Sasa Review (post renovation)

Last night we finally got a chance to check out Sasa at Jln. Kayu Aya No.78 (Ex Laksmana) Seminyak for the first time after their renovation. The dining area still looks the same except a bit of a paint job and some new tiles adorning the walls. The important question is how is the food. We always worry that food quality would suffer after their temporary closing, but thank goodness that was not the case. I think even though their dining area was closed for a while, their kitchen remained open, offered delivery service.

We ordered our usual dishes to see if there is any difference between pre-renovation and post-renovation. For appetizers, we ordered three dishes Guazzetto di Vongole, Funghi Marinati, and Fritto Misto Italiano. We always considered Guazzetto di Vongole, which is sautéed clams with white wine, cherry tomato and garlic croutons, their signature dish, and the flavor was exactly the same. The Funghi Marinati, which is chilled grilled oyster mushrooms, marinated with olive oil, lemon, garlic, and parsley, wasn't as sour as before, but the flavor was more or less the same. We tried Fritto Misto Italiano, mixed of deep fried rice balls, eggplant, croquettes, mozzarella in Carrozza, and deep fried zucchini julienne, for the first time. That particular appetizer was all right, but the zucchini julienne was especially delicious. The coating was salty, but the vegetable was sweet which made a really good contrast.

For dinner, I wanted the meat ball pasta, but they were out of that. Instead I got my usual Penne alla Siciliana (penne, eggplants, mozzarella, parmesan and fresh basil in red sauce) which was as good as before. Wid got one of their special, which was shrimp and spaghetti in a white wine sauce. He liked the flavor of the dish (the sauce was infused with the shrimp flavor) and the pasta was generous, but he was sad the amount and size of the shrimp was a bit lacking. Our out of town friend tried fettine alla Pizaiola, which beef escalops cooked with tomato sauce, flavoured with oregano with small roasted potatoes on the side. I didn't try that dish, but our friend thought it was delicious and scarfed it down.

For dessert we had tiramisu and creme brulee, both still the best on the island.

Overall, dinner was excellent. Food was great. Service was all right. We had a wonderful time, and we're definitely happy that one of our favorite Italian place has reopened.

We also ordered to go pasta with ham and mushroom in cream sauce for the bebbeh. She had some of the reheated pasta tonight and she loved it. That dish also taste the same as before.