ITALI.CO
173 Barkly Street, St Kilda
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On this particular Friday evening we managed to avoid being stuck in traffic and easily found a parking spot 100 metres away from the front door, granted we booked for the unusually early time of 5:30pm, but I thought it was worth it.
The restaurant had a restrained elegance if you can work out what that means. It was subtle, but beautiful at the same time. Floor to ceiling windows surrounding the majority of the restaurant allowed for a naturally lit space, light timber floors and the white marble bar top contrasted will with the black chairs and was a nice change from the current tendency for restaurants to take the darker approach to their interiors.
A waitress brought us to our table which looked out at passing cars on the not so busy Barkly Street. The table sported 2 paper menus, a saucer with a small jar of red chopped chillies in oil and the obligatory salt & pepper grinders. We sat trying to decide what to order but were constantly distracted by the characters that would pass by our window, don't get me wrong, the drug fuelled exuberance of those that passed us by was definitely entertaining, but distracting nonetheless.
We decided to start with the Foccacia with Extra Virgin Ligurian Olive Oil, Garlic and Rosemary Salt to share, which was absolutely amazing for something so simple. The olive oil and balsamic vinegar were hardly required and rarely used. I ordered the Gnocchi Al Ragú D'Agnello which was home made gnocchi with a spring lamb ragú and carrot purée, and my wife; via the specials board, ordered the Duck with Parsnip Soufflé, Orange, Fried Baby Kale and Pomegranate.
The Gnocchi was beautifully light and soft and the sauce was by no means too flavoursome as these types of ragú sauces can be, though I would have added more salt to the dish during the cooking process. I dislike the addition of salt to an already completed dish, it just isn't the same. The Duck was amazing, it was cooked to perfection and again the accompanying sauce was exactly that, just an accompaniment. It didn't detract from the duck at all but had an amazing flavour. To my surprise the Parsnip Soufflé was a great addition to the dish as well.
The other dessert we ordered was the Tortino Di Cioccolato Con Cuore Fondente, it's a bit of a mouthful but loosely translates to mini chocolate fondant cake. This was probably the best chocolate fondant cake that I have eaten. It was exquisite! The warm chocolate spilled slowly from the centre of the cake as my wife cut it open, an event which I would have filmed on my phone if it hadn't of decided to fail as it was happening. The 2 seconds of video isn't worth posting, so you will need to take my word for it. It tasted fantastic, and in addition to the chocolate awesomeness was the peanut butter fudge to make it that little bit more amazing. The homemade Tahiti Vanilla Gelato that is was served with, I could have done without. I would have much preferred the normal vanilla bean ice-cream that came with the Nutella Pizza.
ITALI.CO was a great place to eat. The food was great and the staff friendly. The cost was to the higher side of average I would say, but worth every penny.
Take your family for a nice meal or bring a potential suitor if you want to impress him/her with your impeccable taste for the finer things in life.
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