We’ve been to more Italian restaurants than we can remember here in Shanghai, and the majority of them insult our intelligence with mops of noodles in sweet sauce. There is art in a good marinara sauce, but inexperienced restaurant owners tend to look past that to the money. When we do crave Italian, we’ve learned to keep it a private matter between us, a block of cheese and a colander of hot noodles. Why risk wasting more money on terrible pasta?

But by and by, good Italian options have been established in Shanghai. Bella Napoli is one. On any given night, the Xikang Lu branch is packed with displaced Italians spinning pasta on their forks while other merry diners eat, pray and love up the fragrant, thin-crust Neapolitan pizzas. On a day that the pizza oven was unfortuately out, we tried the salmon e vodka pasta (RMB80) and have never looked back. The sauce–as light as aioli with every molecule of it tasting of salmon without any sharp tingles of vodka–clings to tubes of penne and modest morsels of fish. We absolutely inhaled it and have never been happier to spend RMB80 on a plate of pasta. If you’re broke, go for their value lunch deals instead.

DETAILS

What: Bella Napoli’s Salmon e Vodka Pasta

Where: 140 Xikang Lu 西康路140号

Tel: 6253-8358

See more great dishes around town:
Anna Maya’s Avocado and Beetroot Donburi
City Deli’s Turkey Avocado Sandwich
Table No. 1’s Fruits and Flowers Dessert
Dong Bei Ren’s Ganguo Mushrooms
The Apothecary’s Charcuterie Plate