Il Giusto

finally! last of the restaurants to go in Castellanza. who knew there were so many?! haha. Il Giusto is actually nearer to legnano, rather than Castellanza itself. we had to walk pretty far! but it was worth it ^^ definitely one of the better places for food here! it was hilarious how the place looked completely deserted when we reached there though -.- we were early. by italian standards that is. reached around 7pm and the place looked closed, even though the opening hours stated that it was early? we were devastated D: we had walked for 20mins for nothing??!! stood there for 5min and decided to randomly ring a bell that we saw. and it worked!!!!! haha. the chef personally came to the door to open it for us lol. and we had the pleasure of being the only customers for the most part of our meal (Y).

we started with the bread, which simply blew me away with how delicious it was!!! so many varieties! as you can see in the photo. and each of them were absolutely amazing. especially the sesame one! soooo goooood.

i ordered the salmon (€10) which was a really simple, yet tasty dish (: the salmon felt so healthy, and it came with sundried tomatoes, spinach and almonds which complemented it perfectly and lent flavour to it. 

sam ordered the tuna pasta (€10) that was not bad! but just a little strange because of the taste of the olives. 

we really didn't have any fate with dessert that week though! :( all those i wanted were always not available. sigh. then again it was probably a good thing, because i think i gained at least 1kg just by eating out that week -.- haha.

Il Giusto

Via Locatelli, 2

Locanda Settembrini

this restaurant was probably one of the first places in Castellanza we dined out at. thanks to the recommendation of our friends ^^ and i daresay it's the place with the best pasta in castellanza! (: we were getting quite disappointed with the dining-out options we had, but realised that it really wasn't too bad in our little town after all! Locanda Settembrini definitely impressed with its flair in doing pastas and i regret not going back for more.

we heard sterling reviews of the pappardelle al salmone (€9) way before coming here, and it didn't disappoint! although i was rather apprehensive upon hearing that it was cream-tomato based (my fear of carbonara just wouldn't go away haha), i needn't have worried. this was divine! though creamy, the flavour of the tomato sauce more than countered it, and produced a delightful sauce that made us want to lick the plate clean.

because i was worried about the creaminess, i opted for the spaghetti alta marea (€10) instead, which was a pesto-based pasta with prawns and squid. loved how fragrant this dish was!

and sam's dish has got to be the star of this restaurant!!!! the flaming aluminium-foil swan earned him "oohs!" and "ahhs!" when it was placed in front of him. haha the boy basked in the limelight for a few minutes ;) and the amazing presentation of the penne all'astice (€20) was simply a prelude to actual show! the lobster pasta was so robustly flavoured that a multitude of tastes exploded in my mouth when i took a bite of it. absolutely wonderful, and completely worth its relatively hefty price tag. 

Locanda Settembrini

Via Do Testori 30/A

Reminisce

i was just going through my photos to find the pizza place we first ate in Castellanza. and it suddenly just brought back a whole slew of images of this place. it's been only about a month since i've got back to singapore, and it already feels like the past half a year is somewhat like a distant memory. something i'll look back on fondly, knowing that i'll never have another experience like this again (or maybe i will...haha if i dream enough :p).

i realised i didn't post many pictures of life in castellanza. probably because it was just way too boring there. haha after the first two weeks we kinda figured there was really no point staying too long in this town, nor Milan, because either of these places had nothing much of value really. but i do miss those days, when life was really about just planning the next trip :p in between lessons, during lessons and after lessons haha. yep, that was my life for 4 months :P and i really enjoyed doing this. from being a complete noob at the start, i think i became quite good at it towards the end ;) and i did feel a sense of accomplishment planning our final italy trip! ;) 

haha we really didn't take a lot of pics actually. because *AHEM* sam doesn't like to take photos -.- something we are probably going to disagree on forever :P haha. these pics were in our first week or so in italy! (: when i was still relatively slim then... -.- haha. our first taste of limoncello, which we immediately concluded that it tastes disgusting! like drinking lozenges O.o 

i always have mildly retarded expressions on my face...trying to look greedy but #fail.

and now this is one greedy boy :P

heehee. this is our favourite pizza place! okay i know i said that Pizzeria Mondello has the best pizzas, but this was the shop that we patronized so often ^^ more for the kebabs though! because it is the most balanced meal we could get. LOVED the kebabs, although im sure there are better ones everywhere else in europe (this seems to be their kind of fast food! which i like way more than macs actually :D). and we went there so often, usually before and after every single trip haha, that the staff could recognise us ;) guess it's quite interesting to be a minority and stand out in the crowd for once! ^^ unfortunately i can't remember the name of this place, but it's the ONLY kebab shop in castellanza and it's right next to school, soooo i'm sure it's easy to find ;) this town is not big at all :) 

