Soffritto

The first thing I noticed upon entering Soffritto is the black wrought iron chandelier hanging overhead. 

And then my eyes were drawn to the rich (overladen, perhaps?) table setting which on closer scrutiny are nothing more than your everyday tableware but because they are cleverly grouped together, gave off a hint of decadent opulence. 

The walls are painted with an earthy khaki hue, not something I would choose for my dining room, but they nevertheless juxtaposed very well with the bluish slate feature wall at the end of the room.

In case you don't already know what I am yakking about, Soffritto is a new contemporary European restaurant which opened in Newtown not too long ago. You can still smell the paint. 

The place operates with just two people - a maitre-d'/waiter/busboy and the owner/chef, Matt Green, and I suspect they must have additional help during the weekends. But more importantly, Matt who? I mean in Sydney, there is Matt Moran, Matt Bates, but Matt Green kinda threw me off the culinary track. A quick google only tells me this and I am still no wiser but boy, did he looked like a boy or what? And let me tell you this boy is tall and strapping and look like he can surf or play footy or both. But can he cook? Well, where do I start?

Green is fast. 

The six of us didn't have to wait too long (finishing off one and half bottles of plonk can't take that long, can it?) before the entrees arrived. 

Highlight 1 - The duck tortellini with sage and balsamico was excruciatingly delectable. Meltingly soft in the mouth, it was still warm when it arrived at the table. Nothing went to waste, bread was used to mopped up all the sauce.

 

Highlight 2 - The fried saffron risotto balls are crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside and worked very well with the fontina (cheese) sauce.

Green is good. 

The mains were nicely presented, none of the mumbo-jumbo fancy towering effects, just wonderful appetite-whetting smells that makes us go howlingly hungry.  

Highlight 1 - The Spanish paella is a must have. Saffron is again used to tease rather than to overpower, and the seafood all cooked to perfection. The rice granules are intentionally al dente and worked very well with the stock used to cook it. 

Highlight 2 - The fowls were a howling delight. The confit of chicken was cooked to perfection. The skin lightly charred and the meat moist and full of flavours. I am not a huge fan of lentils but a dining companion swears he died and gone to lentil heaven. 

The quail was a special of the evening and arrived on a bed of buttered spinach amidst a sea of lightly reduced sauce. I didn't get to taste it but one glance at my female friend devouring the dish with gusto spoke volumes.

There is no picture, but I have to say Highlight 3 has to be the roasted Wagyu beef rump served with polenta and mushrooms. It was tender it was smokey it was simply delicious. We even joked about Wagyubeefroo (yes you heard it first on this blog) but that will be a separate story of its own. For now its enough to say it involves injection of fat extracted from the rump of the Wagyu beef into the rump of the roo and  . . . . 

Not least, Green is sweet. 

The desserts are again not fanciful stuff but just cleverly put-together flavours. 

Highlight 1 - Figs dashed in brandy, served with a dollop of soft marscarporne cheese sprinkled with mint. For this dish to work, the figs have to sing the sweet notes right. They did so this evening. 

Highlight 2 - The chocolate parfait was presented in a no-frills fashion, what you see is what you get but boy, was it chocolate heaven or what. A dash of sweetness and with just the right amount of crunch when the crispy shortbread crushes into the ice-cream centre. One word - delizioso.

A fellow dining companion remarked, "this is a lot like Oscillate Wildly in those days when you could get 3 decent courses for fifty bucks; now OW is nothing more than over-priced degustation BS so let's keep Soffritto hush-hush." And I couldn't agree more. We have to come back. We will come back. 

It was raining cats and dogs as we left the restaurant, but we didn't care. Good food, good company, what more can one ask for?

Soffritto

367 King Street

Newtown NSW 2042

+61 (02) 9565 4660

www.soffritto.com.au