Italian Food @ Ristorante Pizzeria Da Tino, Regensburg, Germany

It is always hard to find for a place to eat at during the Christmas or New Year period around Europe. A huge number of restaurants are shut during this time as they take time off to celebrate the year-end festivities.

The Christmas cheer was still evident

On New Year's Day, we had initially planned to go for some Spanish food; paella was high on the list of things I was craving for at the moment. Unfortunately, the restaurant we wanted to go to was closed for the day and we were left with rumbling tummies. A walk across town brought us to Ristorante Pizzeria Da Tino. We found the menu to be rather promising and made our way into the restaurant. I found out later that Da Tino is one of 2 Italian restaurants/pizzerias operated by the same management; the other being Pam Pam, a restaurant I once visited for pasta before. Da Tino has been around for 30 years and Pam Pam for 40 years, making it the oldest pizzeria in Regensburg with a wood-fired oven.

The interior is warm and homely, owing to the wooden chairs and tables, draped with tablecloths and a large stone oven in the centre, which is used to bake the pizzas. We took a seat nearby the oven area which turned out to be a little too warm for my liking. Lighting is dim in the restaurant, with few lamps along the walls and candles at each table; definitely not good conditions for photo taking!

As we were starving by the time we sat down, we decided to be a bit more adventurous and went for a main dish each and a pizza to share. And boy, were we stuffed by the end of the meal!

Pinot Grigio

To start things off we shared the Pizza alla Tino (€8.50); a pizza topped with tomatoes, cheese, ham, fresh mushrooms, olives, capers and an egg. The pizza was excellent with a thin crust and flavoursome bite-for-bite. This was actually the first time I have been served a runny egg yolk on top of the pizza and I must say, I loved it. An outstanding pizza to start off the meal, and it was amazingly quite light despite being 33cm in diameter.

Wobbly goodness

Next up were our mains. I had the Risotto ai Porcini (€8,80); a risotto served with porcini mushrooms, garlic and onions. The risotto was a dream to eat, creamy and flavoursome but the portion was HUMONGOUS. It was a real shocker when the risotto arrived at our table. Surely this must be a portion for at least 2 grown ups! I bravely manned through 3/4 of the risotto and passed it on to my dining mate but alas it was also a grain too many for him.

If I had a Mama Italiano, this would be what she would feed me at home for me to grow to be a big, handsome Italian stallion. Definitely not a dish for the weak hearted!

My dining mate had the Linguini alla Tino (€11,80); a pasta with porcini mushrooms, garlic, prawns, and topped with a generous serving of rocket leaves. The pasta was good as well, smooth and creamy(though not as creamy as my risotto!) and the portion was rather huge as well.

These 3 large mains brought our dinner to a sudden end. We had planned on having dessert beforehand but we were already bursting at the seams and it seemed we had to leave dessert for another day.

Verdict: We were pleased with the food but had we been less adventurous with the mains we could have fitted in some dessert to fully evaluate the restaurant. Nonetheless, a truly authentic and hearty trattoria-styled restaurant, which I can only recommend to those who love their Italian the classic, old-fashioned way.

Opening times: Not stated on website but according to PamPam, Daily from 1100 to 2400hrs

Service: Good. The waitresses were friendly and food was delivered promptly to our table.

Price: Reasonable, given the portions we were served. Our 3 mains together with a bottle of still water, a glass of Pinot Grigio and a glass of Nero d'Avola came up to about €40++

Location: Ristorante Pizzeria Da Tino, Haidplatz 4, 93047 Regensburg, Germany

Website: http://www.datino-online.de/ (German only but menu is available in English/Italian)