Pizzeria l'espresso

something to remember when you're here!!! - try their seafood pastas, and DON'T order what we did :p haha, unless you're a humongous fan of cheese that is ;)

you might be thinking "what a way to start off this post"...haha yeah i realise it sounds a little strong, but yepps just take a look at my spaghetti alla carbonara (€6). i had such a tough time getting even half of this down my throat. i'm honestly not a fan of carbonara and this just proved my point further. the thing is, many places in italy serve the most amazing carbonara ever! that is not creamy AT ALL, simply made with lots of eggs and really much lighter than what i'd known carbonara to be. and so i decided to try carbonara once before i left italy, and unfortunately it was a big mistake :( the first few mouths were tolerable. very very cheesy though, and i couldn't finish half my plate. and it was a huge portion! which was such a waste :( 

the penne mari e monti (€10) was cheesy, but in a different way. somehow mixing spoonfuls of this in between my carbonara made it more bearable. i think because this had some sort of a mushroomy/meaty flavour that helped to neutralize it a little. nevertheless, don't order this, because the ingredients inside were a little strange. really no idea what it is O.o

so what is the point of this post if you're not supposed to eat anything we ordered? 

hahaha. because we saw other tables ordering the seafood pasta which looked AMAZING. it looked and smelled so mouth-watering and we were damnnn jealous of it!!!! haha wish we had ordered that D: but so now i'm advising you, and you know what to order from there ;)

Pizzeria L'espresso

Via Borsano 42

Pizzeria Mondello

i'm back to continue with my castellanza posts! :P haha abit retarded, i don't know who actually reads this. but juuuust in case some exchange students happen to want to know places to go in this little town (not that there are many), hopefully these posts will be useful to them! ;)

the BEST pizza in castellanza would be at pizza mondello! ^^ honestly, after eating italian pizza for 4 months, i really got quite bored of it because there was barely any variety at all. so if there was ANY chance at all where there was a slightly wider variety of pizza, i would jump at it ;) and this place was one of them! pity we only tried it out in our last week in italy though :( then again, it's the most expensive option for pizza here. 

we opted for the Salina pizza (€6.50) which was a seafood pizza with fried calamari and shrimps! actually the shrimps totally looked like prawns haha (which is a good thing). always love italian pizzas for their crispy thin crust, and this was definitely one of the more tasty pizzas i've eaten, with it's less typical ingredients ;)

so as usual...we were greedy xP haha. because we were so starved and they took so long to serve our first pizza, we gobbled it down within like, idk, less than 10 mins? and the thin crust really makes it feel so light! haha so we greedily decided to order another one....which was obviously a big mistake. not that it wasn't good! i loved the Liscio calzone (€6) we ordered, and i'm glad that i had the chance to try this while in italy. but honestly, the first pizza was just nice (just that we ate too fast so we didn't feel the fullness obviously) and the second was, as usual, too much. haha. we ended up not eating half the crust (even though i loved it!) because it was just way too much. 

anyway, so if you're looking for the best pizza in Castellanza, this is the place to go ;)

Pizzeria Mondello

Via Eugenio Cantoni, 77

Ristorante Pizzeria Piccola Amalfi

hihi! gonna try to finish updating my posts for Castellanza. just three more! (: in our last week, sam & i went on a craze trying all the restaurants we hadn't been to previously. haha didn't really know that there were so many! and since we didn't want to buy anymore food in the last week (trying to clear stock desperately), so it was just nice that we ate out in that week.

i had the seafood risotto (€10) which came in a humongous portion!!!! till now i'm still amazed that i actually finished the entire thing myself. no wonder i gained weight right xP haha. but it was soooo good! this was actually the first time eating risotto in my whole time in italy! :p haha if not for the fact that milan is supposed to be famous for risotto, i probably wouldn't have eaten it at all >.< which would definitely have been a pity. the seafood was super fresh, and it came in an abundance in this dish!! which was really appreciated ^^ two girls can easily share this. it's super filling. the only annoying thing was that for certain dishes, the restaurant insists that you have to order two sets of it, i guess cos they cook it in a bigger amount. but it was really yummy and flavourful (:

another of the dishes that requires you to order two servings of, is this mixed grill dish (i can't rmb what it's called >.< think it costs around €12). this is the serving for 2 pax!! also a very generous portion (: guess this is what the restaurant is good at! (: unfortunately it was quite as good as it looked. in general it was decent, but the meats could have been juicier, especially the steak that felt rather dry.

