EVER since my son Piers told me about a delicious dinner that he'd had at the Rib Room at the Fairmont Southampton Princess I had been dying to try it out. I try to refrain from eating vast quantities of meat but sometimes when the spirit moves me I get an enormous urge to become lionesque and gnaw away at huge pieces of very underdone beef and rip off great hulking chunks of meat from the ribs of some poor bovine.

Luck however was never on my side when I tried to make a reservation at the afore-mentioned venue. It was either closed for renovations, closed because it was off-season or closed due to the dirty deeds committed by Fabian.

Unfortunately it is too late because the Rib Room has now closed permanently and from what I understand has become incorporated into the Waterlot Inn. I was only recently mourning the fact of it's demise and that I had never got to sample it's wares when I got a phone call from Jeanette who's company is running the P.R. for the new restaurant from her base in Orlando.

The Rib Room as you probably already know has become Bacci. I have been away so much recently and out of touch with this recent addition to our restaurant repertoire that I was unaware of this fact. My first thought was "Oh God! Not another Italian restaurant!"

I have counted at least twelve in the telephone book and there are probably a lot more. I would imagine that Bermuda has more Italian restaurants per capita than anywhere else in the world apart from Italy. Why couldn't they have opened a Lebanese restaurant or a really good Chinese restaurant or even a French one why oh why do we need another Italian?

I really thought that someone should have done their homework to see what cuisine we are lacking here in Bermuda and then go from there. Nonetheless I set forth last night with someone else's husband (who was on loan) with an open mind to see whether or not Bacci was any different from what we already have a plentiful supply of.

In my opinion there are four criteria that go to making a restaurant a success. Great food and an interesting, innovative wine list go hand and hand as number one, followed by the service as number two. D?cor is usually number three as that adds greatly to number four being the ambiance.

Bacci scored extremely highly in the first two categories but not so well in the latter two.

We were greeted at the door by Pavel Melichar the Maitre d' who could not have been more charming, helpful or accommodating (Pavel is pictured here with Bacci chef Kimberly Dean). He showed us to our table and proceeded to light the little gas candle in the centre of the table. This he told us would fuel our passion!

I am sure that my companion's wife would have been thrilled to hear that!

But luckily for her the candle did not have the desired affect. Pavel then served us with one of the best bottles of Pinot Grigio that I have ever had the good fortune to quaff. If you have a similar taste to me in that I love a perfectly chilled, light, fruity wine then you may want to try this one, Pinot Grigio 2002, Lis Neris - absolutely superb.

The borrowed husband and I then perused the menu deciding to order completely different dishes so as to have a cross selection of what was on offer. I always like to look around and see what other people are eating so as to get an idea of portion sizes. The couple next to us (who were more intent on listening to our conversation than making any of their own) were having pasta. The wife was ploughing through the most enormous Lasagne dish, which looked as though it could feed at least half a cruise ship. It must have been pretty good because most incredulously she ate the entire thing! We opted for slightly lighter fare.

The mussels came highly recommended and were with the normal white wine and garlic but I liked the fact that there was the addition of Pesto and tomatoes.

My next course I decided would be the Grilled Ribeye on Gorgonzola Polenta with Fig Jus. The on-loan husband chose Risotto with scallops to start off with and then followed by choosing the Bacci pizza. This had a topping of spicy sausage, anchovy, roast garlic, grilled pepper, tomatoes and black olives.

All of the above were faultless, perfectly executed and well presented. I particularly loved the gorgeous, juicy mussels and could have gone on spooning the Gorgonzola Polenta into my bottomless pit of a stomach until the cows came home. The Risotto was divine, lovely and creamy but with still a bite to the rice.

I definitely did my carb quota for the year as I had also managed to dunk at least two slices of heavenly rustic bread into a vat of olive oil before we had even started. The menu is comprised mainly of pasta and pizza dishes, with a few salads and soups and five Main Course to choose from. There is also a "help yourself" Antipasti Bar with dried meats, marinated artichoke hearts, grilled peppers and so on and so forth. There is also an exceptionally delicious dessert menu on hand.

The food is good, there is no question about that but let's get onto the d?cor. Not what I would call easy on the eye. In fact whatever company is responsible for creating the interior decoration should be shot at dawn. They must have been dining out on hallucinogenic psilocybin mushrooms before contemplating how to achieve this particular dire affect.

