Vincenzo. Vincent. Vince. Vinnie.
Genius.
This is a review of one of the best Saturday evenings I've ever had in my home town of Adelaide. Vincenzo's Cucina Vera. http://www.vincenzoscucinavera.com.au/
Word of mouth has been favourable to this restaurant, as has been the critical acclaim it has received since inception approximately 4 years ago. As such, I was eagerly anticipating this, my de-flowering experience - which almost did not happen. You see, I left a voicemail with the restaurant to make a reservation for the Saturday evening in question and after 3 days had not heard back. "This is not the sign of a quality restaurant" I thought to myself at the time, however, I thought I would try them one last time (bear in mind this was on the Friday before the Saturday evening I was hoping to book). After a brief explanation on the phone, the lady on the other end said: "Sorry, I missed your name, are you 'Moe V'? I've been trying to call you for the last few days however the end of your voicemail got cut off and I didn’t get the last few digits of your phone number....I've actually tried a few different combinations, but haven’t had any luck". "Wow" I thought to myself..."talk about attention to service". Imagine your local Miccie D's trying to track you down after an incorrect order through the drive-thru (which for anyone who knows me - is a heartbreaking experience). She followed it up with "It's only one day away, but I actually put aside a table for you when you left your first message just in case you called back". Double wow. This is how service should be everywhere. "Sorry, I missed your name" I said...."Lara" she responded. Of course it was.
You see Lara wears many hats. Co-owner of the restaurant, Vincent's partner and Maitre D' - she is exceptional. This is why it comes as no surprise to me when I did a little research and found she has won the 2012 Gourmet Traveller Maitre D' of the year award. Well deserved in my opinion. http://gourmettraveller.com.au/view-image.htm?index=13&gid=11018
We arrive a little before 7:30pm to the beautiful cottage building on Unley Road and make our way to the door. We are greeted, enter and decide we could do with a little bit of an apéritif before we sit down to our table. I sit at
the bar and say to our host “I’m in your hands – what do you recommend”. Within 30 seconds, I hold in my hand a Campari with a dash of soda and orange. Just what the doctor ordered - perfect. From here, I must apologise for the quality of the photos, as due to the lighting and my desire to not interrupt my fellow patrons with flash photography, the ones I have taken do not do justice to the dishes. With that out of the way – we are seated to our table.
Our main waiter (Heath) brings over 2 glasses and some champagne. “Please enjoy this as our way of congratulating you both on your special night” [I had mentioned in passing that we had gotten engaged recently]. Lovely gesture. Shortly afterwards, a complementary aperitif was served. My review notes don’t explain this in too much detail so I will be winging it on this one – the main memory I have of this was that it was served in a glass made of ice and the flavours were a liqueur made of grapefruit
finished with citrus foam.
With amazing timing, upon completion of our aperitifs, Lara came over to explain the restaurant’s concept which I was familiar with previously. Nevertheless, it was a joy to hear Lara describe it in person with so much passion and excitement for what the restaurant is doing. It’s contagious.
In summary:
1. No menu
2. No prices
3. Everything fresh and local
4. Menu will be driven by what is good at the time
I was there for the full experience, so when asked if we felt like a certain number of courses, I responded “just keep them coming”. Upon hearing that, Lara’s eyes lit up and I can only imagine she was thinking something along the lines of “these guys are happy to go along with the ride wherever it takes them – excellent”. A wine list was placed before me and opened…I close it quickly and almost as if my mind was being read, Lara says “I take it you’re happy for us to also select your choices of wine?” I nod, she removes the wine list, says “Thank you”, and so…it begins.
Before we delve into the night, I’d like to apologise for the lack of specific wine review/comments throughout. Let me just say that there was more wine then I needed. At times, 2 glasses per course. The service staff and Lara were generous. Very generous. They matched perfectly to the dishes we had on the evening and came from all across the world. I can highly recommend the matching wine selections.
Next, another complimentary dish – and quite possibly the best dish of the evening. It arrived on a thin stone serving plate and looked glorious. In essence, it was a pork skin biscuit, topped with marinated cabbage, fresh wild edible flower blossoms and topped with a fresh locally caught yabbie. Words cannot express how good this was. I made a point to mention to Lara that it was cruel of Vincent to do this. To serve such an appetizer and not provide the option of purchasing more should be against the law. It was in a word: sublime.
Next up, entrée time. The John dory cooked using a bronzing technique with a garlic and lemon olive oil, served with a potato crisp. We were informed that the John dory was caught locally that morning and after tasting it – I did not doubt it. Subtle yet complex is how I would describe this dish. The appetizer in the paragraph above was a tough act to follow, but this was excellent for completely different reasons.
Pasta was next. I cannot recall the exact name of the pasta, but I do know it was hand-made and cooked perfectly al dente. The sauce? An ox-tail ragu which was phenomenal. Whereas the fish dish was subtly flavoured and remained complex, the pasta was a bold flavoursome dish which was deep in flavour and highlighted the contrast between both dishes.
The main course arrived. Wagyu beef cooked in a waterbath style, served with morel mushrooms and ‘restaurant garden sand’. The beef retained its pink hue as a result of the cooking method and was a magnificent way to end the savoury courses. I couldn’t find out what was in the ‘sand’ but it complemented the mushrooms and beef spectacularly.
Onto cheese. Each cheese was from a different country and had a unique taste to it. I was surprised there was no gorgonzola however the cheeses that were there were excellent. Dessert follows cheese, and on this night, Vincent put together a meringue with passionfruit sorbet and wild strawberries. I started to eat and was surprised by what happened next. Popping and cracking could be heard/felt and I was instantly brought back to my childhood with images of the royal show and ‘Pop Rocks’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_Rocks. Vincent was playing games now. A final reminder that food is also about having fun. It was magical.
I finish off the evening with a scotch. Unfortunately, the selection of scotch left a little to be desired (no single malts – only blends) however, after that much food and that much vino, the scotch was already an unnecessary indulgence that I did not need.
The final surprise of the evening came when we asked for the bill (it was now 12:30am). Lara came over with the bill and made a specific point to mention that ‘it was a pleasure to take you on the journey this evening. You have been a joy to deal with and we’d just like to say congratulations again on your engagement. Your scotch and coffee’s are complimentary as a gesture of our appreciation. If there’s anything else you’d like please let me know.” I was speechless but managed to think to myself “shut up…just shut up….you had me at hello…you had me at hello”.
In summary, in case it didn’t read that way, I love this place. The combination of food, service and overall ambiance was spot on (even with the lack of scotch variety).
In relation to the ‘no menu’ concept, I can see how some people may be put off by this…it can be somewhat frightening to have the choice of what to eat taken away from you. Control freaks out there are in a lot of trouble, however, I implore you to give it a chance as it is an experience you will never forget.
Myself? I found it liberating. Not knowing what will come out next added an element of excitement to the meal. I can think of endless times when I would sit down to a nice restaurant and be the last one to order because of the number of choices available and when my ultimate choice comes out and I see what everybody else has ordered, I get that feeling of remorse…why do I do that to myself. Eating experiences like this epitomise why I love ‘this thing of ours’. The flavours, the wine, the service, the passion, the love for ones craft. Do yourself a favour and go. Even if just once. Go.
Moe V.
Chilli scale rating: N/A*
*I do not believe the chilli rating scale is applicable in this case. The review speaks for itself. ‘Vincenzo’s’ and Lara stole our hearts.
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