Terrazzo: Innovative Contemporary Italian Restaurant

It is no doubt, Italian cuisine is recognized all around the world. In fact, according to a global survey by the charity Oxfam, pasta is the world’s most popular dish, ahead of meat, rice and pizza. Medellin’s gastronomic industry has quickly grown over the past years and there are more innovative Italian restaurants. Terrazzo, is not like other Italian restaurants, it is a modern contemporary restaurant with the purpose of being original and assuring that clients have a fascinating dinner.

Terrazzo, cucina appetitosa, is a new Italian restaurant that just celebrated its first anniversary in October. The founders of the restaurant are siblings, Isabella and Daniel Maya, who are passionate about Italian cuisine. Their purpose is to serve unique plates to share in the table and for their clients to have a remarkable time. Terrazzo is a place to visit because there are all types of quality food offered, an excellent menu, professional service, decoration and location.

The food served in Terrazzo is the perfect combination of classic and modern. Terrazzo isn’t cliche and doesn’t sell plates such as carbonara and bolognese pasta because their intention is to be original. The restaurant’s speciality is pasta and some of the most desired plates are lasagna del vecchio, risotto pecorino and solomito avellanado. Maiale confitado which is pork with crispy skin, grille vegetables in sesame oil, apple sauce, old mustard and yerbabuena is one of the signature plates. The iconic dessert, cilindro de chocolate, is a chocolate humid cake with vanilla gelato and delicious pieces of white chocolate crunch with a salty touch. Prices range between 20 to 50 thousand pesos which make sense for the quality of the ingredients and preparation process. Instead of competing with classic Italian restaurants like Il Castello, Terrazzo’s most known competitions are restaurants like Ammazza, Olivia, and Romero. While Terrazzo’s speciality is pasta, Romero’s is pizza, therefore, they all have their own particular focus. The portions in Terrazzo tend to come in big portions which is why the restaurant’s philosophy is for people to share plates.

Starting off November, a new menu was implemented. The order of the new menu is: antipasti, insalate, pizzas, pasti e rissoti, and secondi. Comparing it to the old menu, the order was starters, soups and salads, pizzas, pastas, and main course. In Italy it is common to have a starter plate plus two main courses, meanwhile, in Colombia, people tend to have a different diet. Colombians consume a lot of meat, this is why plates like solomito avellanado were added to the menu. This directly connects to the differences in culture in the way Colombians and Italians eat. To add, the new menu doesn’t offer soups because they didn’t sell and weren’t profitable, minor changes do make the difference. In fact, Terrazzo takes advantage of every opportunity to improve and something interesting is that when it is the harvest season of ingredients like truffle there is a seasonal menu.

Visiting Terrazzo is unforgettable, modern music playing in the background, dim lighting, aesthetically pleasing decoration and the outstanding service. This restaurant attracts families, couples, teenagers, tourists who all look happy and satisfied. The waiters were attentive and nice. They also wisely knew the answers to all the questions we made about the plates. The host receives guests with a smile and showed me a table and the waiter greets promptly. Although, the food took about 40 minutes to arrive which can be a lot of time,  Colombia is recognized worldwide for our amazing service and this can be experienced in Terrazzo. In the same street there is an Italian restaurant which is more informal but still is a competition called Restaurante cucina simpática which is more informal but still a competition because of location.

For a lot of clients they could consider the restaurant too expensive, but the truth is that a lot of ingredients are imported, the preparation process is complex and the location is expensive, therefore, the price does makes sense. A more affordable innovative Italian restaurant is Il Forno which was created 19 years ago and has 28 national restaurants. This shows how prices may be influenced when a restaurant has just started. It could be a good idea to have more advertisements to this restaurant in order to get more attention. For the parking, it can be hard to find a place because the restaurant doesn’t have a parking lot.

Terrazzo’s menu has plates for all tastes, hence, clients  will be satisfied and order what they truly love. Italian food is adored worldwide and innovative restaurants are tending to become more successful. Sharing exquisite food, great ambience, high level service, aesthetically pleasing decoration, and originality are all reasons to visit this place more than once.