Mercato e Cucina
297-307 Victoria Rd
Gladesville, Sydney
If you are after some amazing Italian dishes that are equally delicious, fresh and with very unique and flavoursome combinations, Mercato e Cuccina certainly know how to deliver all this and more. It’s a lovely spacious venue that oozes Italian charm.
To start with Mlady, going with one of her fave drinks, had an Aperol Spritz. Its a drink that always works with Italian food, but then again, it works with most other things too.
Sir perused the cocktail list and after some deliberation had a classic Negroni. While he also loves the bittersweet flavours of an Aperol Spritz, the slightly bitier taste of this classic drink hit the spot for him.
Arancini balls are such a favourite for both of us so of course we just had to try them here. The Cacio e Pepe arancini was crumbled rice balls with pepper and percorino cheese and they were full of flavour. They were beautifully crisped outside with a soft and tasty filling of the rice and pecorino cheese inside. They were so good, no wonder we love them!
Sir is very fond of carpaccio so we had this next. The Carpaccio Di Manzo was Wagyu beef carpaccio, rocket pesto, stracciatella cheese, balsamic pearls and clear crystal bread. Substituting for the clear crystal bread was a nice serving of crusty Italian bread. This combination was absolutely delicious. The meat was so tender. How good was it, to pile the carpaccio onto the bread with the rocket pesto and stracciatella cheese!
We like things on skewers so the Spiedini Di Gamberi was our next choice. The prawn skewers were dusted with aromatic bread crumbs and came with an absolutely oh so good Romesco sauce. This incredibly tasting sauce was made from sun dried tomatoes, almonds, capsicum and vinegar. The prawns were cooked perfectly and the bread crumbs gave them a lovely light crispy crunch. Combined with the Romesco sauce, this was divine. Mlady scrapped up as much of the sauce on her fork as she could to eat! Oh and we didn’t forget to squeeze the lemon!
Sir opted this time for a nice cool white, this being a Pinot Grigio. It was crisp and refreshing and a perfect recommendation from Mattia (who runs front of house here) to go with the starters. .
We shared mains and Mlady chose the gnocchi. This dish was gnocchi squid ink in a lobster bisque. Oh My Gosh. This was visually amazing, with the black squid ink gnocchi standing out boldly on the plate.. The gnocchi itself was so light and soft that it almost melted in your mouth. We loved the lobster bisque too - it had amazing flavours combinations. This gnocchi was one of the best Mlady has ever had.
Our next main was a pasta dish and it was delectable. It was Ravioli di Zucca. This handmade pumpkin ravioli with burnt butter, sage sauce, parmigiano foam and amaretti crumble was an incredible taste sensation. Firstly, we just love ravioli and Chef Angelo has created a dish with such an absolute scrumptious taste combination and where the beautiful amaretti crunch just bursts in your mouth. There were so many great flavours and textures with this dish - it was like a flavour party in your mouth.
Sir decided on a pizza for another main and of course no surprises he chose one that had the word ‘truffle’ in the menu. This pizza was from the Mozzarella based menu, La Campagna. When it arrived the truffle aroma was AMAZING! It had sautéed mushrooms, truffle and Parma Prosciutto. The sautéed mushrooms gave it a wonderful earthiness, the Parma Prosciutto gave it colour and another taste sensation. Of course the truffle added even more depth and for Sir this pizza ticked all the boxes. We have to say too that the base of this wood fired pizza was so yummy. It had a lite outside crispness with a soft centre. It was so good! We could not finish all of the La Campagna which we both thoroughly enjoyed, so we asked to take the remainder home with us for us to enjoy the next day. We just couldn’t waste any of it! The pizza’s are all cooked in an impressive wood-fire oven at the back where the lovely Gabriele conjours up his magic, making these mouth watering pizzas.
Mlady loves her reds so she had a lovely Sangiovese. We do tend to have Italian wines when eating Italian food. They do go so well.
Sir unsurprisingly could fit just a little bit more in, so he went with the classic Italian dessert, Tiramisu. It was cutely presented in a glass with that lovely chocolate covering on top. it was creamy, light and fluffy and Sir thoroughly enjoyed it all.
Mlady went with a favourite for her, Affogato. The liqueur for this was Frangelico. Vanilla ice cream too is her ‘go to’ so this dessert was just perfect for her to “almost” complete this incredible meal.
After dessert, we ended our absolutely delicious meal with (and again no surprises as we both love this) a limoncello each. This oh so good liqueur was served in chilled glasses. It was such a good way to end a great Italian meal.
There is also a stunning private dining room here. Even if you’re not booking it, take a look. You may then add it to your list for your next group function. It’s a great space.
Sir and Mlady dined as guests of Mercato e Cuccina. Big thank you to Mattia for looking after us on the night. Also another big thank you to Chef Angelo for taking time from his schedule to chat with us. Special thanks to MJ from Paper Phoenix PR for arranging our visit.