Fresh pasta with a modern twist is giving Heritage Square in downtown Cape Town a new lift at vibey Scala Pasta/Bar.
There is a lot of talk around town about Scala Pasta/Bar. Since the restaurant opened in mid-September 2022, a vibey buzz has wafted up to street level from a sophisticated black restaurant and bar set one floor below.
Set on the boundary of Heritage Square, the kitchen input of chef Luciano Monosilio is the star attraction.
This Rome-based chef brought extensive pasta-making expertise and menu ideas as a consultant, putting the Capetonian kitchen crew through advanced pasta-making paces to create a range of delicious fresh pasta dishes with a twist. By all accounts, trendy locals are slurping it up.
Monosilio is not your average Italian. He was Italy’s youngest chef to be awarded a Michelin star, at age 27. “I gained a Michelin star in 2012 as chef of Pipero al Rex, only nine months after we opened,” the affable Italian says of the coveted restaurant guide premier ranking.
His Scala menu combines plating flair with quality ingredients, producing eyecatching results with delicate flavouring. Less is more with Monosilio’s brand of carbo-loading, the idea being to share at least three pasta options (smaller portions) between two people.
A FRESH TAKE ON PASTA
Paolo Carrara is co-owner of Scala Pasta/Bar with two partners. The group also operates Mexican-themed Hacienda, Burger & Lobster, and Iron Steak and Bar restaurants in the Bree St vicinity.
It’s Carrara’s friendship with Monosilio that led to the Cape Town restaurant collaboration. The pair connected multiple times in Italy or South Africa and talked about doing a joint project for a long time. Monosilio plans to bring his young family and spend many future holidays here.
Carrara says although there is great local Italian dining in Cape Town, he wasn’t keen to do “just another Italian restaurant”. A pasta bar is a fresh take. “Over the years, pasta bars have become very popular in Milan, London and New York. I love the idea of sharing pastas,” he says.
Monsilio adds to the debate about this recent global trend: “Pasta has changed over the last few years, as has the consciousness of customers, who look for quality food.”
Monosilio is the chef-owner of Luciano Cucina Italiana, a modern Italian restaurant in Rome. It opened in 2018 and overlooks a pedestrian-friendly piazza. He calls the dining experience “post fine dining”, which encapsulates crafted, beautiful food, served in an elegantly unpretentious environment.
WHEN IN ROMA
In Rome, Monosilio’s restaurant has a “pastificio” artisanal pasta lab attached. In Cape Town, Scala’s open kitchen delivers a similar, smaller operation. Exec Chef Justin Barker says all Scala pasta is made in-house daily.
In the kitchen, you’ll often see on display the day’s fresh durum wheat semolina pasta, plus hands at work fashioning other pasta types including ravioli, tagliolini and pici. A Josper charcoal oven is used to roast vegetables, including charring plum tomatoes for tomato passata. Meaty specials of the day are also prepared in here.
What should you order? The Aperitivo hour, daily from 16h00 to 17h30, is a cool Italian touch. One option is to enjoy an aperitivo in the enclosed upstairs lounge area, with its view of Heritage Square. “We’re serving all the Italian classics such as Negroni and Bellinis, accompanied by Italian cicchetti. These “small snacks” are side dishes made famous in Venice,” says Carrara. At downstairs dining tables, the thinking is that diners share a few pasta dishes.
KING OF CARBONARA
And there’s one you shouldn’t miss. Monosilio has the reputation of being the “king of carbonara”. Earning that title surely deserves some respect – dig into Roman gastronomic history and you’ll discover that carbonara is Rome’s signature dish. His simple combination of free-range egg and ground black pepper, coats freshly cooked durum wheat semolina spaghetti. It’s delicate in flavour, but lifted to another level with a few bits of salty, fatty guanciale (cured pork cheek) and grated Grana Padano.
An indulgent option is tortelli egg-pasta parcels filled with coal-roasted tomato sauce, with creamy burratina cheese and black truffle shavings. One standout dish that transforms pasta to another level is the seafood-focused bottoni con mascarpone e limone – here silky round ravioli parcels are filled with delicate lemon and mascarpone.
Designed to be shared, the ravioli partners charred octopus pieces and a seafood bisque, poured at the table. “I put all the modern knowledge and fine dining technique in all of my dishes, to make them subtle in a good way, as in the carbonara,” says Monosilio. Bravo.
Scala means “steps” in Italian. On entering, a grand staircase leads downwards to the darkened dining area where the dining “audience” has front-row views of the open kitchen “stage”.
The sleek black industrial space by SQ Design is a nod to La Scala Theatre in Milan. As Carrara puts it, “We see our kitchen as the stage to show off the pasta we make.” If you have any capacity, Monosilio’s take on tiramisu makes a fine post-theatre treat.
Scala Pasta/Bar in Church Street, Cape Town, is open daily from 12h00 to 22h30. Open for lunch, Aperitivo Hour, and two dinner sittings. www.scalapasta.co.za
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Images: Kim Maxwell, Scalapasta/bar