loved their pizzas as well!!! (: and again i can't remember how much this prosciutto pizza costs, but pizzas in italy are relatively affordable so i think it's around the price of the risotto or less. it was soooo good. i love how they always make it fresh so that the cheese is all melty and gooey, and it's so tasty! (:

Ristorante Pizzeria Piccola Amalfi

Viale Lombardia 34, 21053, Castellanza, Italy

Tel.: +39 0331 502101

Bar Pasticceria Fourteen

recently i had gone around looking for alternative spots to study, because it was just too sad being cooped up in my room during the exam study period :p and i found.........ONE nice cafe in castellanza to study in :p i'm not saying there's just one, but italy simply doesn't seem to have much of a 'cafe culture' in my opinion? so this was probably one of the best places you can get :p

the second floor was quite cosy for studying, pretty conducive except that it's a little dim! and their hot chocolate was very reasonably priced at €2.80. plus the staff were really friendly (:

Bar Pasticceria Fourteen

Via Vittorio Veneto, 19 Castellanza

Legnano

haha okay so we all kinda know that castellanza is a pretty boring place :p it's a super small town where you can probably walk from one end to the other in half an hour or so? and there is literally no shopping at all here! so for some entertainment we decided to head to our neighboring towns to explore, and i found a gem in legnano! :)) it's also quite small, and everything is concentrated at this main street and square where there is a little bit of shopping, plus lots of cafes and gelato shops! perfect for chilling and alfresco dining/studying in this lovely spring weather ^^

the moment you hit the main square, you will see Bar Pasticceria Gobbi. it's one of the first few cafes there (: a really nice place to sit down for a meal and relax. the staff are pretty friendly, although they don't speak much english, but they let us sit there doing our work for hours without bothering us (:

the lunch menu is pretty limited. mostly salads and paninis. but sam had the gnocchi al ragu (€8), which is a kind of dumplings made of flour/potatoes. anything with ragu can't go wrong, but note that it's really just pasta and sauce and nothing else! haha.

i liked my insalata di avocado (€9) much more! ^^ it was a huge portion and chock-full of ingredients like smoked salmon, avocado, oranges, pineapple, shrimps, lettuce and raisins :)

Bar Pasticceria Gobbi 

Corso Garibaldi 33, Legnano, Lombardy, Italy

we were totally spoilt for choice when it came to eating gelato in legnano!! there were so many stand-alone gelato stores, plus all the cafes practically had some sort of geletaria within it. so yumms! ^^ this seemed to be the most popular one though ;) packed to the brim, you have to pay first, then squeeze with the crowd till you get to the front of the counter where you can order. they have so many flavours!!! just the hazelnut flavour itself had so many different versions haha. and they have this gelato-shake kind of thing which was pretty interesting (:

Geletaria Soleluna

Corso Magenta, 27, Legnano, Lombardy, Italy

i spotted Morello Cafe from afar, because of it's alfresco seating right in the sun (: really nice for chilling if you have the time for it, but if you want to study, probably indoors would be a more conducive option, although there's music playing. i conclude that italy's pastries are really nothing to shout about, although they might look nice (from a distance) :p i had an apple tart (€2). it was decent, but well....not great haha.

this cafe is really nice though! (: i really enjoyed studying there. and the staff pretty much left me alone (i was quite worried about getting chased away initially). their lunch is all laid out from around 12-3pm and you can just order whatever you like. i got this chicken salad thingy for €6, and they gave me a whole basket of bread just for me alone! :D nice of them ^^ they also had samples of their foccaccia, which are available for lunch as well (: and gelato!!! looked good :D

Morello Cafe

Corso Magneta 36, 20025 Legnano

Kyra

haha kk spamming posts of Castellanza now that i'm leaving! xP this is the last place here for apperitivo, don't think there are any more in this little town!

i think the spread at Kyra is quite cui too...but the good thing is that there were quite a number of ESN events held here, which means that we had a student discount! (: €5 for any drink (: which i suppose is pretty worth it. haha guys who don't like eating snacks for meals probably won't like the concept of apperitivo much, but i always just stuff myself at buffets of any kind so i quite like this concept! ^^ hehe.

pretty martinis! (:

