Hello friends! Welcome back to another foodie review. This time, we're reviewing the Italian Restaurant Cicchetti On Napier in Strathmore, Melbourne. And yes, this place is literally down the road from my last foodie review, Noyade.
Previous foodie reviews to check out:
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Cicchetti on Napier is an Italian restaurant located at 283 Napier Street, Strathmore, VIC 3041. The price range is mid-range to expensive depending on what you order. Their opening hours are Wednesday - Saturday 5:30pm - 10:30pm. I just read their about page on their website and learned that "Cicchetti" means small share plates or savoury snack.
First things first, make sure you make a reservation for this place as tables fill up quite easily. It has that modern chic Italian vibe to it and the restaurant is quite small and tables are probably a bit too close together, but that's okay. The staff were friendly and helpful and made us feel really comfortable there.
Please note, all currency is in AUD.
Alright Ash get to the good part, what did you guys order?
For drinks (we had x 2 of these each)
Ash's drink - A glass of Bottega Prosecco DOC $12 (x 2)
Whenever I'm at an Italian restaurant, I feel like I've gotta get a wine and the Prosecco sounded nice so I went for 2 of those!
Luke's drink - A glass of Haselgrove ‘Catkin’ Shiraz $12 (x 2)
I also tried this and often I find that some Shiraz's can be way too peppery for me, this one was quite smooth BUT I did prefer my Prosecco.
For starters, we had a lot! Once we'd finished them all, one of the waiters came over and told us we did so well and that he'd tell the chef. It reminded me of that time we ate at The Eatery in South Australia (Maggie Beer's restaurant) and we ate all the bread and the waiter was like, "you have more food coming" and we were like "don't worry, we will eat it" and we ate like 8 courses including demolishing the dessert.
We had one of the specials - Spicy Potato Croquettes $12
These were sooooo good, there were bits of chilli all throughout them. 10/10 from me.
We also had the House Made Olive Tapenade, Sopressa Salami & Pickled Green Chilli Cicchetti (which is like a canape bread thing) $6 and we should have got two because it was so nice, the flavours worked really well together. 9/10 (mainly because I thought it would be bigger for some reason).
Goat Cheese Balls x 2 - Deep Fried Goat Cheese Balls Drizzled with Truffle Honey $8. Probably one of my favourites - the way the honey mixed in with the goats cheese, gave it like a cream cheese kinda texture. I wish we ordered more. 9.5/10
The next starter was Arancini (which unfortunately I cannot remember the price and it's not online) but it was probably around $16 - 18. I was disappointed we weren't offered x 4 as they only came in a set of 3 but a lot of places will do an extra one (like Becco) because the waiters know you wanna share and don't want to have to fight over one. These had vodka in their tomato sauce and the parmesean throughout was excellent. It did annoy me that they seemed a bit bigger than what I'm used to so I'm only gonna give these a 7.5/10.
Okie onto to the mains!
For Ash's main, it was House Chicken Cotoletta - Crumbed Chicken Breast with Fried Peppers & Garlic Aioli $31. This was bloody delicious and I got really confused when the waitress asked if I wanted sides thinking she meant starters and I don't think she understood my accent when I said chicken. But the food was tasty. It was like having a really bougie chicken schnitzel. It was a really good portion too, the aiolo was delicious and the capsicum on the side was very smooth - but I would have liked something else on the plate (so I should have listened about a side aha). I would give this an 8/10. And yep, I think it's worth the price.
For Luke's main, it was the Pappardelle Slow Cooked Osso Buco, Parmigiano Reggiano $29. I liked the pasta for this one but I didn't really want any of the meat because I feel bad eating a baby cow (even though I'll happily eat a baby lamb). Anyway, Luke's thoughts on this one are that he would have liked his pasta to be a little less al dente and he said the sauce was delicious! His score was 8/10.
Ooooh it's dessert time next! My favourite. We got given a dessert menu but the waiter came back really fast and I was like oh no I'm not ready and then we had about 10 minutes to decide (maybe not that long but she had gotten busy). But I'm kinda glad as I was tossing up between different things and I'm happy with what I went with!
Ash's dessert - Amalfi Lemon Tart House Made Lemon Tart with Vanilla Ice-Cream $17. This felt like a really light dessert for me as I was looking at the donuts, but I was glad I got this as my tummy digested it well. The lemon tart was kinda small but just the right size as I was full after I had this. The ice cream was such a good vanilla flavour too. Probably a 9/10 from me.
Luke's dessert - he had one of the specials so it's not on the menu but it was a Chocolate Brownie with Honeycomb pieces and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The brownie was really fudgie and the ice cream was the same as mine so really good at that front and the honeycomb was quite light. However, Luke only gave this one a 7/10 because it was missing a chocolate sauce and I agree with him. It was a well baked brownie but what would have brought it altogether would have been either a chocolate/caramel/butterscotch sauce - just something to balance the dryness. It was $18.
I think we spent around $200 or just under (I think they may have overcharged us, I am unsure) but it didn't feel "too" expensive for the food we had. Overall, I'd give it a 8/10 and would definitely go back.
Have you been here? Let me know in the comments if you have and what you thought!
Much love,
Ash xoxo
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