ABOUT US
Tommy is from Pesaro, a small city on Italy’s East Coast, while Luisa grew up in Torino, in the beautiful region of Piemonte. In every Italian home, food is more than just nourishment — it’s a ritual, a way to show love, and a reason to gather.
Our childhoods were filled with the scent of fresh herbs and simmering sauces, the laughter of cousins, and the sound of rolling pins on flour-dusted tables. We both spent countless afternoons helping our Nonne shape pasta, while family and neighbours shared stories around the table. These early experiences left a lasting impression — they taught us that food has the power to bring people together.
That shared love of food eventually led Tommy to a career as a chef, and later, to become head chef at Ristorante Consorzio — one of Turin’s most acclaimed restaurants. In 2011, we made the big decision to leave Italy and move to Matakana, New Zealand.
Here, we built something close to our hearts: Amaranto Pasta e Cucina, Auckland’s first Italian pasta food truck. A little slice of Italy on wheels, it’s our way of sharing the warmth, joy, and simplicity of Italian food with others.
Our food reflects the values we were raised with — fresh, seasonal ingredients, cooked with love and served with joy. We hope to share that love of food with you, wherever we meet.
Tommy e Lu
OUR FOOD
Here at Amaranto food truck everything it’s made from scratch by head chef and owner, Tommaso Baldassarri. Tommaso has an extensive knowledge of Italian food and, in particular, of pasta.
Our pasta dough is unique and it took our chef over a year to develop our recipe. It is a blend of 8 gluten-free flours and we have worked hard obtain the same texture as pasta made from wheat. Similar to wholemeal pasta, with a slight nutty aftertaste, the flavour it’s great too.
OUR PASTA
Our special Amaranto flour mix, free range eggs and lots of time and love goes into creating our gluten-free pasta dough.
Ravioli are our hero, but we love the bite you get out of the spaghetti and the tagliatelle are just perfect when paired with our bolognese ragù.
Our flour mix includes corn flour, rice flour, potato starch, tapioca, buckwheat, millet, amaranth and a dash of coconut flour, fiber and organic vegetable gum. We also use a little extra virgin olive oil in our dough.
ACASA
You can now bring our delicious pasta home/A casa with you and cook it yourself! Our pasta is sold frozen and you can currently find it at Charlie’s gelato in Matakana and at Bin Inn Warkworth. Or from our food caravan if you can make to one of our events!
OUR KITCHEN
Where Tradition meets Innovation.
Fresh, seasonal and free range ingredients are at the base of our preparations and we make everything from scratch. Where possible we use Italian and organic ingredients to maintain the most authentic flavour. Our recipes are a taste of family tradition with the innovation of being completely free from gluten. Our kitchen is medley of Piedmont, Marche and Campania, the three Italian Regions that have mostly influenced Tommy’s cooking.
Everything from our entree to our desserts (someone will say we make one of the best tiramisù in Auckland!) it’s homemade with love in our little caravan.
OUR SOURDOUGH BREAD
Created during the first lockdown in a moment of total boredom, our sourdough bread has been a winner right from the beginning. The flour mix that we use for our bread consist of starches (potato, corn and tapioca) and of proteic flours (rice, chickpeas and buckwheat), a little fiber and organic vegetable gum. Extra virgin olive oil, salt and water is all we add.
