Description: I have lived in Nice for almost two years and until my friend - who was visiting from England - delved into the realms of his Rough Guie to France, I knew nothing of Pasta Basta. I was not even aware of its existence. After the rather good meal we ate there, I felt just a little ashames of my ignorance. Whilst Pasta Basta may not have boasted haute cuisine, it offered some very good pasta dishes at very reasonable prices - a combination that is not always easy to find in Old Nice in summer.
Pasta Basta does not really boast too many frills. It shuns the elaborate decor extravagabtly worded menus of many restaurants that you might find on the Cote 'Azur. Instead, things are relatively simple. The menus are printed on the place settings and the tables are rather simple bare wood. Instead, the focus is on the food, which is ood and very reasonably priced. There were four of us dining at Pasta Basta and we all ordered from the 15 Euro menu. None of us were disappointed.
Everything we had at Pasta Basta was good. However, it was the starter that truly grabbed our attention. We all ordered the tomato and mozarella bruschetta. When it arrived we were all astounded. It was almost the size of a pizza and was delicious. It would be no exagerration to say that the bruschetta could have been a meal in itself. Therefore, we were already quite full when the main course arrived we were already rather full. However, I certainly managed to find room for my lasagne. It came direct from the oven and was served in the dish in which it was cooked. It was very good. The only downside was the lack of side dish or garnish (had we not filled up on the bruschetta it might not have been enough). One other quirk was that three of us ordered the lasagne and the three of them all came directly from the oven in completely different dishes, which created a strange presentational effect.
For desert, we had the chocolate mousse. This was the most disappointing aspect of the meal. There was a very large serving - which is not always the case in Nice - but it lacked flavour and was rather blunt. We drank the house wine, which was surprisingly good, though not outstanding. We had the red, which was very flavourful and our friends had the Rose, which was very crisp and came nicely chilled.
All in all, dinner at Pasta Basta was a a surprisingly pleasant experience. Whilst far from haute cuisine, the food was good and the servings were very generous. The wine was also good. The service was also very good. The staff all spoke English and were very helpful. Dinner came to just under 70 Euros for four people, which represented excellent value.
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