Igosso

By Rob de Picciotto (bestfoodinchina.net)
Updated: 2009-01-14 13:55

The smell of extra virgin olive oil fills the air as you walk into the hip, jazzy lounge in the entrance. The dining room at the back has a more old school European feel, with dark woods, dim amber lighting, classy black leather chairs, and immaculate white table settings. The menu, in Italian, English, and Chinese, offers over 33 pasta dishes, all very reasonably priced: several fresh pastas, with meat- or seafood-based sauces averaging 70 RMB, and a head-spinning amount of spaghetti combos ranging from about 50 – 80RMB. Entrees include hearty meats and seafood from 100 – 150RMB, and the large selection of wines from all over the world (even including a high-end Chinese) range from 280 – 1500 to suit any taste or budget.

Igosso opened its doors October of this year. Morihisa Fujisaki, the owner, is the son of chefs in Japan, and has been surrounded by cooking all his life. He was the chef at his initial foray into the Chinese restaurant scene at his first place in Dalian. Initially cooking exclusively Japanese, he became more and more attracted to the Italian cuisine. Experimenting with fusion led to results long on novelty but short on lasting appeal and real quality. It was then that Fujisaki realized that fusion doesn’t necessarily have to be confined to the ingredients used. He hired a Japanese cook trained in Italy for 4 years and married Japanese cooking methods with all Italian ingredients.

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