My lovely friend Stef and I have cancelled exchanging Christmas gifts for a good feed and this year's choice was Tipo 00. She is a pasta fiend so after a festive pedicure on the Thursday before the Friday that was the last day of work, where else would be better? We hoped it would be worth the hype.
Our 8pm table was tucked away and it wasn't easy getting there squeezing between the occupied tables and chairs. The place was busy and buzzy but it we didn't have to wait too long to be served.
We browsed the menu and quickly came to a decision that we would forgo the nibbles and the foreplay and move straight to the carbs! Our waitress was super friendly and so genuine with her smiles and advice it was a pleasure to be looked after by her.
She brought us some delicious bread and ricotta to begin proceedings and whet the appetite and before long our other courses arrived one after the other. She instructed the kitchen to split each dish into two so we didn't have to eat from the same plate and served each dish we ordered as an individual course which helped with the table space as it was a small table. We saw larger groups have several dishes on the table that the shared family style so that is also possible but for this romantic girl date it was better to do it the degustation way.
Our 8pm table was tucked away and it wasn't easy getting there squeezing between the occupied tables and chairs. The place was busy and buzzy but it we didn't have to wait too long to be served.
We browsed the menu and quickly came to a decision that we would forgo the nibbles and the foreplay and move straight to the carbs! Our waitress was super friendly and so genuine with her smiles and advice it was a pleasure to be looked after by her.
She brought us some delicious bread and ricotta to begin proceedings and whet the appetite and before long our other courses arrived one after the other. She instructed the kitchen to split each dish into two so we didn't have to eat from the same plate and served each dish we ordered as an individual course which helped with the table space as it was a small table. We saw larger groups have several dishes on the table that the shared family style so that is also possible but for this romantic girl date it was better to do it the degustation way.
We started with the special of the day which was a linguini pasta with spanner crab, chilli and garlic and it was just so incredibly flavoursome with chunks of sweet crab meat and a little warming heat that was almost gingery. It brought home a hint of Asia and was like a take on the ginger and spring onion lobster chow mein that I've grown up with. Great starts.
Next was a very festive looking stinging nettle risotto with parmesan and bush pepper. Coloured green with crispy leaves that looked like holly and pink bush pepper it suited our Christmas get together perfectly. We had taken a while to decide on whether to order this. We had seen it on the table next to us and they had recommended it but Stef isn't a huge fan of risotto and the other risotto available was a Moreton Bay bug one which also sounded delicious and we both love seafood. What a great decision we made! This risotto was so amazing - deep in flavour and umami and the rice was so cooked perfectly. No sludge, no sticky, gloopy mess. I usually get bored after a few bites of risotto but I could have eaten more and I know Stef loved it. She declared it the best risotto she has ever eaten and it changed her mind about risotto!
We'd ordered the braised duck gnocchi but ended up with the braised rabbit papperdelle which was nice enough and we liked the hazelnuts but the previous two choices were better and we felt the same about the pasta with the brocollini, chilli and anchovy. For two anchovy lovers we wanted more of the little fishies and probably a but more flavour all round. Even the chilli hit was not quite there. It was fine but we felt like it was something we could have knocked up an home using leftovers!
I was getting full after all this pasta but Stef was ready for more so we finished off with the duck gnocchi given we'd missed out on it. What a way to end the meal. Pillowy, silky gnochi that was light and fluffy flavoured with a deep and rich duck ragu. So delicious!
This was such a successful meal. We knew it was good when at lunch the next day we were sorely tempted to return less than 24 hours later!
Next was a very festive looking stinging nettle risotto with parmesan and bush pepper. Coloured green with crispy leaves that looked like holly and pink bush pepper it suited our Christmas get together perfectly. We had taken a while to decide on whether to order this. We had seen it on the table next to us and they had recommended it but Stef isn't a huge fan of risotto and the other risotto available was a Moreton Bay bug one which also sounded delicious and we both love seafood. What a great decision we made! This risotto was so amazing - deep in flavour and umami and the rice was so cooked perfectly. No sludge, no sticky, gloopy mess. I usually get bored after a few bites of risotto but I could have eaten more and I know Stef loved it. She declared it the best risotto she has ever eaten and it changed her mind about risotto!
We'd ordered the braised duck gnocchi but ended up with the braised rabbit papperdelle which was nice enough and we liked the hazelnuts but the previous two choices were better and we felt the same about the pasta with the brocollini, chilli and anchovy. For two anchovy lovers we wanted more of the little fishies and probably a but more flavour all round. Even the chilli hit was not quite there. It was fine but we felt like it was something we could have knocked up an home using leftovers!
I was getting full after all this pasta but Stef was ready for more so we finished off with the duck gnocchi given we'd missed out on it. What a way to end the meal. Pillowy, silky gnochi that was light and fluffy flavoured with a deep and rich duck ragu. So delicious!
This was such a successful meal. We knew it was good when at lunch the next day we were sorely tempted to return less than 24 hours later!
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