Apriti sesamo, Parma

The problem with this place is that its true identity is only disclosed when you actually arrive here.. Yahoo described it only as: "Attractive, Unpretentious and very popular". My boyfriend and I had a weekend booked away in Parma and were keen to research the best restaurants before we arrived so as not to waste our precious short time searching the city for the perfect place to eat...It was a unanimous vote that Apriti Sesamo sounded by far the most appealing, and therefore we would save our visit there for THE BIG Saturday night out - before we flew back to the UK the morning after. So, we arrived at Apriti Sesamo all geared up for the Italian meal of our lives... but almost instantly the goings on in this joint seemed suspiciously abnormal... naturally, being the avergae Brits that we are, our Italian wasn't top of the pops, however in all Parma restaurants we'd visited prior to this one, we'd somehow managed to work out the menu's using our Lonely Planet Phrase book... but when we scanned the substance of the Apriti menu - panic arose as not one single word looked familiar to what we'd seen before... things got even more strange when dark brown soya looking bread was placed on our table (we're 100% meat eating wheat lovers), and the fact that the decorations of the place had a harrowing similarity to a desolate Cornish farm house didn't help....especially when we'd anticipated a restauant far more in fashion with its "attractive and very popluar" reputation... So, as the night unfolded, it transpired that this restaurant was actually NOT popular, was suitable ONLY for the rare VEGANS that exist in Italy (if any) and definately wasn't in any way deserving of the word "Attractive". Don't get me wrong, if you're a rabbit and enjoy munching purely wheat free, sugar free, anything bad free food, this will be an orgasmic delight... but if you're the average joe, looking for a traditional italian meal, steer well clear... you'll only come out truly dissapointed and stinking like a rodent if you don't. PS. This was also the most expensive meal we had... which was odd considering all we ate was lentils, lettuce leaves and seeds etc. (less the sugar).