Review: Etto @ South Melbourne - Pasta galore!

First official review!

Now, what better way to start the first review of the year than to blog about a meal with the very person that's encouraged me back on the flog scene?

So Thanh (@ieatthereforeiam) recently invited me to try Etto - a new pasta place in South Melbourne. Located in Clarendon Centre, Etto has a pretty relaxed feel to it, with bright coloured chairs and a tiled feature wall reminding me of an argyle sweater I used to wear (now where did that sweater go..)

The concept for Etto is fairly straightforward. Choose your sauce, choose your pasta, grab a drink, pay, and have a seat on one of those funky chairs while you wait for your pasta to be prepared. 

Etto has six types of pasta and hand-makes three types in store daily - the spaghetti, fusili and rigatoni. The sauces are split into three types - tomato, al crudo and cream.

We decided to try the smoked salmon and roasted capers with spaghetti ($13), black truffle and salami linguini ($13), wagyu meatball polpette with pappardelle ($12) and a side of italian slaw ($5).

The smoked salmon and roasted capers was light and had a lemony zing to it to offset the saltiness of the capers and the smoked salmon. I actually thought the dish was refreshing, which may sound a little strange in describing pasta.

My favourite pasta for the night was the black truffle and salami linguini -- the combination of the black truffle, linguini and the grated parmesan cheese was just perfect, and i was savouring every mouthful. The salami was naturally quite salty but was good to nibble with the linguini.

By the way, I didn't try the wagyu meat polpette so you'll have to check with Thanh regarding his thoughts on the dish.

 

Now with all that pasta we were eating, i was looking forward to a change in texture from the salad. The italian slaw was crunchy, but the seasoning was only so-so. There was an overpowering taste in the slaw which i think came from the celery (but for some reason it tasted a lot like parsley).

Etto also stocks a range of Italian sodas - chinotto, limonade and orange. I'm a closet chinotto fan so i was more than happy to grab one off the shelf. The drink was not overly sweet and had that slight bitter kick to it, and was therefore a great drink accompaniment for the meal.

All in all, great food, fun and relaxed ambiance and very decently priced. I know where i'll be going back to for my next pasta-fix.

Thanh and I dined courtesy of Etto.