Vivaldi Italian Kitchen & Pizza
3/495 Bunnerong Rd
Matraville, Sydney
Vivaldi Italian Kitchen & Pizza is in Matraville, in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. It’s close enough to areas like Bondi and Maroubra but far enough to avoid all the craziness and noise.
The restaurant is open plan with an authentic rustic look. The open wood fired oven at the back fills the room with genuine Italian smells giving the space a really unique feel, you feel like you are in Italy.
We started with a few drinks and studied the menu. Vivaldi is fully licensed and has a great wine list on offer. We chose white wine and enjoyed some lovely Italian Pinot Gris.
We started our evening with some Arancini. These beautiful golden balls were with filled with ragu, cooked with Saffron and were nestled in a crispy shell. We loved the fusion of flavours which got better with every bite. We don’t often see arancini in Sydney cooked with Saffron so when we do, we know the person making the food definitely knows Italian cuisine.
We also tried the Bruschetta which was crispy and bursting with flavour due to the heavenly mix of tomatoes, garlic and basil bringing everything together like a sweet melody.
As we enjoyed our starters, we were fixated on the chef in front of the pizza oven. He was creating pizzas with such passion and love, it was like watching a composer create his musical masterpiece, much like Antonio Vivaldi did over 250 years ago.
The pizza we tried, which was the special for the evening, was loaded with Porchetta, Fior Di Latte and cherry tomatoes. This pizza was a masterpiece of creation and a culinary delight. Cooked to perfection in a traditional wood fire oven, the perfect mix of ingredients and a crispy base had us reaching for slice after slice until it was all gone.
We were impressed with the pizza and chatted to owner Raffaele who told us it's not only the method of cooking that makes the pizza irresistible, the way the base is prepared and stored is also significant. Although we tried, Raffaele didn’t reveal any of his pizza preparation secrets.
We also managed to fit in (don’t ask us how) a delicious meat plate for one. Freshly grilled, it boasted more of the mouthwatering Porchetta, chicken and lamb. It was delicious and fresh.
We finished up our lovely experience with some mouthwatering home made cannoli. Now, cannoli originated in Sicily and Raffaele’s family is from Sicily so it’s actually hard to put in words how delicious these were. Freshly prepared full of delicious ricotta cream and candied orange, they were amazing and light.
You might not associate Matraville with traditional Italian food, but we can assure you, if you are after a taste of taste of Italy in a lovely setting with great service, then we highly recommend you pay Vivaldi Italian Bar and Kitchen a visit. We most definitely will be back.
The Counts dined as guests of Vivaldi Italian Kitchen & Pizza. Special thanks to Raffaele for his time and hospitality. Big thanks also to Ompty.com for arranging this visit.