The Place:

Regional Italian eats meet a big-name Roman gelateria and bakery in an ambitious China partnership.

Let's start with the bigger name first, Giolitti. Giolitti is one of those boxes that you tick on your Roman holiday precisely because its gelato was featured in the 1953 film Roman Holiday. As the story goes, leading man Gregory Peck had tried their gelato and was so smitten that he insisted that he and co-star Audrey Hepburn eat Giolitti ice cream cones during the movie's iconic scene at the Spanish Steps.

It's the kind of place where you snap a selfie for your social feed, which might be one of the reasons why Giolitti considered entering the Shanghai market. For reasons still not entirely clear to me, people of a certain age in this city really like to wait in line to buy ice cream and snap pictures of it. I can only speculate as to whether that was a key selling point when Giordano Zizzi, their partner on the ground here, convinced them to come to China. They've got big plans for the country–100 stores in the next five years.

At the same time, Zizzi is using this partnership to introduce his own project upstairs: GioGio, a restaurant focused on the cuisine of his home region of Puglia – the heel of Italy's boot.

The Space:

Small, intimate, and dim, it feels like a date night spot. The decor is simple and modern with midnight blue walls and polished brass trim. Recessed ceilings are intended to evoke the interior of a trullo, a traditional Puglian stone house known for its distinctively conical roof. At the time of writing, a tiny terrace overlooking Maoming Rd N. is still in the works, pending the proper permits. Once the paperwork goes through, it will be a cozy perch for people-watching as you quaff a few glasses of wine.

The Food:

Zizzi never received any formal culinary training. Everything he learned about cooking, he'll tell you, he learned from his Nonna. His menu is a tribute to her.

The showpiece of the kitchen is a hulking brick oven. It's prominently on display and can be seen from just about everywhere in the dining room. "I built it myself," Zizzi explains. "Where I'm from, everybody has something like this in their backyard." In front of it, two cooks dutifully shape cavatelli and orecchiette while meat and fish roast over a wood fire. These two kinds of pasta are a house specialty and are featured in a few different preparations. There is Orecchiette alle Cime di Rapa. Rapini, a bitter leafy green also known as broccoli rabe, is sauteed with garlic, anchovies, and olive oil before being tossed with the al dente ear-shaped pasta. It's a simple classic from the region. Likewise, shell-shaped cavatelli prove to be a perfect complement to a mix of fresh shrimp, clams, mussels, squid, and tomatoes in Giogio's Cavatelli ai Frutti di Mare.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. There are plenty of starters you should try too. Fave e Friggitelli is one you don't see in many Italian eateries around town. It's a creamy, hummus-adjacent, puree of fava beans and potatoes topped with pan-fried friggitelli, or green Italian sweet peppers. The menu ventures to the other side of the peninsula for Neapolitan specialties, like Polpo Alla Luciana – octopus stewed with tomatoes, chilies, garlic and olives. Then onto Rome with Carciofi Alla Romana, a simple whole artichoke gently poached in white wine, olive oil, garlic, and herbs.

And we haven't even gotten to the mains yet. These are why Zizzi made that oven in the first place. The bombette is a signature item. These are rolls of beef or pork neck stuffed with yummy bits of pancetta and cheese. The Zampina sausages are also worth a look. They're made in-house. They also offer a selection of simple preparations, like steaks and chops, sea bream, and king prawns.

The Damage:

Quite affordable. Starters will set you back anywhere from 68 yuan for those fava beans to 148 yuan for a mixed platter of cheese and cold cuts. Pastas and risottos go for 88 to 118 yuan. Mains range from 98 yuan for a helping of mixed fried seafood to 298 yuan for a ribeye. Or you can get a 1kg T-bone for 1,188 yuan.

Good For:

Discovering a culinary region that doesn't get a lot of attention outside of Italy.

If you go...

2/F (Above Giolitti Ice Cream Parlor), Lane 205, Maoming Rd N.

茂名北路205弄2楼(乔立蒂Giolitti冰激凌店楼上)