Osteria dei Sapori - restaurant review
I am of two minds whether to keep using my Livejournal account for restaurant reviews or to switch to Facebook notes or even Google+. So I consider this a bit of an experiment.
Friday night, the husband and I went to Osteria dei Sapori Italian restaurant in Nedlands. It's the beginning of the husband's birthday weekend (whereby I feed him and feed him well) and Osteria has been one of those places which we go past but never went in. During the time we lived in Crawley, it was always on our list of places to visit but we never got around to it. It also made it to the top 10 list of restaurants endorsed by the Italian consulate as authetic cuisine. So it really begs the question, was it good?
I can't answer the authenticity question as I've never been to Italy, but to my mind, I have been to better places that served more interesting and tastier dishes. The venue was set up in a rustic manner, with open brick face, a clear view into the kitchen and the grilling area. There were three sections to the restaurant: the entry - which had 3-4 tables, the middle section which we were in, and the furthest section - each section separated by brick fencing facade. And to our misfortune, we were in the area that did not have an air conditioning vent above us. So it was hot and got more uncomfortable when my main dish arrived.
The service was interesting and relatively attentive. But what shocked us was that there was no menu. Instead, the head waiter (not sure if maitre'd is appropriate in an Italian restaurant!) recited the list of items available for the day. That's kind of gimmicky and took away our ability to gauge the cost value of the dishes we were interested in. Moreoever, we weren't able to consider the menu with enough attention as it had to rely on our memory to recall the dishes. And yes, we did ask them to repeat some of the dishes but one always feels a bit awkward to do that. It was also a bit difficult to hear clearly the dishes above the hubbub of the restaurant, so don't expect me to be able to repeat the name of the dishes! It was also a full house night, hence the noise level perhaps.
Homemade white bread was provided to start off the evening. It was fairly characterless and lacked the crusty fragrance I've come to associate with starter bread in many restaurants.
We selected for our shared entree a dish of sliced veal on greens, with a tartare type sauce on top. It really needed the sauce as otherwise it would be too dry. No wow factor, just ok. For our mains, the husband ordered braised goat and I ordered grilled veal chop, medium rare. Both arrived, plated exactly the same way: layered on top of small pieces of roast potatoes and some gravy on the meat, some rosemary on top. I was excited because I'd been having cravings for meat of late (and I had a lovely piece of grilled pork at Char Char Bull earlier in the week). Medium rare should have a distinctive layer of reddish pink in the centre but cooked all around, but it should not bleed! I thought it was just my mistake for making this selection but in retrospect, I doubt it. I sent it back to the kitchen, saying that on second thoughts, I'd prefer it more cooked. This time, I think the grill chef actually took my dish out to me! Moreover, the head chef was most anxious that there was nothing wrong. I didn't want to make a fuss so pretty much accepted the dish the second time. I honestly tried to eat it, but sawing away at it, I broke out in sweat (the fans didn't kick in till later when we were nearly done). Another reason for all that effort was that I found the meat far too grisly as well. I was not happy. Husband's goat wasn't quite a disaster but it was too boney and lacked character.
The steamed vegies were good though! And I think that might be the harshest evaluation of the evening when your sides is the best thing to come out of it. Oh, and the wine, which was a cheap Italian red, was excellent too.
Having looked around at what other people were having, I think there is a real lack in the way dishes are served. That is, the way food is plated. For many of the meat dishes, they were served in the same way my dish was served. Perhaps this is charateristic of osteria-style food, which afterall is about homey peasant style food. But I can't forgive the cut of meat I got and hope it's just an unfortunate experience (I'm trying to be optimistic here!)
We skipped dessert and coffee because I think we were keen to get out of there and into the balmy coolness of the night. While the bill didn't cost us an arm and a leg, I think the food at best was average (taste and flavour, not so the texture) and not being able to have some idea how much the meal would cost us was definitely a negative.
**no food photos in LJ post - see FB or Google+ if interested