Visit Park Hyatt Saigon between 14 and 25 March 2008 to enjoy exquisite pasta dishes at Opera restaurant, where Chef Michele Gulizzi and his culinary team will be preparing a wide variety of dishes. Chef Michele will serve a menu of opulent al forno pasta dishes, including eggplant timbale with Casarecce Pasta, tomato and oregano; mushroom and pancetta rolls with Parmigiano; Conchiglioni Shell Pasta with mortadella ham, caciotta cheese and green peas; Seafood Lasagna with basil pesto and black olives; Prawn Manicotti with lobster sauce and parsley oil; and Veal and Spinach Cannelloni with ricotta and béchamel. Prices range from US$10++ to US$12++ per dish.

Al forno, which means simply “baked”, is a term that describes cuisine in Northern Italy, which is cooked traditionally in wood-burning ovens or on open-flame grills. Wood-fired pizza ovens are often a feature of Italian restaurants that offer al forno dishes as part of this tradition. This style has now spread all over the Mediterranean in terms of becoming a cooking technique for bread, pasta and other doughs. The brick oven has become a kind of symbol for al forno dishes, with its arched oven door and wooden board on which the food is placed before it is put into and taken out of the oven, with the wood acting as a kind of insulator.

Park Hyatt Saigon
2 Lam Son Square, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City
Tel: (+84) 8 824 1234
Email: saigon.park@hyatt.com
Website: saigon.park.hyatt.com