Living and Loving Hobart:: Piccolo

After a campari and orange on the rocks, we toddled off to dinner. Piccolo has two sittings per night so I guess I'm officially old because I chose the 6 pm option. In my defence, I had an ulterior motive – an evening that involved good food and wine followed by a True Blood viewing, on the comfy couch, with the aforesaid.

It was my third visit, and for lovely, it was his first.

I've enjoyed the food on both occasions, particularly the desserts, which are standouts on the menu.

Italian inspired, locally focused, intimate, Piccolo is a lovely restaurant serving some of Hobart's most interesting food right now.

The menu on date night included: Bruny Island Goat; Robbin Island Wagyu; Pirates Bay Octopus; Bruny Island Suckling Pig and East Coast Calamari.

On this occasion, a whole lot of capers had also died on the menu. I figure they have shares in a caper farm.

My feelings about the caper are similar to a 1950s approach to parenting, where children should be seen and not heard. I want a gentle reminder that they are part of the layers of flavours and textures that make up my meal but I don’t need to push them out of the way just to get to the main event. In fact, I don’t really want to see any one ingredient repeated more than twice on a menu.

There is a wide range of menu choices at Piccolo.

Pistachio crumbed east coast calamari with capers, parsley dressing and organic rocket and fregola salad for $22.50.

Spanner crab and saffron ravioli with capers (see! see!) chili, tomato, celery hearts and basil $24, $30.

Roast venison loin with artichoke puree, savoy cabbage and pink peppercorn sauce, $38.90.

Green beans with garlic and lemon olive oil, $9.80.

Dark chocolate mousse with caramel pear, hazelnut icecream and honeycomb, $18.

Strawberry and nougat semifreddo with pistachio, mixed berries and ricotta dumplings, $18.

All the meals were superb and as predicted, the desserts were a revelation in every mouthful. Each meal was a layered complexity of component parts making for an enjoyable and beautiful plate.

The sort of prices you can expect to pay are:

Entrées range from $9.50 to $24.50

Pasta dishes range from $22 to $30 and can be ordered in entrée or main portions

Mains sit just under $40 each

Desserts are between $6 and $17.50

It was a wonderful meal. Capers aside, I could not fault the food which was exquisite.

I did develop a wee tick about eating dinner at 6 pm however. I’m not so impressed by limitation and scheduled sittings smack of both greed and control. It’s like the restaurant wants my money and they’re going to define how I go about spending it. I also don’t much like eating at 6, or at 8.30 either, although I am generally willing to accommodate a staggered approach to reservations. You know, like when you ring up to make a booking and ask for 7 and the restaurant says we’d love to have you but we have 1350 other tables booked at that time, perhaps you’d like to come at 6.30 or 7.30? The answer is always, absolutely! But being confined to one of two times and having to be eat and be out after two hours if you take the early sitting, well, it's uncouth!

I have found some of Piccolo's service wanting in the past. An opinion shared by other foodies with which I compare notes.

Hand on heart, on date night, the service was attentive and didn’t suffer from the same attitude that had been my experience the previous two occasions.

They were a little slow of the mark getting us our initial drinks and we sat looking at the wine list long enough to have withdrawals, but once they were in the swing, the service was a well oiled machine.

This Girl commends Piccolo to you. It is just delightful.
You'll find Piccolo at 323a Elizabeth Street, North Hobart. You'll need to make a reservation, so call them on 03 6234 4688 or email them restaurant.piccolo@gmail.com