Today is a big day. Today is the day I finally find a good Spanish restaurant in Sydney. And that place is Despaña. Located down the quieter, more residential end of Glebe Point Road, Despaña is definitely a local’s haunt. Instead of the boisterous atmosphere you find at the Spanish restaurants closer to the city, Despaña is quiet and cosy, giving off a vibe reminiscent of a rustic family-run European bistro, with warm and personable service to match.
It’s been a pizza-y couple of weeks. Not only did dinner at Bella Brutta last week not quench that (wood)fire, I found myself craving pizza even more than my usual amount throughout the entire next week. So when Friday came around, there was nothing for it but to treat myself to a couple of yum discs at Lucio Pizzeria. Lucio Pizzeria actually holds the title for Best Pizza in Australia for 2018, as well as being accredited by the AVPN – the coveted stamp of approval confirming that yes, this is the real-deal Neapolitan-styled pizza. Yet you wouldn’t be able to tell any of this just by looking at it. Located in a very out-of-the-way part of Darlinghurst, the small…
Dinner at Bella Brutta was an impromptu affair. Or rather, as impromptu as my highly-considered dining plans get. I hadn’t even heard of Bella Brutta until earlier in the week, but after a couple of veteran Sydney bloggers described the clam pizza as one of their favourite pizzas in recent memory, I was sold. I immediately made a booking for the same Friday – my curiosity proved too much for me to wait any longer. As it turns out, Bella Brutta actually opened with quite a bit of hype around it. With alumni from the well-regarded LP’s Quality Meats and Porteno behind its conception, it’s definitely worth your while to grab a booking, as the long, skinny room fills up…
I had promised my sister a pasta-and-gelato date for the next time I came back down to Melbourne, and despite minor shenanigans in the form of a last-minute search for a restaurant that was actually open, the first part of the operation was carried off without a hitch. After wandering around for a couple hours, digesting the ridiculous amounts of carbs we ingested, we hit up Pidapipo for our gelato fix. I had first come across Pidapipo a couple years ago, when they only had their flagship Carlton store. The deliciousness of their gelato, the hazelnut flavour especially, absolutely blew my mind. Unfortunately Carlton is just out of the way enough for me to not be able to frequent it…
I had been promising my sister a pasta and gelato date for the next time I’m in Melbourne for months, only to realise a few days before coming back that the only day we can go out is on a Sunday… the day which Grossi Cellar Bar, my sister’s favourite place for pasta, happens to be closed. After a bit of frantic searching on my part, I found Lupino – a well-established and well-reviewed Italian restaurant that I’ve oddly never come across in all my years exploring Melbourne.
Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had a pizza?? I do – it’s literally been over 6 months, I kid you not. As expected, the cravings hit a critical mass somewhere around March this year, and I found myself at Rosso Antico. I’ve been eyeing off Rosso Antico for over a year now, ever since I first stumbled across it on my way to Bovine and Swine. I was impressed with how legitimately Italian their menu looked, and their adorable pizza chefs certainly didn’t hurt either. The humble Margherita ($18) is my benchmark for sussing out the quality of a new pizza restaurant, and Rosso Antico fell somewhere in the middle of the road with their rendition.…