If I had to choose only one cuisine that I had to eat all my life it would have to be Italian. I love pizza and pasta, so when I heard about a new pasta bar opening up in the city I was keen to go.
Last night was our chance to go, I called ahead and booked a table which in hindsight was a smart move. Even though the restaurant on Little Bourke St is still quite new it was buzzing.
We were greeted by super friendly staff and led towards our table.
As starters we chose the burrata with roasted eggplant and watercress and the special, porcini croquettes. We were also given some focaccia with rosemary salt and ricotta with compliments from the kitchen.
I was in heaven, the croquettes were super delicious, very nice porcini flavour and the burrata was soft and mild and creamy. Since L and I had both come straight from work we were pretty tired, but all these entrees put a smile on our face.
For mains I went for the special of the day, saffron pasta with spanner crab, zucchini and chili. It just sounded too good not to have. L was tossing up between the gnocchi di patate with braised duck, porcini mushrooms and pecorino pepato and the Papardelle with braised rabbit, marjoram & hazelnut. To be honest, they both sounded very good, but in the end he chose the rabbit. We also got a side of the Polenta Fritta, not that we needed it, but we both wanted to try it.
My bowl of pasta came out and I knew I had made the right choice. Fresh pasta with chunks of spanner crab meat, thinly sliced zucchini and speckled with chili. Topped off with a delicious light sauce. When I finished I even almost licked my bowl clean!
L's papardelle with rabbit probably didn't look quite as exciting as my crab meat but it tasted just as amazing. You can tell that the guys in the kitchen know what they're doing, the pasta was perfectly cooked, the ingredients all went very well together and the rabbit was amazingly tender. The polenta chips had a lovely rosemary flavour to them, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. Delicious.
After our mains L suggested we share a dessert, as we were both pretty full, but I really wanted to try both the Tipomisu and also the Pannacotta.
When they came out the Tipomisu was topped off with a warm coffee syrup. Looking at the dish it didn't seem like your usual Tiamisu. When we cracked the chocolate disk on the top open we discovered it had more mascarpone underneath it. It was amazing.
The pannacotta came out looking beautiful. Berries and almond flakes on top a smooth and delicious pannacotta. Hard to pick a favourite out of those two, I guess on a warm day the pannacotta, on a cooler day the Tipomisu as it was quite rich. But both tasted amazing!
After the entree we had a smile on our face already, which just got bigger and bigger during the entire meal. Great food and I'd go back in an instant!
