A Tavola Bondi
The thing I love about Italian dining is the communal dining tables, where bread is broken with good group of friends. Its food, community, happiness all wrapped up in one.
This is what A Tavola in Bondi is like (some of you may remember I went to the original A Tavola last week) but I really like the Bondi restaurant, the waves, the beach, the relaxed vibe. It’s perfect. It’s just the thing we need for the silly season.
We start with the usual, complimentary focaccia with a chilli and extra virgin olive oil.
Then a selection of entrees is brought out below:
Little balls of mine with olive crumbed and shallow fried – these are simply divine
Venison Tartare with quail egg and crispy Italian bread – soft raw gamey flavours of the venison paired with the richness of the quail egg yolk is amazing. The dish is also about textures, the crispy crumbs of the Italian bread that just crumble in your mouth and soft venison tartare offer an amazing array of flavours.
Figs with a cream base – soft juicy figs with a rich cream base (who’s complaining)
Grilled tiger prawns, borlotti beans, sorrel, tarragon – again nothing fancy, just good produce being put to work
Salumi, giardiniera, grissini
We order the mains and all are in agreement that fresh pasta is the go! The fresh handmade pasta is made daily on the premises (in fact the waiter points to the communal table next to us where the pasta machine sits). I opt for the Pappardelle, wagyu beef shin, red wine, horseradish. It’s a amazing, the pasta is as soft as a pillow, the wagyu just falls of the fork and the sauce has the richeness of red wine with the tang of the horseradish. It’s simply amazing – I love this.
Here are a couple of other mains had by the table. The Orecchiette, chicken liver, cicory, marsala, lemon
Maccheroni alla Chitarra (amazing lamb with Maccheroni pasta)
Spinach, pumpkin, fennel, caprino, seeds
The dishes are paired with a lovely 2012 St. Michael Eppan ‘Anger’ (Pinot Grigio) and 2007 Il Civettaio ‘Montecucco’ (Maremma Sangiovese).
The wine flows, the conversation keeps going and the sun still shows its shy face at 8pm (thank you summer and daylight savings). A Tavola Bondi – it’s a special place.
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