Continuing with our journey through Emilia-Romagna, we spent a few days in the city of Parma. Our first dinner was at Cocchi, another traditional restaurant. The meal started off with a complimentary plate of one of the regions most famous foods – Parmigiano-Reggiano. Later in the trip, we would visit a farm producing this amazing cheese and be able to sample the differences in taste as the cheese ages.
For starters, we tried the Parmesan tart with mushrooms and prosciutto with torta fritta. Torta fritta are deep fried bread typical of the region. They are like pillows and very delicious with cured meats. The prosciutto was good, but later in the trip, we would discover something even better. The tart was good, but the portion was too big. After a few bites, it got to be too heavy.
For our primi course, we had tortellini in broth and tagliatelle with a rabbit ragu. The tortellini was good but not as good as we had previously. The rabbit pasta was also good, but I prefer the traditional Bolognese sauce.
For the main, we shared a guinea fowl with black truffles. This too was good, but not amazing.
Many spots online will tell you that this is THE place to eat in Parma. It was good, but as the trip went on, we found much better places. The service here was good, and I loved the old school atmosphere. More than anywhere else I have been in the world, in Italy, I had wanted to eat mainly in old traditional places where you might find an Italian grandmother cooking. Although this was an enjoyable meal (its hard NOT to have an enjoyable meal in this part of Italy), I would not return here simply because we found much better places. 7.5/10