Wok Felicita - Roma

Restaurante Wok Felicita, Via delle Sirene, 21/21A, Ostia Lido Just on a week back we’d literally bumped into an ex colleague/friend whilst shopping in Ostia Lido one morning not for nothing is this distant dormitory suburb of Rome (and the nearest ‘seaside’ to the city) known locally as one of the best places to shop should you be chasing those bargains. We’d nearly walked past her; and then spent the best part of 20 minutes to one side of the pavement in the shade of a tree chasing back over all those earlier times, people and places an enjoyable period of social networking. Some one said: ‘Why don’t we continue things over a meal of on evening?’. Which, a week later, is how we came to be sharing a table at the Wok Felicita – a popular local restaurante Cinese new to us, but clearly a regular for our friend. It turned out to be a great choice; We’d arrived earlier for our table and took 10 minutes to stroll to the beach and back; it was 20.00 h with dusk approaching, but people were still in the sea and on the beach; crowding out the pavement and over flowing into the passing traffic. The restaurant was just 100 m from the beach front which was opposite what had once been an elegant and extensive civic building but, today was home to a library, hostel (bed linen, satellite dishes, etc. hanging out of windows) and the office of the international NGO Community of Sant’Egidio. Air temperatures were still in the low 30s degC – so it was warm. The Wok Felicita, by contrast, had an aggressive air/con interior that bordered upon walk in cold storage unit cold – but you quickly adapted to the pleasure of the cold air, ordering into a mix of spicy/piccanti Chinese dishes that delighted the palate as they challenged your mouth tissues and raised that internal body temperature this thing about the pleasures of masochistic eating. The woman working the floor – owner, mine host, waitress (or all three) – directed us to a table that was in line with the air/con (that we’d been pleased to accept) – showered us with menus and inquired about our drinks options. We requested a litre half acqua frizzante to start with and then we’d take time to explore options for the table. In the event – three of us sharing plates we chose duck/orange, piccante/prawns and chicken/vegetables as mains, with a handful of spring rolls as an antipasta. For the latter we shared traditional/fried veggie and fish spring rolls and tried a novel pasta/fish/piccante option (as recommended by mine host). Two bowls of rice had been requested – Cantonese white but, in the event, only the Cantonese arrived. We did not chase things up – food looked more than plentiful for the three of us. This thing about always eating what you like, however, typically crops up but at least we’d tried the novelty of that pasta like spring roll. What thoughts you’d need to eat more of them to appreciate the taste and texture in your mouth. Hmm, all that slippery feel across the tongue – a bit like eating raw tripe. To complement the table/meal we shared a 750 ml bottle Frascati white wine and, once the plates had been cleared, a couple of coffees. We stepped back from the dolce. One third bottle of wine followed us out the door. Service had been friendly and prompt; plates had been served together, hot food and a delight to the eye. Apart from a single prawn the plates were cleared; and, when she collected the plates, mine host encouraged us to finish that last prawn too. She was clearly pleased to see us enjoying our meal. There had been just a dozen of us in the place – with seating for around 60 so things had been slow; it was a Monday. We paid €43.60 for the meal of which the wine had costs €13.00. Chinese food is always good value locally – that wide selection of mains that cost around €5.00/plate. No service charge was taken. Peter Steele Rome 31July2018