Food. I write a lot about the weird food in the world on this silly blog, such as Cow’s Nose With Satay Sauce and half a loaf of bread stuff with curry (Bunny Chow). But today’s post is about something very close to my heart – Italian food and specifically, Italian Restaurants.
That’s because plenty of Italian food has literally passed through my heart thanks to overzealous relatives stuffing me silly full of home made dishes (not that I was complaining), washed down with some tasty red wine (see more at my post on ‘You Know You’ve Grown Up In Italian Culture When’...).
Anyway, I came across a media call out from a man called Stefano who is a part owner of a family owned and run Italian restaurant called Salt Meats Cheese which is located in Brisbane and Sydney. I responded to him to see if he was game enough to invite me out for a big feed!
I was definitely keen to take a punt to try some Italian cooking and put it to the test. Well, who better to ask someone of Italian background – me! And I knew I was going to probably exceed the Italian Stereotype of eating way too much pasta in a single sitting at the Newstead restaurant!
When it comes to eating, I’m a bit anal about my food – life’s too short to eat crap meals, so when I saw the claim on the Salt Meats Cheese website about honest cooking using quality ingredients, it was my mission to benchmark this against the best – that is, my grandmother’s (you know, ‘nonna’s) recipes!
That’s a pretty big deal! Can an Italian restaurant at least match your nonna’s cooking?
Amazingly, Stefano replied to me and said ‘would you like to come along, bring some friends, try the Gnocchi night on Tuesday, and enjoy some Sangiovese?’
Well, since Stefano and myself are half Sicilian, he obviously ‘made me an offer I couldn’t refuse’ (see what that means in the Godfather movies) and since I love my Italian food, I wasn’t going to say no!
If you don’t know what Gnocchi is, it’s a kind of pasta which is like a soft dough dumpling made from various things including potato, semolina, wheat flour, egg, and breadcrumbs.
I used to make home made gnocchi with both of my grandmothers when I was a little kid and I remember filling up an entire table with the gnocchi dough and creating little potato pockets which I knew where going straight to my stomach afterwards.
So I was more than happy to bring back some wonderful childhood memories! And possibly need to check myself in as excess baggage on my next flight!
When I turned up to the place, I’d realised I’d been here a year before scoffing down a delicious pizza after kicking on after an Australian Society of Travel Writers lunch.
Pizza is right up there with kebabs and currywurst as my go to munchie feed after a really big night out drinking beer! I already knew I was on to a winner with the gnocchi because the pizza I tried the year before were pretty much the same as what you get in Italy – they were so tasty that I devoured a whole one within minutes and I’m not exactly sure if I chewed on any of the slices!
I went straight to the ‘Gnocchi Me Out’ menu and firstly tried, astonishingly, some Italian food I’d never experienced before – Antipasto di Parma.
This is like deep fried Gnocchi that you stuff with ham, olives, ricotta cheese, salad and jams. This was fricking sensational and was like an explosion flavour of ingredients in my mouth. It was so good, I’m going to try and replicate this at home.
And then the main Gnocchi dish came out – one kilogram (or 2.2 pounds) worth of lamb ragu pasta in a big metal dish ready to be devoured like there’s no tomorrow.
Just remember, this dish is for 2 to 3 people! Maybe more!
When I shoved these delectable potato balls in my mouth like Homer Simpson, I just kept going and going until I definitely committed the sin of gluttony! I’d describe this dish as pasta combined with tender lamb stew topped with Parmesan cheese. I didn’t think I was ever going to move out of my seat!
But instead of stopping, I decided to bring the rest of the pasta home in a container for another day and foolishly have a crack at dessert – Tiramasu. Not that I needed it. But I’d gone past the point of no return!
But this feast eventually did come to an end. With a Tiramisu Martini to wash everything down.
After stuffing myself silly full of food for a couple of hours, I was ready to slip into hibernation for a few weeks while my body attempted to digest this ridiculous amount of food that had caused me to let out a couple of belt notches.
I told Stefano that I rolled back into my place and he seemed quite happy that I had experienced an ‘Italian Food Coma’.
Stefano: 1. The Travel Tart: 0.
Well, was the food as good as my Nonna’s? Let’s just say I haven’t eaten Italian food this good in a restaurant for a long, long time. And the claim is true about using quality ingredients, you can taste them all rolling off your fork.
And into your waistline!
Yes, I was invited as a guest to pig out at Salt Meats Cheese and all of my taste bud opinions are all my own! I’m going back to splurge with my own money!