CC, KP, PL, VW and I went to La Braceria last night. It’s located opposite Cantina in Greenleaf Load and I’ve wanted to try it ever since I heard that the pizza chef from Al Forno was running La Braceria. La Braceria is known for its grilled meats and pizzas.
It’s a small restaurant (CC thought it looked smaller than he remembered) and probably seats 25 at the most, with a couple of additional table outside. I made a booking the day before as in the past when we’d been in the area La Braceria was always full but on this evening it was fairly quiet. KP had tried to call the restaurant many times but was never able to get through.
We’d read that the restaurant had a $55 set featuring grilled tenderloin, a choice of pasta, two different selections of grilled meat and a choice of dessert but the waitress told they did not.
We were served a bowl of house bread with olive oil and balsamic dip while we mulled over the menu. The second helping tasted better and was softer after we asked the waiter to warm it.
For our appetisers we selected calamari (a firm favourite at any Italian restaurant) and as the homemade sausage (salsicce di maiale al finocchietto) was highly recommended we chose to take a main course of sausage as a shared appetiser. The calamari was the largest serving I’ve had in a restaurant, was soft and fresh and contained a pleasant surprise – prawns! I don’t know if that was by design or a few slipped in, but I’d recommend it to other restaurants. The sausage is made in house and uses chopped pork instead of minced meat so has a more rustic and chewy texture. Finocchietto is a liqueur made from fennel, which explains the strong herbal taste. Overall the sausage is nothing to rave about and was quiet dry, but was probably healthier than other types of sausages as it had very little fat. The roasted potatoes that were served as a side to the sausage were very good though, slightly crispy and soft inside.
Our main courses were grilled lamb chop marinated in rosemary, paper wrapped seafood spaghetti (which came in tinfoil not paper), homemade sausage (again) and two pizzas (from the selection of around 20) - one with parma ham and rocket, the other was the alla Braceria made with mozzarella, beef tenderloin, porcini mushroom and parmesan cheese.
Knowing that the chef was formerly from Al Forno, which has great pizzas, I was looking forward to the pizza here. CC and I had the restaurant split the pizza so we had half of each. Both pizzas were very thin with a crispy edge. The parm ham pizza had a tomato base and was nicely salty while the Braceria pizza had no tomato and tasted buttery – a very different style of pizza to the norm. I thought both were very good indeed (and I eat a lot of pizza!) and if I had to give one the edge over the other I’d say the Braceria was the winner because it was different. Pizzas were priced at around $23 each.
It’s a small restaurant (CC thought it looked smaller than he remembered) and probably seats 25 at the most, with a couple of additional table outside. I made a booking the day before as in the past when we’d been in the area La Braceria was always full but on this evening it was fairly quiet. KP had tried to call the restaurant many times but was never able to get through.
We’d read that the restaurant had a $55 set featuring grilled tenderloin, a choice of pasta, two different selections of grilled meat and a choice of dessert but the waitress told they did not.
We were served a bowl of house bread with olive oil and balsamic dip while we mulled over the menu. The second helping tasted better and was softer after we asked the waiter to warm it.
For our appetisers we selected calamari (a firm favourite at any Italian restaurant) and as the homemade sausage (salsicce di maiale al finocchietto) was highly recommended we chose to take a main course of sausage as a shared appetiser. The calamari was the largest serving I’ve had in a restaurant, was soft and fresh and contained a pleasant surprise – prawns! I don’t know if that was by design or a few slipped in, but I’d recommend it to other restaurants. The sausage is made in house and uses chopped pork instead of minced meat so has a more rustic and chewy texture. Finocchietto is a liqueur made from fennel, which explains the strong herbal taste. Overall the sausage is nothing to rave about and was quiet dry, but was probably healthier than other types of sausages as it had very little fat. The roasted potatoes that were served as a side to the sausage were very good though, slightly crispy and soft inside.
Our main courses were grilled lamb chop marinated in rosemary, paper wrapped seafood spaghetti (which came in tinfoil not paper), homemade sausage (again) and two pizzas (from the selection of around 20) - one with parma ham and rocket, the other was the alla Braceria made with mozzarella, beef tenderloin, porcini mushroom and parmesan cheese.
Knowing that the chef was formerly from Al Forno, which has great pizzas, I was looking forward to the pizza here. CC and I had the restaurant split the pizza so we had half of each. Both pizzas were very thin with a crispy edge. The parm ham pizza had a tomato base and was nicely salty while the Braceria pizza had no tomato and tasted buttery – a very different style of pizza to the norm. I thought both were very good indeed (and I eat a lot of pizza!) and if I had to give one the edge over the other I’d say the Braceria was the winner because it was different. Pizzas were priced at around $23 each.
Seafood spaghetti in a paper bag is also an old Al Forno speciality and arrived steaming hot and smelling great. PL had the lamb and told me that I wouldn’t like it as it had that “lamb” smell but she enjoyed it.
For desserts we decided to share the profiterole and the warm chocolate cake (tortino caldo di cioccolato) and CC had affogato al caffee (bourbon vanilla gelato in espresso). The chocolate cake was served in a porcelain bowl and then the waiter poured Grand Marnier over it and set it alight. This was polished off quickly by the ladies so must have been good! The profiteroles were a disappointment. I found the chocolate sauce to be too sickly sweet and PL noted that the fresh cream inside “tasted funny” – it certainly tasted like it had been flavoured but I couldn’t identify with what. We only ate two of the four profiteroles. Desserts were priced around $9 each.
Overall the dinner, with a bottle of wine, came to $60 per head.
[Aside: CC told us over dinner that he had lunch at Kuriya and was served a lunch special item – a single cherry tomato, cut in half and served on shaved ice for $8! After we laughed furiously for a while I believe he was glad that someone else had paid for that lunch!]
Would I come back – Yes for the pizza. Quite ambience and a quaint location away from the maddening crowd.
Service – Good, nothing to complain about. In such a small space it is hard for the waiter not to take care of you, although we had hear rumours that the service was slow.
Food – Pizzas are excellent. The house special sausage is nothing to write home about and the desserts are so-so.
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