What can I say? If I could, I would give this place 10/5. It was seriously that amazing. But perhaps I am getting ahead of myself. This is how fine dining should be done.
Location
To give you an idea, this was meant to be a lunch to celebrate a couple of good things in life. A birthday with a good friend and for me being true and holding on to a dream. And so we had to celebrate.
This location was amazing and perfect. And the service? Oh My Gawd.
Food
We had the two course express menu as I didn’t want to keep my friend waiting for too long – this allowed you to choose items from their express menu. I had the Ravioli – soft yolk, parmigiano and guanciale. For mains, I chose the Wagyu Rump Cap, with watercress, horesradish, tropea onion and kale.
And that was all that I was prepared for… but instead… this magnificence.
I know I am going to butcher these items, because I was way too stunned to completely understand the names.
We had these pork mince with cheese and green olives within a beautifully battered and lightly fried balls. This was amazing.
We also had a great drop – and for the life of me, I cannot find the name. Needless to say it was so damn good, that it made all the meals delectable!
Then came the prawn, shrimp and finely chopped chives soup which was heaven in and of itself.
Then the homemade sourdough bread with home made butter and olive oil – Good gawd.
Then these delectable custard filled treat wrapped in this light pancake cover dipped in poppy seeds (oh man, just trust me, it was delicious, ok?). I know I am butchering the description.
And carrot cake cube with pistachio and shaved lemon meringue topping.
And then finally the entree rocked up. The Ravioli was so damn insane that I have nothing to say. It was heaven. Pure and utter heaven. Plus the crumbled parmigiana – oh my lawd. Beautiful.
And the mains – that Wagyu rump was fucking fantastic. There, I swore. Ok? Mashed with the wine, sure it was a Shiraz, it was simply a hit. There was a party in my mouth and I was dying on the inside.
My pants were starting to reach it’s natural limit.
And then, on the house, they gave us dessert. Home made lemon sorbet on a crumbed vanilla and sour lemon sherbet.
Yeah, at this stage, I was done.
We did ask for a quick coffee after this as we both had to rush off to our next meeting, but man-oh-man, I want to go here again and not have the time restrictions.
Cost
This is a fine dining experience and if you think you’re not going to pay for what it’s worth – seriously, don’t be naive. My biggest faux paus was not wearing a suit. Please check the dress code before you go in. Clearly, I was deemed worthy enough. And I’m grateful they did.
Just as a heads up, this came to a resounding $200.
Ambiance
This old school heritage listed building is beautiful both on the inside and outside. Further more, the intimate setting was perfect, and even though the seats seemed close to me, it was just the right distance away so you couldn’t hear someone else’s conversation unless they were being a loud oaf.
The Italian music was slow and the perfect tempo for eating.
I definitely recommend the window seats if you can.
Service
This is the gold standard in service.
From the moment, I entered, I was given the 5 star treatment, they took my coat, my scarf and had a little stool for my briefcase. Like hell… now I know what it must have felt like to be dressed in the morning.
Conclusion
I wish I could give this place a higher ranking, I really do. The whole experience was amazing and the way the wait staff took their time with us, even though we were, well, I was, clearly out of my depth. And for my first time doing a serious fine dining experience on my own, I couldn’t ask for anything better. Thank you Grossi Florentino. You have earned a life long fan!
The Domestic Traveller 