Alessandra Zecchini: An Italian in a pasta shop is like a kid in a candy store

If you are in Auckland you must visit Stefania Ugolini's new pasta shop and restaurant in Mt Eden, Pasta & Cuore. Stefania is an expert pasta maker from Bologna, the Italian capital of fresh pasta, and she has bough a slice of that wonderful Italian city to New Zealand. Fresh pasta is made on the premises every day, and you can see Stefania and her team in the shop window folding tortelloni and tortellini, cutting fresh pasta into tagliatelle and tagliolini, spaghetti alla chitarra, or making gnocchi. She also makes delicious sauces ready to take home, cakes and biscotti for the cafe, and tigelle, a traditional bread from Emilia. You can eat there or buy your pasta and sauces to take home to cook, and from next month there will be cooking classes so that you can learn to make your own pasta.

This is a truly beautiful place, stylish, filled with Italians and complete with a backyard al fresco area and vegetable garden. A real pearl for Mt Eden, and for the Italians living in Auckland, like me, it made me very happy being there, just like a kid in a candy shop.