Kyra

Piazza Castegnate

UpTown

i would say that the best apperitivo you can get in Castellanza would be at UpTown! haha of course, it's really not great compared to those in milan, but i would say that the spread here is the best! the drinks are around €6-8, and i think students have a discount of €1! i love their selection of drinks here, although it's more expensive. but the strawberry daiquiri is DAMN AWESOME (and i never dared to order strawberry-flavoured alcoholic drinks before this), and also my big cocktail here (i forgot the name oops xP). anyway, most of their drinks are pretty good! (: so just give any of them a try ^^

UpTown

Piazza Castegnate 23, Castellanza

Drink Me

haha okay so this is my first post on the food in castellanza :p this is really a small town so nothing much to do here, but there are quite a number of food places worth visiting if you stay in this town! this post is probably more for exchange students coming to study here, because i don't think any other people would EVER come here as tourists.

it's quite funny that the first place i'm writing about is this place, because it's probably one of the LEAST italian places here. it's kind of an american-style bar actually. there are quite a number of bars here, which makes it good for apperitivo! (: they only do apperitivo here on Sundays though! maybe i'll do an update on this post when i've tried their apperitivo.

food ain't too bad though, if you want to get some "properly unhealthy" western food :p okay it's not really unhealthy la. just more americanized, which we've really kinda missed here (surprisingly). i mean, seeing RIBS on the menu just made me drool. i've almost totally forgotten such things existed haha. i didn't order it though.

sam got this HUMONGOUS bacon cheeseburger for just €8!! i think it was pretty worth it! quite yummy too.

i liked my chili burrito (€6.50) except for the fact that it was so small!! >:( feel kinda cheated -.- in the picture there were two burritos picture, but the waiter told me that in actual fact there was just one. and that one turned out to be so small -.- i mean, c'mon if you're only gonna give one, at least make it BIGGER right??? it looked so pathetic taking up just a mere 1/5th of the plate. but the huge pile of potato wedges (yummiest i've ever eaten!) kinda made up for it. and loved the fact that there was barbecue sauce and guacamole on the side as dips (: i'm super thirsty now though!!!! probably thanks to all the fries haha.

their drinks here look really interesting!!! i'll probably be back for apperitivo and i'll do an update then ;)

/edit

i said i'll do an update after my apperitivo so here i am again! ^^ the drinks at this place are AWESOME. although the buffet food was so-so only, but totally worth it!! (:

one of their specialties are their ice-cream cocktails (€6.50). we tried the black irish, which has baileys, kahlua, vodka and vanilla gelato!! soooooo good - luscious, luxurious, creamy and so so delectable! (:

i loved their cocktails as well. the last time we tried the porn star martini, which had passion fruit and came with a side glass of prosecco. very interesting presentation! (: this time i ordered the Hurricane (€5), which had passion fruit syrup, rum, orange, pineapple and rum ^^ super tasty!!

and here's a picture of some of the food! ^^ not tooooo shabby, but could have been better haha. the good thing is that it's SUPER AFFORDABLE! ^^ likey! (:

Drink Me

Corso G. Matteotti 2

21053, Castellanza (VA)

Tel.: +39 0331 1748201

Sun, Tue, Wed & Thurs: 6pm-2am

Friday & Saturday : 6pm-3am

Happy Valentines! :)))

had my first ever real valentines day, and in the land of romantic italy! :) how awesome is that heh ^^ feel so super duper lucky to be here with my darling :)

valentines day gave us a chance to explore our little town a bit more haha. went to this restaurant that is really near the campus! just a 10min walk, which i totally appreciated since it's always so c-c-colddd at night and i was wearing a dress haha. and good job to sam who managed to make a reservation in italian after just being here for two weeks! (Y) :D hee and dont you think the name of the restaurant is so apt? ;)

as it's name suggests, this place is famous for their burgers. i dont usually associate italian food with burgers, but those that they do here are SO GOOD. seriously damn good hahaha. i think almost everything on the plate is handmade, which makes it taste so fresh and delicious!! i didnt really fancy the sound of their love eat burger (although it's supposed to be their speciality), so i ordered the rossini burger (€14) instead. it was soooooo yummy!!!! :D the bread itself had a wonderful bite with it's perfectly toasted crispy exterior that crackles when you bite into it, and soft fluffy interior. dive further into the burger and there is a lovely Chianina (i googled it, it's an italian breed of cattle ooooh) beef patty which is delightfully succulent and juicy! plus an oozy layer of cheese and some vegetables. gosh, this burger is more balanced than any other meal i've had in italy! haha i still can't get over the fact that all i'm eating here is carbs :( FAT :( anyway, the burger is also supposed to have some cream of foie gras thing, which i was so excited about, but in the end i couldnt really taste it! no matter, i still loved my burger anyway. and the baked potatoes that came with it were the BEST baked potatoes i've ever eaten in my whole life. not kidding! they were so beautifully seasoned with butter and other spices, and they were just simply orgasmic!!

