Sweet treat just what the doctor ordered...
RESTAURANT COOKS UP SPECIAL DESSERT FOR RETIRED CONSULTANT – 50 YEARS AFTER HE LAST ATE IT
’TIS the season of goodwill – and a Manchester restaurant showed plenty when they made an elderly man’s dream of 50 years come true.
Tito Testa hadn’t had a taste of struffoli, a type of honey-soaked dough ball, in decades. He longed for the taste that harked back to his childhood – until Salvi’s delivered a portion to his door on his 83rd birthday.
The former Manchester Royal Infirmary consultant last ate the festive sweet dessert when he lived in Argentina with his Italian family, and has been hunting for it ever since.
Tito’s daughter Cecilia contacted the restaurant hoping to arrange a birthday surprise for her dad, but was blown away by the efforts the family-run business went to.
Salvi’s owner and fellow struffolilover Maurizio Cecco arranged for a portion to be made especially for Tito by his chef Frida Valitutto – even though the restaurant doesn’t normally serve the dessert.
The restaurant also refused to accept payment and arranged for them to be delivered to Tito’s door in Cheadle, Stockport, along with a panettone and a bottle of prosecco.
Cecilia was so touched by the efforts that she reached out to the M.E.N. to
Tito Testa with wife Nydia and, right, the struffoli
share the tale. Getting in touch from her home in Italy, Cecilia wrote: “It was a brilliant surprise for my dad and after over 50 years he got to taste again a memory from childhood. Neither myself or my father have ever been to Salvi’s so we are not even regular customers yet they went to all this effort without charging me a penny.
“It was such a lovely and generous gesture on behalf of this Manchester business, and nice to know that they don’t just think about profit. They said they were more than happy to do this as they love to support the older Italian community in any way. It’s just so nice to know that small, kind gestures like this still happen and they can make someone’s day.”
Tito moved to Manchester in the 1970s to continue his research in the field of nuclear medicine, eventually going on set up and lead the nuclear medicine department at MRI.
The father-of-three told the M.E.N. he was ‘obviously surprised and very happy’ with the unexpected delivery. “It was a very nice gesture,” he said. Nydia, his wife of 54 years and former cancer researcher at The Christie, added: “He’s been talking about it [struffoli] for years and years but I can’t make it. It tasted delicious, just like he remembered. It disappeared quite quickly even though it was a big portion, they gave us a lot! And yes, he did agree to share with me!”
The couple have three children, two of whom still live in Manchester while Cecilia has moved to Italy with her husband.
Nydia added: “We haven’t eaten at Salvi’s before but we definitely will now. When they said they would send some, we expected a courier to arrive, but they sent a lovely girl, a member of staff, to deliver it. It was such a lovely surprise.”
Ruby Fryman, who made the delivery, said: “It’s not something we have on the menu, we made it especially, but we’re more than happy to do that and do cater to requests.
“We loved their story so much, and on his birthday as well, we just couldn’t charge him for them. He couldn’t believe it, he was so pleased. It was really lovely and touching, I got back in my car and shed a little Christmas tear!
“It’s such a big part of what we do, we’re all about spreading information about Italian food and the history and the culture. It’s important to do stuff like this, that’s why we do the festival [Salvi’s is behind the annual Festa Italiana] – it’s about bringing people together for good food!”
Manchester-founded Salvi’s recently opened a new restaurant in the Northern Quarter, joining their existing sites in the Corn Exchange and on John Dalton Street.