{"id":703812,"date":"2026-07-21T18:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T18:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/703812\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T18:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T18:34:08","slug":"pasta-windows-a-charming-italian-restaurant-tradition-or-the-sign-of-a-terrible-tourist-trap-restaurants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/703812\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Pasta windows\u2019: a charming Italian restaurant tradition \u2013 or the sign of a terrible tourist trap? | Restaurants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Name: Pasta<\/a> windows.<\/p>\n

Age: Pretty new.<\/p>\n

Pasta windows? That\u2019s never going to work; I mean as soon as it rains they\u2019ll go soggy and collapse \u2026 Duh! Not actual windows made of pasta.<\/p>\n

Oh, so is it a new pasta shape \u2013 like alphabetti spaghetti (remember?), but little windows? That\u2019s so cute \u2026 Nope, not that either.<\/p>\n

I give up then, what is a pasta window? So picture a lovely cobbled Italian square, in Rome or Florence.<\/p>\n

Got it, I\u2019m there. Though let\u2019s make that a piazza, in Roma or Firenze, for the genuine Italian vibes. OK, and there\u2019s a restaurant \u2013 sorry, trattoria \u2013 with tables outside, and stripy parasols.<\/p>\n

Perfect. I\u2019ll have an Aperol spritz and imagine I\u2019m in A Room With a View while I study the menu and decide what to eat. Now look up, and sitting in the window of the restaurant is a person, perhaps an old woman, rolling and shaping the dough, then hanging it: strands of linguine, strips of tagliatelle, sheets of lasagne \u2026<\/p>\n

Oh my God, a proper authentic Italian nonna, working with the love and knowledge that has been passed down through the generations of the family. I have discovered the real Italy! Except maybe not.<\/p>\n

Excuse me? It\u2019s a tourist trap.<\/p>\n

Who says? Actual Italians. Such as Sophie Minchilli, who does food tours of Rome and told the Washington Post<\/a> that this trend for pasta windows is \u201cwrong\u201d. And Neapolitan chef Michele Pascarella, who told Metro<\/a> that no proper Italian restaurant would display someone making pasta in the window, and one that does \u201cis usually more of a kitschy tourist trap than an authentic restaurant\u201d.<\/p>\n

But, look, they\u2019re all over Instagram! Exactly! And that nonna you can see is an Insta-gran.<\/p>\n

Hmm, maybe there is something a bit weird about having someone on display, working in the window. Zoo-like even. Imagine a chippy with a fishwife in the window, gutting and skinning haddock.<\/p>\n

Ew, no thanks. Any other tips for spotting a tourist trap restaurant? So you\u2019re on the main street, and a smiling but slightly aggressive and annoyingly persistent person is waving a multi-translated and heavily laminated menu \u2013 with photos \u2013 in your face while attempting to shepherd you into their establishment \u2026<\/p>\n

I\u2019m guessing that\u2019s a no? On so many counts. See also huge places with a huge menu and a huge number of tourists in there already,but very few local people.<\/p>\n

So where should I go? Take a stroll a few streets back \u2013 from the main drag or from the beach. Ask a local resident for their favourites.<\/p>\n

Do say, after consulting a language app: \u201cMi scusi, pu\u00f2 consigliarmi un buon ristorante?\u201d [Excuse me, can you recommend a good restaurant?]<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t say: \u201cLook, she\u2019s doing pasta shells now. Go on, get in there with her, for a TikTok \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Name: Pasta windows. Age: Pretty new. Pasta windows? That\u2019s never going to work; I mean as soon as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":703813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-703812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/703813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}