By Theresa Miao (Shanghai Star)
Updated: 2006-09-15 09:53

Later this month, five luxury Italian restaurants in the city will provide special menus featuring the flavours of Tuscany.

The region is in the heartland of Italy, made up of coasts, mountains, plains,villages and cities, all of which heavily influence its cuisine. The region is also famous for its abundant history and culture, and as the birthplace of the Italian language. Its food reflects the very best of Italy's home cooking.

Tuscany is in the heartland of Italy, made up of coasts, mountains, plains,villages and cities, all of which heavily influence its cuisine. Tuscany's food reflects the very best of Italy's home cooking. [Photo by google.com]

In addition to the pizza and pasta that make the Italian cuisine so famous, diners can try some everyday foods prepared by Italian chefs in the Tuscan way. A recent food tasting event held in one of the five Italian restaurants-The Kitchen - evealed most of their menus in a special preview and allowed me to sample several dishes.

The Kitchen is a very pleasant place located in Lujiazui, close to the Huangpu River. It is decorated in typical Western style but its real attraction for me was the wooden deck next to the water.

The tasting was not a formal dinner but more like a tea party with small portions of delicate Italian dishes. Star chefs from the five restaurants worked together on two traditional Italian dishes - pasta and spaghetti. Both were prepared with pecorino cheese, which is especially popular in Tuscany.

The pasta with mushrooms and pecorino cheese was pleasantly mild although the cheese was a bit tangy for me. Due to its unusual colour, the black squid ink spaghetti was more interesting. It tasted somewhat bland but delicate. According to Dario Congera from the Prego Restaurant, the preparation of black spaghetti was not complicated.

"We just mixed the squid ink with eggs and water and later added flour to make the noodles,"he said. The dish is expected to be served by his restaurant during the promotion week.

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