Meal #58 – Italy

Waiters Restaurant is a Melbourne institution and has been around since 1947. Back then you needed a secret password to get up the stairs! It is also the location of the famous siege where 30 diners were taken hostage – newspaper clippings of this event are proudly displayed on the wall near the entrance.

Waiters Restaurant
(aka The Italian Waiters Club)
20 Meyers Place, Melbourne City

To get to the Waiters Restaurant you have to leave the bright lights of Bourke Street, turn into a side lane, go through an unmarked doorway, up a suspicious looking set of stairs, open the door…and there you are. It looked just like it would have in the 1960’s with plastic-covered tabletops, no menus, just a simple chalkboard advertising the day’s specials (but without the prices!). However, the diners don’t mind. The restaurant was full of people from every walk of life, from students to professionals to those of semi-fame – Myf Warhurst (from ‘Spicks and Specks’ and formerly from Triple J) was eating at the next table over from us!

This week’s intrepid Italian ingestors where Marty, Sai, Rami, Caroline, Deb, Paul and Nick.

Mains:

Tuna Salad
Rabbit Cacciuture
Grilled Sardines
Penne Puttanesca
Saltimboca
Marinara
Chicken Al Vino

Drinks:

Red wine – lots of it! Drunk from water glasses

Desserts:

Tiramisu
Tarufo

The Meal:

The tuna salad was served with warm tuna on top of a green salad consisting of lettuce, cucumber, tomato and asparagus. Unfortunately the tasty dressing was very oily which detracted from the natural flavours of the vegetables.

The rabbit dish was very good, but when pushed to describe his meal, the diner could only come up with “bony, slurpy, bouncy, messy, tasty” – which sounds like a great night out if you ask me!

The grilled sardines were split down the belly and spread out on the plate exposing both fillets. However the bones had not been removed and made eating the fish difficult. The sardines unfortunately were quiet bland, with a tinny flavour, thankfully they were served with a lovely salad.

The penne puttanesca was an oily dish which had a nice mixed flavour of olive oil and chilli. However, it was too much as a main dish and would have been better as a shared side dish.

The saltimbocca is a veal and prosciutto dish that was served with asparagus and potatoes. Unfortunately, although the potatoes where delicious everything else was dull and the serving was too small given the price.

The marinara was also a disappointment with salt needing to be added to give it flavour. This seafood content of this dish was unbalanced with too many scallops and not enough prawns.

The Chicken Al Vino was probably the highlight of the mains. It was a tasty dish served in a white wine sauce with vegetables as a side.

Both desserts sampled were of great quality. The fresh cream of the tiramisu was refreshing and offered a wonderful counterbalance to the coffee flavours; while the tartufo was any chocolate-lovers fantasy, with the candied cherry in the middle a welcomed surprise.

Overall:

The Waiters Restaurant is a laid back place that has the feel of family owned and run restaurant. Although not exorbitant (mains are between $17-$25), for what you’re served, the prices are probably $5 too expensive; but the history and reputation of this restaurant lets them charge what they like.

Oh, and if you’re interested, Myf ordered the Tortellini Bologna and seemed to enjoy it.

Meal #57- Sicily

Despite the many different regions of Italy, and the huge Italian population of Melbourne, it’s quite difficult to find a restaurant that specializes in regional fare. So it was that Nick, Naomi, Sai, Caroline, Rami and Marty approached Northcote, heady with anticipation at discovering the delights of a kucina siciliana.

Café Bedda

High St

Northcote

The journey to Café Bedda was fraught with difficulty. Not only could we not locate the restaurant, just missing it in our extensive sweeps of High St, but as we finally neared our destination, some other people were enjoying their own High St drive-bys; people with eggs. By the time we found the thriving Café Bedda, we were egg splattered and frustrated, and really looking forward to a decent meal. The Café itself is a narrow, bustling space, with a promisingly large number of people crammed in to enjoy the notorious fare.

The menu concentrates quite heavily on pizzas, and we chose to share a few foccacia. These were essentially an excellent pizza bread base, liberally doused in olive oil, Sicilian sea salt and either garlic and herb, or anchovy. A delicious and filling side dish.

As a group we sampled some of the Assaggi (small dishes). The baccala fritters (potato, cod and parsley croquettes) delivered a satisfying saltiness, without overpowering. However, they also featured cod bones, too small to dig out of the soft fritters, but too large to be eaten without a little discomfort. The marinated olives were a hit, served warm with roasted garlic and generous amounts of bread.

Delving into the Secondi (main) course, pasta was a common theme, although a surprising let down. The Pennette Norma, tossed with tomato, grilled eggplant, and basil was fine, if a little oily. Nothing to write home about, but nothing to write complaint letters over, either. The Spaghetti Puttanesca con pesce spada was a bigger disappointment. The traditional Putanesca sauce of tomato, capers, green olives, chilli and anchovies was sadly bland and the addition of sword fish, rather than uplifting the dish, instead clashed with the subtle flavours.

It was a pleasure to order from the rotating specials board, which features Sicialian cuisines as they become available. We enjoyed the Capretto al forno- a stew of tender goat meat perfectly complemented by the scattered herbs throughout the rich tomato sauce. An accompanying serve of rosemary polenta was a little wet, but the flavours were well matched.

All in all, our visit to Café Bedda was a bit of a let down, but that was likely coloured by our unpleasant journey and difficulties in meeting dietary restrictions. The stand out dishes were fantastic, and well worth the price, and certainly many reviews of Bedda are more than complimentary. The prices are a little steep, but the ingredients are high quality, and the service is friendly and attentive, the serving staff displaying an excellent knowledge of the foods, including the specials. A return visit focusing on their pizzas and seasonal fare might well produce a different dining experience.