Chennai | Little Italy turns 35 with authentic pastas, wood-fired pizzas and a dose of nostalgia

Experience a journey through authentic Italian cuisine at Little Italy, Chennai, with a special celebration menu for their 35th anniversary.

Take a trip down memory lane and go back to the day you tasted your first pizza. Chewy, saucy, cheesy; a new cuisine was introduced in a single bite. It did not matter that you were too naive to know the difference between authentic and otherwise. The joy of cheese, sauce, and bread coming together was enough. But then, the winds changed. 

Little Italy, a warm, family-run chain of restaurants, set up shop in Chennai in 2001 and for over two decades, they have drawn generations of Italian food enthusiasts. Unlike some restaurants that limit their repertoire to just pizzas and pastas, Little Italy understands that Italy, like India, boasts a diverse culinary landscape. Their expansive menu, features antipasti, salads, soups, handmade pastas, and delectable desserts.

Last week, Little Italy launched a special celebration menu to mark 35 years of bringing Italy to India. This menu delves deeper into regional Italian specialities, even acknowledging local customs like enjoying fresh bread with a simple dip before a meal.

The wild truffle mushroom soup is a revelation — light, brothy, and refreshingly different from the heavier cream-based options found elsewhere. For a heartier start, try the pumpkin broth with four-cheese ravioli. While the menu offers classic salads like caprese and Greek, the warm pesto quinoa salad with cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, and feta cheese stands out. 

Italian cuisine is known for its focus on fresh ingredients, allowing each element to shine. The celebration menu reflects this by offering a selection of handmade pastas. The spinach and ricotta ravioli served in a del barone sauce is a bowl of comfort. The pumpkin ravioli served in a four cheese sauce on the other hand is heavier on the palette, which might be redeemable if you chose the sage butter sauce. 

But the real star of the show is the pinsa. This Roman-style pizza combines the satisfying crunch of a wood-fired pizza with the pillowy softness of a Neapolitan pie.  Offered in classic flavours like Genovese and fusion options like the fiery paneer, the rectangular pinsa is a must-try.

The menu, while keeping it classic, also keeps up with trends in the Italian food space. “Burrata cheese is very sought after these days and so are a lot of truffle products,” says Amrut Mehta, managing director, Little Italy referring to the many dishes on the menu featuring these ingredients, including the truffle gnocchi, which is handmade pasta, stuffed with truffle cheese and served in two kinds of sauces.