‘If you love anybody at all, show them by taking them here’
Norma Sicilian pasta kitchen in Paragon Arcade, Hull(Image: Sofie Jackson – staff)
A Sicilian restaurant has recently opened in Paragon Arcade to rave reviews. Norma launched in February, initially just for takeaways, but now it also has a pretty restaurant upstairs.
I absolutely love homemade pasta, it really can’t be compared to the ‘straight-from-the-bag’ stuff I regularly cook at home. In Hull, few places seem to make it from scratch in-house.
This is what struck me as special about Norma, which promised homemade pasta in a social media post teasing customers to “come hungry”. Well, I was frankly starving by the time I made it to Norma on a cold and windy afternoon.
What immediately struck me as I walked through the door was the tantalising smell of fresh garlic. It was heavenly and only made my stomach growl harder.
There were five people ahead of me, but they had already been served and my order for takeaway was taken straight away. My eyes were the size of dinner plates when I saw the irresistible bundles of cannoli and other homemade desserts in the front counter.
An enormous selection of fresh gelato was also sorely tempting and, if it were not so cold, I might have been tempted to indulge in a cone. There is always the summer…
For my main dish, I decided to pick ‘Norma’ since it’s described as the “most popular dish of southern Italy” and the namesake of the restaurant. You have a choice of two pasta shapes – tube-like rigatoni or tagliatelle, which is my favourite.
Just five minutes later, I was off and away with my bundle of food. The entire walk back to the office delicious wafts of pasta drifted out the bag and up to my nostrils.
By the time I got back, I was almost too impatient to take the necessary photographs. This is definitely food created for eating, enjoying, and savouring, not posing.
My pasta was beautiful, twirling it on my fork felt like a sacred ritual. The tomato sauce was garlicky, with the rich, hearty base of olive oil and various herbs.
Occasionally, a deliciously sweet cherry tomato was a burst of flavour in my mouth. The dish was topped with pangrattato, an Italian breadcrumb topping made with olive oil and herbs.
After a little break, I moved onto dessert. The cannoli had been tempting, but I was glad I ended up with the fresh brioche, drizzled with indulgent caramel syrup, and laden with strawberries and a creamy vanilla filling.
The texture was fabulous, somehow both airy and flaky, the syrup oozed into it. The strawberries were unbelievable quality for the time of the year.
I ate them whole, green bits and all, and they were impossibly sweet. The food definitely left a lasting impression on me.
Hull deserves great places like Norma. If you love anybody at all, show them by taking them here.
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