Land down under: 1889 Enoteca

My mother took me to the dentist this week. She was horrified by how long it has been since my last visit, and since she has already got a substantial investment in my teeth (years of orthodontic work as a child) she decided that something had to be done about it.

As a sweetener, she suggested lunch afterwards at her favourite Italian place.

Now, I knew that the food would be good, but I confess that I was pretty much imagining checked tablecloths, pasta pomodoro and veal scallopine. Had I known how fancy 1889 Enoteca was, I would probably have put on some mascara at the very least. 

The streetlights in this area have these red shades - they look really lovely! And I do love this cracked old facade.

 

Roman-inspired menu - just lovely.

See? Definitely worthy of mascara.

Unfiltered organic prosecco.

My mother had vitello tonnato - veal with tuna mayonnaise - to start. She said it was lovely.

My starter was Carciofi alla giudia - artichoke fried in the Jewish manner. Superb. The leaves were crisp and light, the heart was perfectly tender. The smear of rich mascarpone and little tangle of blanched lemon zest and mint leaves were just the right things to complement the salty crunch.

My mother's risotto with mushrooms and truffles.

I also had truffles in my main course - so the whole table was fragrant. The lightest possible gnocchi, which I think had been boiled and then grilled (each feathery bite was marked with lines from a griddle pan), in a truffle sauce with little bites of fennel-rich Italian sausage. Faintly over-salted, but the salad of mixed leaves that we had along side was just the thing to cut through the salt and richness.

Oh, in case you were wondering, other than needing a bit of a scrape and polish, the dentist couldn't fault my teeth.