Da Papa Mario
370 Dagu Road
Shanghai, China
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We were wandering along a lovely, quiet street in Jingan (one of the areas that we’re keen to live in) when we spied a brightly-lit Italian restaurant, decorated very obviously in red/green/white. Made my stomach do a lurch (in a good way!) because been totally Asian-food’ed out as of late. YES I know Western food is way way way pricier than Asian food here in Shanghai… but sometimes the urge just strikes and you’ve got no choice but to sucumb! We held high hopes for Da Papa Mario, as so far we haven’t really found a great pizza in Shanghai. Promisingly, pizza seems to be the main feature on the menu here, with your choice of either on the Regular crust or American style crust. What’s the difference? We didn’t quite know either! I figured the American style one would be thicker and the Regular one would be like an Italian thin-crust.

Because I am a greedy guts, I insisted we get the thicker American style pizza, which came with a slew of meat toppings. The crust was actually really thin, so I presume it refers to the crust edge, which was about 1 inch? I actually prefer my ingredients to go right to the very edge (ie. maximum food, haha), so will go for the Regular crust next time. The pizza was FANTASTIC. Lovely crust, and a very generous serve of toppings. Not too doughy, not too cheesy. Also a nice size for 1 person (albeit one with a healthy appetite).

We also got the tomato cream pasta. That wasn’t the name on the menu, but I’ve forgotten it. It was their speciality dish and I can see why. It’s similar to ravioli, except bigger and filled with ham and other ingredients that I’d forgotten. Slathered in a rich creamy tomato sauce, it was decadent and oh so good!!! Delicious comfort food and so tasty. The pasta could have been a little more el dente, but it was still a brilliant meal, especially with a generous sprinkle (okay, handful) of Parmesan on top.

The service was top-notch. Extremely attentive and so friendly to boot. Turns out the waiter lived in the area we were keen on, so we had a good chat about prices, etc. They were cheerful, friendly and very willing to please. We were also pleasantly surprised when we were each given a shot of their home made Limoncello. A great way to end a meal, and a pleasurable one at that. Will most definitely be returning!

Da Papa Mario

Oddly sweet flat bread. But the homemade garlic & herb butter was great!

Man, the pizza looks bigger than my torso……

Chris looking rather pleased at us having found a nice Italian joint

AWESOME PIZZA

Just as awesome pasta. Mmmm comfort food…

A very strange shot of me

Homemade Limoncello!