slow

- Skip the chicken and snap peas