There are so many Italian restaurants in Da Nang that I tend to ignore all of them. In the past I have tried this one and that one only to kind of feel like they are all the same and therefore I don't go to any of them. It seems as though nobody in this town is interested in doing anything inventive or different and are able to make money but just selling the same stuff that everyone else does.
There is a place near my condo called Section 30 that I have been to for drinks a few times in the past but I have basically completely ignored the place for years. I never even thought about coming here to eat and well, I am finding out that this idea on my part was a mistake.
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This is one of those places that will be absolutely slamming on a day that they have a band playing and there will be nobody in the joint for the rest of the time. They have a ton of craft beers but I am a bit of a simpleton when it comes to beer and don't really appreciate the finer brews and feel they are a waste of money.
But a hand-written sign caught my eye when I was walking Nadi by the front and it said lasagna was available for a short time only. I quite like lasagna but my experience at the plethora of itialian restaurants in town is that they are extremely stingy with the stuff and they also end up being very dry. Perhaps this is just the American in me and I am "wrong" about what good lasagna is even though I disagree. I knew the chef was a foreigner here and section 30 is NOT an Italian restaurant. It was also getting late and I was becoming less and less choosy as time went by. So me and Nadi went in and got a table.
This is not a great picture but I didn't have my glasses with me - a stupid mistake that I must stop doing - so at the time I wasn't even sure if that was the specials sign... thankfully it is or this wouldn't make much sense. I ordered a glass or red wine so I could look the part and be a bit upscale and waited for the main course.
Maybe there are some Italians out there that would tell me I am wrong, but to me this is what lasagna is supposed to look like. It is also supposed to taste this way IMO. Am I correct? I honestly don't care. This is what I like and if the Italians or anyone else want to tell me I am incorrect than so be it.
The loads of grated Parmesan cheese on top of it and the salad was the proverbial icing on the cake. This was extremely good ant at 180k a plate, which is roughly $7, you can't complain about the price either.
Nadi sat patiently next to me and started to get annoyed at the line of people that wanted to come by and say hello to the cute puppy. In Nadi's mind, these well-wishers are simply getting in the way of her getting some of what is on my plate so she can actually be quite rude. I know some dogs that lose their minds wanting attention but Nadi isn't that way. I wouldn't say she really even likes attention from me all that much. But if there is food involved, she will do whatever.
I don't give her a lot of it, but I did let her have some little pieces that I set aside and let them cool down. We have to be careful in restaurants because it is really nice of them to not have an issue with me bringing my dog in so we have to make certain to not make a mess of the furniture.
I almost never order dessert but if you refer to the specials board above I also ended up ordering the dessert special even though I couldn't really even read what it said. I just asked the waiter which would he would order if it was him sitting there and I got something. I was so excited I didn't take a picture of it. I don't have Instagram so I forget to do these sorts of things.
I don't give Nadi sweets. She wants EVERYTHING but we have to draw the line somewhere. After all of that excitement we walked the one block home to our house and she was ready to go to bed right away. I was too even though it wasn't even midnight yet.
We are getting close to needing a haircut again and well she is going to dread that day. I will likely come up mid week this week.
In the next year I am going to have to learn how to clip her hair by myself because it really stresses her out going to the doggy salon. It's not the haircut that I mind so much, it is the cutting of the nails that I am terrified of.
But that's all in the future. We enjoyed this night and if you ever find yourself in Da Nang I think you can do a lot worse than going to Section 30. You'll be able to find it, it's in the tourist part of town and occupies a pretty large plot of land.
