If you choose to eat Italian there are certain expectations about the menu. Anyone who has travelled around Italy knows the rightful form of dinner.
So it was with great trepidation I was commanded to dine recently with The Boss the other night at Gusto Italiano on that little stretch of Ponsonby Road near Three Lamps that is so often overlooked as the trendies and the millennials all fall over themselves to try the latest and greatest places at the other end of the Dining Mile. Gusto Italiano, The Boss said, is one of his favourites and not to be confused with a similarly named joint in Sky City’s grand dining 50 metres. And when The Boss speaks, if you know your Camorra from your Mafia, you jump. I must add I am pleased I did.
Owner Armando Koci is from Puglia and presides over the comfortable, almost quaint dining room with large glass and wooden doors the open right out in good weather to extra tables on the footpath. The whole place has a rather woody feel in a cosy sort of way, and you almost imagine you have strayed into one of those delightfully old-style bistros or trattorias in the backstreets of Naples or Rome. The night we dined, Armando was proudly presenting a degustation menu of five courses (two pasta courses), with each course matched to lovely Italian wines.
We sipped on prosecco, as you should, before a very tasty dish of thinly sliced tuna arrived topped with a sweet herb and crab sauce. Accompanied by a rather fancy vernaccia wine from Tuscany, this redefined antipasti for me. So you see, it doesn’t have to be a grand platter of sliced hams and salamis with assorted olives, pickled vegetables and bread sticks. This was superb.
Moving on we had two pasta courses; the first was outstanding and my absolute favourite of the evening. A handmade cannelloni was filled with fresh porcini and anointed with a delicate truffle cream. Perfect autumn food that was soft, aromatic and heavenly. The second pasta dish was very tasty; large rounds of ravioli filled with roasted duck and napped with a buttery hazelnut and red wine sauce. Lovely flavours, although the edges of the pasta were a tad tough and chewy.
It was then on to a hearty veal stew served in a completely unpretentious manner. The deliciously long cooked meat was so tender it was almost disintegrating and sat on top of an equally deliciously rich pile of mashed potato with hints of truffle and mascarpone. The wine match, a ripasso, was almost as rich as the dish. And we finished our feast with quince tart and lemon icecream. This was a lovely meal, perfectly timed to mark the end of summer. Seasonal food always gets the tick of approval from me.
But what if you show up and don’t manage to strike a special degustation menu, (The Boss was on to it) which was real good value at a mere $125 including wines? Well, there’s good news. Apart from Gusto’s great pizza menu, and the list of pasta which is all made in house by hand, there are three terrific options that all reflect that classic Italian menu structure. Armando offers a set vegetarian menu for $95 for two, a seafood menu at $105 for two with calamari, prawns, pasta and fish of the day, and what he calls a ‘Gustoso” set menu at $95 for two which includes a generous antipasto platter, huge house made gnocchi, and an excellent chicken breast dish. These might be some of the best value meals around the district as all include dessert.
Service was charming - a lovely Italian who knew his stuff. The wine list is filled with really good Italian wines that are perfect for the food (of course) and there are plenty of salads and vegetable dishes to please the vegetarians. On the second Wednesday of each month there’s an opera night, and for those who want a private event there’s a room upstairs to book. Open for dinner seven nights, lunch Thursday to Sunday.
(LAURAINE JACOBS)
GUSTO ITALIANO, 263 Ponsonby Road, T: 09 361 1556, www.gustoitaliano.co.nz