Anyone ambulating around Ari-Saphan 3 Alley (Phaholyothin 5) almost inadvertently stumbles into Cantina, ostensibly the only Italian in the area, commanding a teetering corner in the teeming neighbourhood parallel to “Soi Ari” (Phaholyothin 7), where the whole hip hangout thing around here began.
But precipitous pavements aren’t what’s propelling customers inside. It’s rusticated raw-brick, concrete and wood subterranean cellar-like ambiance (“cantina” is Italian for cellar), expertly curated all-star Italian menu, and sommelier-selected wines, ensure ever-brisker business every evening.
Whether seated downstairs between the cottage windows, empty wine bottle wall towering over the cellar stock, open kitchen, pizza enclosure, and imported cheese & cold cuts counter, or upstairs, visible through the cut-out ceiling, a local pub-like sense of sociability springs from a constant stream of denizens dropping by.
Part of the Soho Hospitality (Above Eleven, Charcoal, Brasserie Cordonnier, The Bar Upstairs (open June 1), Havana Social) portfolio, authenticity rules with the menu supervised by Fabio Carletti and the wines by Mathew Milotich, one of Cantina’s partners. Service is supervised by urbane Netherlander Mark.
Food-wise, produce-driven Italian favourites deliver on-point flavour. Parma Ham, Burrata + Tomato Bruschetta (280) on dry toasted wheat bread is an oral explosion of creamy cheese, umami cured pork, tomato, basil and crunch.
Braised Rock Lobster Salad (490), with its ambrosial balsamico-mustard vinaigrette, is a smoky, oceanic revelation.
Mixed platter of assorted cheese & cold cuts (490), with salami Milano, spicy Calabria, salty spec, and creamy truffle-infused mortadella, juxtaposed with frommagi amaroni, ripened with a grape jam crust, pungent gorgonzola, and fab pecorino afinikato, a Tuscan sheep milk cheese ripened inside hay for nuttiness, complemented with mixed olives, fig jam, raw carrot and celery, is definitive.
Ditto Risotto Seafood (490), juicy prawn, squid, salmon and clam, rasped with lemon zest. Risotto with Salsiccia pork sausage, shitake & porcini mushrooms, white wine, parsley, Parmesano, also takes some beating.
Cantina makes 15 types of pizza with its own 24-hour raised dough, of which Parma Ham & Burrata (490) and Mascarpone with Black & White Truffle (520) are best-sellers.
Pasta is likewise homemade in four-five varieties daily. Fettucini Cantina (390), with mushrooms and truffle is most ordered, with classic Carbonara (290), which forgoes cream for authentic pecorino and egg sauce infused with succulent pancetta and crispy bacon, also strongly favoured.
Secondis include 500-days-aged beef (590/100g) and rib eye steak (790), along with lamb chops/red wine jus (650), Kurobuta Pork/pineapple (490), Black Cod/olives (690), and Tasmanian Salmon (490), a perfectly turned pink fillet resting on buttery spinach in a sea of creamed leek sauce and vongole mussels.
Among the desserts, tiramisu (B180) and panna cotta (B150) are served in hefty portions. Off-menu specials, such as fresh strawberry mille-feuille, and wonderfully, cheesy, lemony, crunchy ice cream cheesecake with blueberry coulis, are ravishing rarities.
Italian wines naturally loom large alongside upscale French and populaire New World numbers. The Slovenian selections might seem off-the-wall but they’re from the slopes of Collio, a hill that straddles Italy and Slovenia. Moreover, Mathew is Slovenian.
Whites, rosé and sparkling (from 220/glass, 800/bottle), accounting for 85% of consumption, include labels from Piedmont, fruity Ribolla, and ‘easy-to-drink’ Pino Grigio. Reds range Tuscany, Piedmont, Montepulciano, Valpolicella, southern Italian and Sicilian.
Live acoustic guitar and vocals sets by varying artists feature Saturdays from 8:30pm to 10:30pm. Wednesday’s 1-for-1 pizza night.
A Tuscan-themed wine dinner is upcoming on Thurs May 24.
Cantina supplements its Food Panda connections with its own home-delivery service.
As cosmopolitan faces flicker in candlelight amid marbled stone like some Soho-boho vision of an artisanal Tuscan tavern, it’s hard to lever oneself out again.
Bookings recommended.
