For all lovers of exotic cuisine: here is a really recommended place in the capital, near Ponte Milvio. Get ready to discover new tastes and flavors and to welcome combinations of sweet and spicy flavors.
Hawaiian cuisine was one for me pleasant surprise to be discovered. I didn't have the faintest idea that there was a type of cuisine characteristic of these paradisiacal islands. Instead I found that Hawaii doesn't just have one local cuisine delicious and a deep cultural tradition, but that all this was possible to find in my city: Rome.
Mahalo restaurant: review
Near Ponte Milvio, in via Flaminia, purely by accident a couple of years ago, I discovered the Mahalo restaurant. Dragged here by a friend who didn't even remotely imagine that it would make me a passionate supporter of this place!
Mahalo restaurant: what to expect
Mahalo it means “gratitude, appreciation, thanks”, and this is precisely the atmosphere that reigns in the small restaurant.
It feels immediately at ease thanks to the smile of the girls (and boys) in the dining room who immediately give you the typical flower garland, which is called "She" and has been used as a welcoming gesture since 1800 in the Hawaiian archipelago.
And it is precisely this sense of familiarity that prevails in this small restaurant with few seats but deliciously cared for; there are also tables outside, exceptional in summer and heated in winter.
The service is always very attentive; it is not the same cold affectation that one breathes in the most "in" restaurants, but one perceives an attention, a spontaneous kindness and a calm sense of harmony that make the Mahalo experience very intimate.
Personally I see it as suitable to a couple, to two friends who want to cuddle and chat or in any case to a small group of people.
Hawaiian cuisine
The Hawaiian cuisine of this restaurant is the fruit of one serious and careful research among the original traditions of the archipelago, and the menu reflects this care. The feeling is that nothing is left to chance.
You eat with the wooden chopsticks, but if you ask for cutlery with a bright smile the staff will gladly oblige (I'm a disaster with chopsticks, I know!)
Fish, rice and fruit are the most used ingredients in cooking, along with several vegetable sauces.
Il sweet flavor and spicy flavor they alternate and harmonize in different dishes, and after having gone there several times I can say that I have always found a great balance and pleasantness on the palate in the different preparations.
To appreciate this cuisine you obviously need a good dose of curiosity of open-mindedness, as indeed for any “exotic” cuisine.
The flavors are very distant from Italian dishes, but so is the local climate which determines the main ingredients and so are the culture, history and tradition of this country so distant from us.
Not just cooking
Mahalo's imagination and originality not only characterize the food, but also extend to cocktails: there are several, obviously Hawaiian themed and in harmony with the prepared foods, which are served in beautiful and extravagant glasses.
There is also a small cellar ofwines that will satisfy the spoiled palates who do not give up a good glass of fresh Italian white wine ... and I am among them!
as to beer, there is a decent selection of Hawaiian products, but you won't find commercial European brands.
That we are in a Hawaiian restaurant can also be understood from the dessert menu: few but original very very tasty choices mainly based on fruit. Grilled pineapple to try absolutely and tropical fruit always fresh and delicious.
Finally, one thing I like about this place is that a dinner won't cost a fortune
A single and complete dish, which at most can be followed by a dessert, has a really affordable cost. An excellent thing considering the particularity of the place and the cuisine.