sam ordered the montecantero burger (€12) which was stuffed with succulent Piedmont beef, cheese and had a lovely truffle sauce in it! :) i could smell the truffles from the opposite side of the table yummmms. totally made me drool haha. and the potato chips!!! omg they were so good :D i think they're handmade and the texture was just perfect! cut to the right thickness and fried till they had a mouth-watering crunch :D

for dessert, i had the torta di mela (€5) which is an apple cake! so interesting!!!! i always thought that 'torta' meant tart, but i just learnt in my italian class that it actually means cake. haha and i was wondering how come the consistency of my dessert was so un-tart-like! :p but it was delicious :))) warm and moist with a slightly crisp crust, paired with icy cold vanilla gelato. i was in dessert heaven ^^

sam had the creme brulee (€5) which was crazy sweet hahaha. not really my thing, but he liked it! :)

anyway, the service of this restaurant was really good! :)) the waitstaff are all really nice, and they tried to translate the menu into english for us when we told them that we couldnt speak much italian. and they were really willing to recommend dishes and wines to us. and even gave us a discount on the bill for no reason! haha! so sam gave them a huge tip to thank them for it :) so gonna go back again! maybe i'll try the love eat burger after all heh :)

and because we had our dinner pre-valentines (cos we had a meeting on the day of valentines itself -.- spoilerrr haha), i got this pretty bouquet postman-style (delivered by the man himself haha) on 14feb! :) although i kinda knew everything already haha cos here we go around together almost all the time, but it was still so sweet anyway :') for the record, i didnt know he bought the chocolate for me! haha. we were at the supermarket together and i thought the chocs were for himself. hee. and the best part was his sweet letter to me :')

to my darling valentine: thank you and i love you! :*)

i hope everyone had a wonderful valentines day, whether with your partner, friends or family! <3

My first week in Italy

it's been one week since i got to italy and it seems like time has just flown past! one week of my exchange come and gone haha. and it's just been so many new experiences and activities and people. it seems like time has just flown, and also like it has stopped and i'm in a limbo haha. anyway, this first week has been fascinating, exciting and so refreshing :) plus a lil scary.

   

big thanks to all these lovely people who came to send sam & i off at the airport! :)) flight was at 1.30am on a thursday morning so can just imagine the time we were at the airport x.x especially for those who had work the next morning, thanks for coming! :) <3

say hello to me in italy!!!!! :D :D :D so excited to reach milan and start exploring the place :) i think it was pretty good that we had three days to ourselves to explore and check out this city :)

visited the Duomo, which is one of the most MAGNIFICENT buildings everrr. it is so gorgeous :')

the area we were staying at was the suburban region and didnt look very 'italian' to me. seemed pretty much like america or any other western country! then we went exploring over the next couple of days, and when we saw the Duomo, the castle and just strolled down random pretty districts, it really hit me then, that i was (or rather, i AM) in Europe!!!! :') omg. this place is so beautiful. my photos totally do not do it justice. all these old buildings are so so gorgeously classic and romantic.

after our three days in milan city, headed to castellanza, where we will be staying for the next four months :) a small town in the outskirts of milan central, with a population of 12,000 people - i fell in love with this place the moment i stepped out of the train station :))) of course, it helped that it was such a bright sunny day with blue skies, after two days of gloomy weather haha. but omgeeeee :D the spaciousness, greenery and quaintness of this town just draws me in :)

cooking is the cheapest way to survive here! :) haha poor students need to save $$. and this gives us the chance to eat more asian food (which is wayyy healthier than all the pastas and bread i've been eating zomg).

cooked bak kut teh for the international dinner! :D :D haha slightly diluted but still super yummy anw ^^

and to end off - OMG. the alcohol here is just crazy cheap!!!!! i practically grab a bottle of wine on my way out of the supermarket each time i go there. so affordable!! usually can get a bottle for <5euros, when it costs at least S$25 in singapore -.- seriouslyyyy. and even at the bars & pubs it's so affordable!!! usually in singapore i think it's a waste of money to buy drinks. here, it's all part of the experience hehe ^^ so fun! this bottle of carbanet sauvingnon was so delicious :) i'm gonna try to learn more about wines while i'm here, hopefully become better at tasting wine after this! :D