Dinner @ Church St Enoteca

It's the last dinner for the year at Church Street Enoteca and when they reopen in January, there will be a new menu and a new chef. So for this meal Paalo's recreating his first dining experience while I've gone for my favourite newer dishes.





For starters:



This was rightly included in the "Top 20 Dishes of the Year for 2008" - it's not for the faint of heart with it's combination of gutsy flavours. It's a rich dish no doubt but it remains in balance, touch of sweetness with the raisins, an acidic sweetness with the balsamic, sharpness from the goat cheese, nuttiness from the brown butter and creaminess from the pinenuts.




I do love this dish for the way in which the octopus has been treated - it is so soft and delicate in texture, there's certainly no rubbery bits here. It is skilfully done. The chorizo adds some spice and a lovely textural change too.

For mains:



Crisp skin, soft succulent flesh - a joy to eat. Sweet spanner crab intermingles with jamon and cannellini beans is the delicate cream sauce.



The plate of soft polenta is first brought to the table



and is soon joined with a skillet bearing lamb



Crusted with a breadcrumb, Parmigiano and parsley mix - the lamb is fork tender it just falls apart to the touch.


I can easily say that we've enjoyed ourselves tonight as we have on our previous visits - We wish Ron all the best in his new ventures there are exciting times ahead for him and we look forward to re-visiting in the new year.

The details:
Church Street Enoteca
527 Church Street, Richmond

Phone: 9428 7898

Restaurant Open:
Lunch: Monday-Friday 12-3pm
Dinner: Monday-Saturday 6pm to late

Web:
www.churchstenoteca.com.au