Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Vicini

We were in Sydney again (I feel like I eat out more in Sydney than I do in Canberra!) in mid December for a friend's birthday. We were staying around the Camperdown area, so I wanted to book somewhere for lunch that was close to there. I knew Camperdown didn't have too much to offer, but Newtown was close by, but we always go there, so decided to check out Annandale instead.

There seemed to be a couple of nice restaurants in the area including Vicini. It looked nice and simple and relaxing, just what we needed for a lunch meal. It's on the corner of the main drag of shops and we got a lovely seat looking out onto the street. The downstairs area is quite small with only a few tables. Not sure if they open the upstairs dining to the public for lunch, or if it's just reserved for functions

We drove from Canberra straight to the restaurant and got there about 1:30. They were having a christmas function upstairs so they mentioned there might be a long wait for food. That was ok as we weren't in any rush.

We decided to get some Bruschetta to share as a starter, as we thought there would be a long wait for mains.

Bruschetta - $7

The bruschetta was delicious! Perfectly seasoned. There is nothing worse that getting under seasoned bruschetta. It's such a simple dish that I always vow to make at home after having it at a restaurant, but never seem to do.

Frankie sitting on the bench of pillows.

The lunch menu is not very big. I was feeling like a pasta, but they only had a choice of either spaghetti, gnocchi or risotto. I would have liked a choice of a fettuccine or penne or something. So I chose Lasagna instead.


Lasagna - $20 (I think)

I love a good lasagna and this one was very good. It was piping hot though so I had to wait a bit for it to cool down. I definitely couldn't finish all of it either and gave a third to Frankie, who thought it was delicious as well.

Fish of the day - $27

I can't remember what type of fish this was as it was so long ago, plus I am not really a fish expert. I can tell you if it's Salmon or Tuna, but that's about it. I did have a taste and remember it being very nicely cooked. The asparagus was cooked perfectly too. A nice light lunch, as apposed to my heavy pasta!

I was pretty full from my main meal, but the functions upstairs were all having dessert as we were having our mains, so we could see all the desserts going up there which tempted us to share something.

The waiter came over and told us they had sold out of a few things which I was disappointed in, as there were only a couple of options. Although once he went through everything it seemed they had only sold out of the pannacotta. We were tossing up between that or the Tiramisu, so we went for the latter.

Tiramisu - not sure of price

Well this is one of the best tiramisu's I have had. It was sitting on top a berry coulis, which really counteracted the richness of the dessert. The macerated strawberries on top were so sweet and delicious as well. I was definitely able to eat my half of this dessert with ease!

I would like to come back here for dinner as there seems to be a larger menu and you can get pizza as well. I would definitely recommend it to anyone in the area looking for a great place for a meal.

Vicini
37 Booth Street
Annandale

Ph: 9660 6600



Vicini on Urbanspoon

7 comments:

Jen said...

nice one! i live so close to Vicini but haven't dined there yet. looks like i should! soon!

Celeste @ Berrytravels said...

It sounds like this place has ticked all the boxes! I love a good lasagna as well, so the next time I'm in Sydney I'll be looking out for this place!

Anna Johnston said...

I must admit I love good pasta, hard to pass it up. The food there looked wonderful and any restaurant that makes you think you'd like to go back for more ticks the box as far as I'm concerned too.

Mel said...

Looks like a nice lunch - like the look of the cheesy lasagna! How funny that yours is the first food blog of Annadale that I've read...and you drove all the way from Canberra to eat there.

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

What a nice find Susan! It looks like a lot of hits and no misses :)

Lisa (bakebikeblog) said...

Sounds like you had a lovely dining experience! And that lasagne is HUGE!

Hannah said...

Hurrah, another Canberran blogger! Hurrah! *waves excitedly* That tiramisu does look fantastic, even though I never, ever order them myself :P