Sfuso is a restaurant and pizzeria in Blackmans Bay and if you haven't been, it’s totally worth a visit.
Backstory
The lovely Deputy is indisposed (euphemism for ….sick). The kids have been in front of their respective screens all day. The risk of cabin fever is encroaching. An outing and airing is required.
Where do you take young folk for dinner?
FYI flying solo with young people is not part of my usual repertoire. We're just getting to know each other. And, the girl child has some specific food criteria.
Sfuso!
This Girl was after a few things in a restaurant on Tuesday night.
I have an Entertainment Book which gives discounts on loads of great stuff including restaurants. Yup, I was after an affordable meal.
I was looking to meet two food needs: pizza and pasta.
I wanted an adventure so the lovely Deputy had a couple of hours to loll around by himself awhile. I figured they’d throw the food at us at La Porchetta and we’d be back home in three quarters of an hour after a less than satisfying meal.
Are we having fun yet?
And I’m always after a blogging opportunity.
Sfuso
Tick, tick, tick, tick.
My expectations were modest but Sfuso was more than a pleasant surprise.
What we ate
Skater-boy chose the spaghetti with roast zucchini, pinenuts, sambal chilli, preserved lemon for $22 followed by the chocolate and expresso crème brulee for $12.
‘I’m the arty-one’ chose the margie pizza denuded of its roast garlic and crusts for $15 and the affogato’s chocolate icecream – special delivery for her.
In a food choice dilemma, the lovely table attendant, Beck, advised ‘Close your eyes and think about what you’d like to eat. Don’t try and find the yummiest thing on the menu. You’ll only end up wanting what someone else is eating.’
Okay, Skater-boy chose for me.
This Girl had the special pizza: roast pumpkin with harissa, feta, rocket and pinenuts for $23 and the Heston’s lemon tart for $12.
We shared the roasted beetroot, baby spinach, walnuts, fetta, mint, olive oil and balsamic salad for $12. By sharing, I mean Skater-boy and I had a crack at it.
The verdict
‘I’m the arty one’ made light work of her pizza choice.
The official review: ‘It was pizzary-good. It tasted like pizza so it was good.’
Phew!
Skater-boy tells me the flavours in his pasta were new to him. This Girl loves a first-time eating experience and this young man is a blank canvas.
He might have been a bit challenged by the sambal chilli but approached it like a switch-stance (skater reference look it up).
The official review: ‘The preserved lemon was a good touch’ and like Goldilocks he reckoned ‘It was just the right size.’
Which didn’t stop him from hoovering the table aka half my pizza and dessert and ‘I’m the arty one’s’ crusts.
His experience with the dessert was fabulous. There is something beautiful about watching someone break open their first crème brulee caramelized sugar crust. And to top off the journey, we got to watch the chef doing her stuff.
I long for an adolescent male’s metabolism.
Heston’s lemon tart was one of the better I’ve had. It didn’t levitate or anything ostentatiously Heston, but it was velvety and smooth, with a good balance of pastry to lemon curd.
Yay! To Matt and Nana Conboy. They’re doing a great job at Blackmans Bay. They've had the restaurant for eighteen months and turned it to Sfuso last November.
What’s Sfuso?
Italian for housewine, decanted directly from the barrel to you.
Go check them out and finish dinner like we did, with a walk along the beach.