You are greeted by wall-to-wall vividly coloured swirly wurly enormous flowery carpet. This is teemed up with chairs that are upholstered in a heavy embroidered, brightly coloured, smaller flowery pattern on one side and a red and white striped fabric on the other. The walls are painted in various hues of peach, yellow, orange and red. None of this marries up at all well.

There are statuettes placed here and there (I suppose to give an Italian affect) and the artwork reminds me slightly of the paint-by-numbers masterpieces I did as a child. There are way too many tables set too close together.

If I had had anything to do with it (and as it is such a big room) I would have cut the number of tables by half and installed some cosy, little intimate booths which would enable couples to fuel their passion if need be and allow the gas candle to fulfil it's purpose in life.

I also think that the piped music gives the restaurant a rather hotelly feel to it. I agree that you need music as the room is so large but maybe a little taste of Pavarotti would be more in keeping. It's fine to start an Italian restaurant but you do need Italians in the work force to create the desired atmosphere. As far as I could see there wasn't one in sight and or doesn't exactly ring true when coming from the mouth of a Sri Lankan or Canadian!

If it is good food and friendly service that you are after then you will not be disappointed when you visit Bacci, the rest speaks for itself. There are plans afoot for opening a couple of little terraces outside for al fresco dining which I think will be a huge bonus and please note that the restaurant is only open for dinner.

Funnily enough for the first time ever a few people have e-mailed me recipes of their own which they wanted to share. I think that this is an excellent idea and of course saves me from having to find new ones each week!

If there is anything that you are particularly fond of and would like me to print, please e-mail me at sharleennorthrock.bm The first recipe comes from Marlee who got it from C Travel regarding the Bermuda Culinary Arts Festival 2004. I see that it requires Frangelico and also Tia Maria, two items that you may not have hanging around in your booze cupboard. I wouldn't worry too much about splurging out and buying them, as they are both so delicious that you wont have any problem knocking back a few glasses whilst you munch on the biscuits.

1 cup butter, softened, 3/4 cup sugar, 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar, 1 tablespoon each of vanilla, Tia Maria liquor and Frangelico liquor, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoons salt, 2 1/2 cups flour, 4 cups milk chocolate chips, 1 cup walnut halves, 1/2 cup pecan halves, 1/2 cup Macadamia nuts

With an electric mixer cream together the butter, sugar, vanilla, Tia Maria and Frangelico until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat well. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt together. Gradually fold this flour mixture into the butter using a large kitchen spoon. Carefully fold in the chocolate chips and nuts. Mix well with a large kitchen spoon. Place in a storage container and refrigerate over night. Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees. Spoon one teaspoon of cookie dough, for each cookie, onto an un-greased cookie sheet and bake for 10-13 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly but serve warm

Helpful hints:

When creaming the butter, sugar and eggs be sure to scrape the bowl and beaters several times until the mixture is light and fluffy.

The dough may be made several days in advance and also freezes well for future use.

Refrigerating the dough before using enhances its flavours and allows the cookie to hold its shale during baking..

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, salt and freshly ground black pepper, flour for dredging, 3/4 stick unsalted butter, 3 tablespoons chopped shallots, 1 tablespoon chopped garlic, 1 1/2 cups dry, white wine, 1 cup whipping cream, 1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley, 2 (10-ounce) packages chopped, frozen spinach, thawed and thoroughly drained and squeezed as dry as possible.

Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper and then dredge in the flour to coat lightly shaking off any excess.

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a heavy skillet over a medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until brown, about 5 minutes on each side. Transfer to a plate and keep warm. Melt 2 more tablespoons of butter in the same skillet over a medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and saut? until the shallots are translucent, stirring to scrape up browned bits on the bottom. Add the wine, increasing the heat slightly and bringing to a boil. Allow the wine to reduce by half which will take about 3 minutes. Add the cream and allow this to boil until reduced by half, stirring constantly, this should take about 3 minutes. Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper. Add the chicken and any accumulated juices to the sauce, turning the chicken to coat it in the sauce.

Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in another large skillet over a medium heat. Add the spinach and saut? until heated through, seasoning with salt and pepper. Arrange the spinach on a platter, top with the chicken and cover with the sauce.