Il Centro – Brisbane

Location

So I am in the beautiful state of Queensland for a few days and just can’t wait to try out some new restaurants. A work colleague has recommended a restaurant on Eagle St Pier called Il Centro which has a flagship dish of a sand crab lasagne, which he testifies is one of the best dishes he has ever had. I must check it out.

I hop off my flight and after sorting out my check-in formalities in the hotel, I am off to Il Centro and this is the view just outside the restaurant – just stunning!

Lasagne alla Granseola (sand crab lasagne with creamed crustacean sauce)

At the restaurant I opt for the table outside and of course, I order the Sand Crab Lasagne as a main (they do it in entree size too). The dish looks simply divine, I gather myself before I have the first bite.

The rich creamy sauce with the light tomato puree on the top is the perfect introduction to the lasagne. The dish has the most beautiful flaky succulent crab meat encased within the wheaty “melt in your mouth” layers of lasagne sheets. The crab meat is sweet, delicate and soft which makes for the most sensuous dining experience in recent memory. It is hard not to be totally lost to this dish and completely disengage from the rest if the world while you rub the little pieces of lasagne all across your tongue to absorb every flavour. It’s a delicate dish where the richness of crustacean sauce and crab meat just shines.

Isola Augustus, Friuli Latisana, Pinot Grigio (2013)

The wine chosen to accompany this wonderful dish is an Italian Pinot Grigio which is dry with lots of minerality and wonderful stone fruit and tropical fruit flavours. A light wine which is well-balanced and doesn’t overpower the dish.

All up an excellent night with a dish that certainly will be etched in my memory for years to come. I understand why it is Il Centro’s flagship dish and look forward to it being on the menu for years to come.