Bucci, FORTITUDE VALLEY

Thoa and I dined here out of chance a couple of months ago. The restaurant we were intending to go to was closed for an unknown reason so we took a stroll around the area and were drawn in by the impressive decor and style of the place.  The restaurant was quite packed for a Monday night but we were seated promptly without a booking.

My initial thought after being seated was to do with how close we were to the tables on either side of us; it really took away from the intimacy of the place. I felt like I either had to speak louder so that Thoa could hear, or lean over so our conversations could be kept private. Perhaps ask for a corner table when making reservations, or one near the open plan kitchen if you’re not big on conversations.

It took a little while for someone to come back to take our orders but when the time came, we decided on starting off with some bruschetta from their share menu. The waitress then rushed off before I could place a wine order..maybe I don’t look old enough to be ordering wine? Whatever the reason was, it was only after we received our entree that we were offered drinks other than tap water.

House made sour rye flat bread brushed with evoo & garlic, topped with dressed local tiger prawns, avocado, herbs, roast corn & smoked chilli preserve

 I wasn’t quite sure what to think about the bruschetta, the sour rye flat bread just didn’t do it for me. I’m not a big fan of flatbread in general  so that might have influenced my opinion but it felt more like i was eating toppings on some hard rye crackers than eating bruschetta. I was also expecting more “smoke” and or “chilli” taste from the preserve, instead it was quite sweet and i would have mistaken it for a fruit preserve if I wasn’t informed otherwise. The flavours as a whole was very good though, they worked well together but still felt like it was missing a bit of kick. The gentleman next to me ordered the arancini, and I’ll have to say, i had food envy and that would be the first thing I’d order if I were to come back.

For mains, i had the gnocchi and Thoa ordered the cannelloni. I really enjoyed my gnocchi, the gnocchi itself was made perfectly; most times I’ve ordered it, it’s either had too much flour and was tough and doughy or had too little flour and became lumps of watery mashed potato that were falling to pieces. The dish was quite simple but full of flavour and the lemon oil cuts through the cured trout nicely.

Home made parmesan gnocchi with cured ocean trout, spicy Tuscan fish stew essence, lemon oil, woodland sorrel & lemon balm

The cannelloni looked great, I only managed to have a little taste of the actual bug filling and thought it was quite tasty, however my friend made a comment that the dish as a whole was lacking an element. The truffle & lemon wasn’t that evident in the dish and the dill was overpowering and didn’t balance out too well with the other ingredients. I believed she still enjoyed her meal overall though, as I certainly did with mine.

Moreton Bay bug cannelloni, oven baked with truffle, lemon & tomatoes

Our plates were cleared quite some time after finishing our meals despite the restaurant being half empty at that point.  We were not offered dessert or another drink so we had the impression that the waitress had enough for a Monday night and no longer cared about serving us so we made the decision to settle the bill and leave. Hopefully i’ll have something to say about dessert next time as the Bombolini (rhubarb compote filled doughnuts served with vanilla custard) and saffron Panna cotta (served with dark chocolate and anise crumble and gooseberry) sound quite tantalising. 

Food: 8 /10

Atmosphere: 7 /10

Value:  6/10

Service:  5/10

Overall:  6.5/10

- wd