The World's Thinnest Pasta

Very thin pasta called su filindeu or "threads of God"

Today I tried what might be the world's thinnest pasta at a small quaint Italian restaurant called Caffe La Tana on Commercial Drive.

From now until November 17, La Tana is offering this rare pasta called su filindeu for about CA$38, which comes in a flavourful lamb broth and bits of lamb that has been simmering for 24 hours, and topped with pecorino cheese and extra virgin olive oil.

Apparently only about 10 women know how to make this pasta called "threads of God" in Sardinia -- by hand.

It was served in a lamb broth and pecorino cheese

A story last year by the BBC interviewed one of the women who knows how to make su filindeu, and she made the dough every morning, pulling it into two, four, 16 noodles until she got 256 even threads that she places on a platter.

Chinese hand-pulled noodles come to mind, which is made in a similar way, but probably not hitting the dough on the table -- instead she dips it in either salt water or water to stretch it further. And she knows when the dough is ready to be stretched just by feeling it with her hands.

"Many people say that I have a secret I don't want to reveal," said Paola Abraini, smiling. "But the secret is right in front of you. It's my hands," she told the BBC.

The ingredients are only semolina wheat, water and salt.

In 2020 a team of engineers from pasta brand Barilla came to see if they could figure out how to make this thin pasta with a machine. They couldn't.

The summer of 2022 British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver came by to Abraini's to learn how to make this rarified pasta. After two hours, he gave up, saying, "I've been making pasta for 20 years and I've never seen anything like this."

Indeed! The pasta is even thinner than angel hair pasta, which probably explains why it needs a woman's touch to make it.

How does it taste? It was presented in a lattice shape (criss cross) and basically like very thin noodles in a heart-warming broth, the texture, as one of my dining companions said, like eating Chex cereal -- but much finer and smoother.

We were wondering perhaps a Chinese noodle expert could come to Sardinia to learn from Abraini... that would definitely push the evolution of Chinese noodles!

Caffe La Tana

635 Commercial Drive

Vancouver, BC