It’s easy to imagine any of the eight tables in the tiny dining room of Mercante being found in a local Mediterranean neighborhood, where a petite Italian grandmother stirs a pot of polenta or cranks out sheets of fresh pasta. But who you’ll find in this hutong restaurant near Houhai is not Nonna, but her passionate cook of a grandson.

The menu at Mercante is just like the way trattoria menus ought to be, beginning with home-made ricotta with celery, a creamy and delicious reminder of just how simple good things can be when paired with the right vegetable and a confetti-toss of mixed raisins. When you nibble the last of those, more raisins are brought out, and when you finish those, still more are offered. That luscious ricotta magic reappears atop house-baked bread, as part of a trio of bruschetta along with other toppings of earthy olive paté and warm tomato. Italian mozzarella will only get better with summer tomatoes in the Caprese salad, along with a drizzle of good olive oil.

An excellent finish is best done with the humble dessert trio that brings a perfect panna cotta with just the right wiggle, a compact slab of a custardy rice torte, and a boozey, chocolatey tiramisu. The only coffee available is moka from a small Bialetti that hisses on an electric stove, bringing memories of its home in Italy. When you come for dinner, don’t make plans for later, other than a walk around Houhai Lake or through the hutongs, because a dinner at Mercante is about conviviality and good company over a fine meal. Finally, here is a neighborhood restaurant worth leaving your own neighborhood to visit – and for that we say grazie.

Address: No. 4 Fangzhuanchang Hutong, Dongcheng District东城区方砖厂胡同4号

Source: timeoutbeijing.com