Italian food is always a very close second to Japanese food for me. And I love Japanese food inordinately – I could eat Japanese food for breakfast, lunch and dinner one day, and still be ready to eat it the next day. As for Italian food, there’s something about spaghetti bolognese that draws me to it (I love tomato). It’s seems to be the home cook’s go to dish when they can’t be bothered cooking. But that doesn’t stop me from loving it. Or from eating it when I go out. I’ll forever be one of those people who like restaurants that sell the staple dishes of a cuisine and don’t try to fancy it up with a twist and then charge exorbitant amounts for it that some people seem to love.
2015
Dolci Domus in Chippendale is one of those Italian restaurants.
They make the perfect spaghetti bolognese with the perfect meat:tomato ratio in the sauce and the perfect sauce:spaghetti ratio. When I ate this, I had been craving spaghetti bolognese for weeks (I do that), and this sitting completely satisfied my craving. So yum!
And we also had bruschetta, which is also something I could eat every day (if made well).
We also had bruschetta as an appetizer, which has an amusing story to it. A few years ago, I had brunch with friends at a cafe that served bruschetta on the menu. Then, I told the waiter I wanted ‘bru-ske-ta’, the waiter looked at me as if I ordered an alien dish, I pointed out ‘bruschetta’ on the menu and the waiter laughed and ‘corrected’ me by telling me it’s pronounced ‘bru-she-ta’. My friends (including N) had a field day laughing at me for pronouncing it wrong – obviously, if T has an Italian neighbour and has been to Italy so ‘he knows what he’s talking about’ – and that has been a constant point of hilarity for N ever since.
But not anymore! Dolci Domus is run by Italians, which means they know how to pronounce bruschetta (anyone with a rudimentary understanding of Italian knows that ‘ch’ is pronounced a hard ‘k’). This time, N tells the Italian waitress that she wants ‘bru-she-ta’ and the waitress looks at her as if she’s ordered an alien dish, N points it out on the menu, and the waitress laughs and corrects her by telling her it’s pronounced ‘bru-ske-ta’. Of course, I’m busy suppressing my laughter. Now, if that’s not vindication!
As for the bruschetta though, I’d have liked the bread to be most toasted and the basil leaves to be distributed more evenly, even though keeping it as two leaves makes it look pretty.
2016
With the opening of Kensington Street in Chippendale, nearby Dolci Dolmus has aspired to join the crowd. Since my last visit, they’d closed for renovations, likely to match the up-market feel of Silver Eye and various restaurants in Kensington St nearby. Their menu’s also undergone extensive slimming – whereas there used to be upwards of 10 different pastas, there’s now four only.
I’m a big fan of lasagna ($15.00) and used to it eat semi regularly at home. Now that I’ve stopped that habit, lasagna is a sometimes food – my first bite in at least 6 months!
It’s a hearty lasagna filled with beef mince and a super red bolognese sauce. It’s covered in a deliciously chewy mozzarella crust. I’d have enjoyed more bechemel sauce, which I love with lasagna, and the strips of vegetables were neither here nor there and served only as garnish, but other than that it was a tasty carbohydrate fix.
There’s decidedly less bolognese sauce in the lasagna than when N ordered it a year ago, and with the steepness of N’s ravioli dish (about 8 pieces), I’d say their certainly slimming down the portion sizes to fit in with the up market feel of the restaurants nearby. The service is still horrendously bad, though. Trying to get the attention of waitresses takes multiple attempts (even when they’re walking right past you) and there’s not the barest of smiles to be seen. I don’t mind bad service when the food is cheap, but I’m unlikely to return when it’s expensive as it is here – except to try their pizzas.
Dolci Dolmus is located at 16-18 Broadway, Ultimo NSW 2007.