Osvaldo Polletti
Image: As we try to order a dessert of Apples Soaked in Red Wine ($11), owner Franco Napoliello laughs, warning “it’s just apples in red wine” expounding “it’s just something I was doing at home.”
As we try to order a dessert of Apples Soaked in Red Wine ($11), owner Franco Napoliello laughs, warning “it’s just apples in red wine”; then expounding “it’s just something I was doing at home.” That’s the motif of the whole menu; a surprisingly complex journey into the simplicity of home cooking – if you grew up in Southern Italy, that is. Antipasto Misti ($17/person) is the way to begin; I was tempted by the stuffed crumbed olives, romanced by the pea frittata and completely besotted by the time I’d finished the plump, beautifully cooked mussels. Vegetarian diners will adore the fat, cheesy Romane ($14.50) or baked semolina gnocchi, especially in tandem with the beguiling Finocchio ($14) salad of fennel, Fuji apple and walnut. Simple cooking combined with the best produce affordable makes the wagyu mince sing in fat Cannelloni Al Forno ($17/$23). The pork sausage at the centre of a truly wicked Falsomagro ($27) of rolled veal with provolone and mortadella, is similarly spectacular. Foccacia bread (house-made daily) reminds me of why we got excited by it in the first place; Biscotti ($6) are also redeemed. The mostly Italian wine list has entertaining, pertinent notes – our 2007 Feudo Arancio Inzolia ($36) was “fragrant, soft, harmonious and elegant” to the last drop. Share dishes to sample widely and book today.
Osvaldo Polletti
148 Norton Street, Leichhardt
Ph: (02) 9560 4525
Modern Italian $$$
