Fiorenzoni

By Franz Scheurer

It’s easy to miss this small, bright restaurant at the corner of Pacific Highway and Victoria Street. Mario Nogarotto serves modern Italian fare in his modern place with its large windows street-side and a semi-open kitchen opposite. A small, dark bar with illuminated shelves takes up most of the wall near the entrance and the brown walls with a pale yellow feature wall work very well with the white floor and ceiling, industrial stainless steel furniture with the black leather trim to make this a stylish, comfortable room. Tableware is good and glassware adequate. The room is decorated with a series of very clever black and white transparencies, mounted to acrylic, showing photographs of daily life in Mario’s hometown in Italy.

The menu is concise and divided into Antipasti (Entrées), Primi Piatti (Pasta and Risotto), Secondi Piatti (Meat and Fish), Contorni (Side Dishes) and Dolci (Desserts). The food is mainly Roman and convinces with clean, clear flavours and good presentation with generous serves.

Try the ‘Bresaola con Rughetta e Parmigiano’ ($14.90), thinly sliced cured beef and shaved Parmesan with rocket leaves. It looks fresh and appetising and delivers what it promises. I particularly liked the ‘Rigatoni alla Checca’ ($17.90), small tube pasta with cured bacon, green peas and pecorino cheese. The pasta was perfectly al dente and the flavours were full-on without being heavy or cloying. A main dish of ‘Pollo al Mortaio’ ($24.90), sautéed chicken fillets with wild fennel, juniper berries and lemon, served with roasted garlic potato mash, was a generous serve of excellent, juicy chicken with lots of salty, buttery flavours and very fresh and sweet peas.

A good selection of better than average desserts finishes a solid meal with the ‘Crostata di Ricotta’ ($14.90), a classic Roman ricotta cake served with a Bailey’s Zabaglione, being the hero for me.

A very funky, young waitress handles the whole floor magnificently. It just goes to show that it is not the number of staff but the quality that makes the difference. She’s eagle eyed, spotting an empty glass here, a small nod there and everything flows with perfect timing.

The wine list is small and quite appropriate for the food, however I’d like to see a better selection of wines by the glass, as a lot of their lunchtime clients are business people, having to go back to work.

This is a great lunch spot, it’s good value for money and they are very good at matching your timeframe. Fast and furious service if you’re in a hurry and laid-back, leisurely paced food if you have time to linger.

Score: 6.5/10

For more information or bookings:

Fiorenzoni

Shop 1

809 Pacific Highway

(Cnr Victoria Road)

Chatswood

Tel.: 02 9419 6411