Cucina Espresso89 Majors Bay Rd,
Concord, Sydney
What an absolute pleasure it was to review
this warm and friendly café restaurant in Concord. The area boasts a lot of
eateries, so there is plenty of competition. We thought this
one was a standout.
There is indoor and outdoor dining and on this beautiful day we chose to
sit outside. Our waiter Joe presented the lunch menu and
explained the choices. He’s full of knowledge and enthusiasm for the dishes on
offer. Joe claims that he has complete confidence in the plates he puts on the
table because they are all good. That’s a big call, so we were keen to start
the taste test!
Co-owner Rocco tells us that they are now
open for dinner on Friday and Saturday nights and suggests we also try some
items from the dinner menu. It was a short menu but it looked delicious so we
gladly agreed. A taster of compressed watermelon with Persian feta, micro basil
and mint dressing was presented. A very good start!
We started with a mixed crostini platter from the lunch menu and the zucchini flowers from the dinner menu. There was a wonderful assortment of toppings on the crostini and it looked so appealing that a passer-by asked us if she could take a photo! We loved the smoked salmon with goat cheese, rocket, pistachio, caper berries, Spanish onion, mashed avo and lime. The pan-fried wild marinated mushrooms with goat cheese and thyme was great too. In fact, they were all great. Now about the zucchini flowers…. we both rolled our eyes with delight when we tasted these. Filled with prawns, spinach and ricotta, they were juicy and tasty. The seasoning was spot-on and the light crispy tempura batter added crunch to the munch! We could have eaten a whole bunch of those flowers!
We followed with a salad called Insalata
Prosciutto e Pera. which we grazed on with our mains. It was a pile of fresh
baby rocket with prosciutto, tomatoes, Spanish onion, buffalo mozzarella,
walnuts, pear and caramelised balsamic dressing. It was a winning combination and
the prosciutto was top quality.
From the lunch menu, we eagerly chose Spaghetti al Gamberetti e Pinoli.We were told this was a popular dish here and we can see why.
The al dente pasta was tossed in lovely garlic and olive oil with roasted pine nuts, chilli, parsley and big prawns.
Yum!
From the dinner menu we chose the beef eye fillet. Grass fed Black Angus beef served with truffle infused wild mushrooms, potato gratin on top, and red wine reduction. It was a very thick cut, cooked perfectly medium-rare to order. So tender, so delicious. Rocco says the ingredients are all fresh and each meal is freshly-cooked. We didn’t need to wait long for our orders. The quality was obvious and people keep coming back here for that reason.
We thought we couldn’t possibly fit in
dessert but the Vanilla Bean Tarte Tatin
from the dinner menu sounded too tempting. A warm pastry with pear, pecan,
double cream and gorgeous decorative flowers arrived at the table. Almost too
beautiful to touch but we managed to demolish the dish quickly. It was another
eye-roller – the pastry was soaked in amazing crispy toffee. Dame M loved this dish! She would count it as one of the best desserts she has ever experienced. Dame K (an outstanding dessert cook herself) was also in love with it. Not outsourced, it was made on the premises and must be tasted to be believed!
Rocco and chef Carlo (who is the other
co-owner) are brothers who have an Italian background and a talent for putting
out great tasting food. They engage with their customers and even have regulars
who come every week and ask simply to be fed whatever the chef wants to create.
That must tell you something. The atmosphere here is casual and friendly. The dinner menu may be short, but it’s carefully selected because Carlo puts out his best (and seasonally fresh) choices which were good. We finished with a coffee from the selection. A Little Maronette blend (yes, they know their coffees)!
We have done a lot of reviews and we were
both extremely impressed with Cucina Espresso. Would we go back? Yes, in a flash. In fact, the breakfast menu looks very tempting too. ….
Those Dames, who do reviews for Sir and Mlady Dine Out, dined as guests of Cucina Espresso. Big thanks to owners Rocco and Carlo for their hospitality, charm and great food.
