There are a lot of restaurants in the PRD that claim to serve Italian food. Often it’s stringy noodles in a watery tomato broth, which they call “pasta sauce”. If you talk to some of your Chinese pengyou, you’ll often find that Italian food doesn’t quite match the Chinese palette; indeed, the people of both countries adore eating noodles, but cooked in completely different ways.

To separate the Kraft Dinner from Tagialtelle Con Pesto, Italy has been doling out certifications for Italian restaurants that meet the stringent criteria of authentic Italian chefs. And just this month, in Guangzhou, the group unveiled the list of restaurants in China which have been deemed authentically Italian enough to warrant having their name in lights. Details from the Life of Guangzhou:

Ospitalita’ Italiana is a “quality certification” to certify that the awarded Italian restaurants meet the high quality standards required to make authentic Italian cuisine, as they use original imported Italian products (olive oil, parmigiano, D.o.C. wines etc) and have an experienced Italian chefs.

The project Ospitalita’ Italiana is an occasion to promote one of the most refined creations of Italy, Italian Cuisine, and has as a goal to make Italian food ingredients more recognizable by consumers outside of Italy.

One thousand of the finest Italian restaurants around the world have been selected for the certification, which first started at the end of 2009. Italian Chambers in foreign countries have had a pivotal role in managing the selection process, making on site surveys and helping the appointed Evaluating Committee based in Rome make the screening and analysis of all the collected nominations.

Two of the winners are located in Beijing and eight are located in Shanghai. Meanwhile, six Italian restaurants in Guangdong won the honour. They are:

GUANGZHOU

• Limoni
• Oggi
• Prego

SHENZHEN

• Mezzo
• Milano Italian Restaurant Bar & Pizzeria
• Paletto

Congrats to the winners. You can find a full list here.