It's been a while since I've been to Casa Gio – but I've had a lot of great food experiences there over the last few years. We went there on a Saturday night in July and it is nice to see that they have expanded a bit and now they are also using a small covered backyard and that means a bit more space in the restaurant (great in these corona times). We got a table in the restaurant itself and the concept is the same: a couple of appetizers and a few main courses – and a lot of focus on pasta. The menu is on a blackboard as you enter the small restaurant, and it is also presented when ordering. Nikki took care of the seafood and ordered scampi and octopus salad for starters and seafood linguini for the main course. I took the "Italian antipasto" as an appetizer and tagliatelle with ox ragu as the main course. I'd love to see it be a proper wine menu but as usually we were presented with a couple of options, and we decided to have a Chianti Classico.
The appetizer was served about 30 minutes after we arrived at the restaurant and Nikki's seafood salad both looked delicious and tasted good. I don't have much experience with octopus, but I may soon have to learn how to cook this as it was juicy and tender. My dish was various salami (with truffle and spicy) parma ham and cheese (parmesan, tallegio and percorino with truffle). Quite simple yet so delicious. Nikki's seafood linguini (or pasta vongole) was served on a colorful plate and was pasta with mussels and heart shells. My tagliatelle with ragu was pasta topped with a meat sauce and with a little Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. As in Italy it seemed like it was cooked with love and focus on good ingredients – which makes it delicious. I rounded it all off with tiramisu and I love the combination of the biscuit and the cream.
It was awesome to be back at Casa Gio and after several trips to Italy, this is the place in Stavanger that is the closest I come to an authentic Italian meal. I cannot wait to visit again and reminisce more about visits to Italy!
Facts:
Homepage: casagio.no
Location: Pedersgata 48 - see this Google map
Price: 640 kroner (73 USD) for my three course meal
