It’s not often a restaurant surprises you these days but that was the case when we ventured to Santini Bar and Grill. Our experience also reminded me that it’s the little things that make all the difference.
©The Ponder Room
Located upstairs at the new QT Perth hotel we knew the decor would be interesting. We weren’t disappointed. The minute you walk in you feel special in the unique space. While I don’t usually like bench seating this layout works. The tables are far enough away not to feel claustrophobic, nor hear your neighbours conversation. The inclusion of a real single candle, that silently slipped away throughout the night, was a lovely and well received touch.
©The Ponder Room
©The Ponder Room
And so to the food. All of our group were completely blown away by … the bread bowl. I kid you not. The organic, hand crafted bread bowl literally stopped our conversation, which is a hard thing to do for a group of women who haven’t seen each other for six months. Thin bread sticks, spongy slices of organic Sourdough, Quinoa Loaf and a baby croissant were all spectacular. The addition of a small crisp venice scroll and a lemon tomato-onion Focaccine was genius. The cute red and yellow half tomatoes looked like traffic lights. But what really made it was the home made virgin butter, sprinkled with salt.
©The Ponder Room
For entree we shared a plate of Gold Band snapper carpaccio. The thinly sliced fish lay in grapefruit, celery, green tomato and pepperoncini. It received a mixed reaction.
©The Ponder Room
For mains we chose …
The Pine and Slippery Jack Mushroom “Crostata”. Piled high with glossy mushrooms I was told it tasted as good as it looked, and wow it looked good. The additional theatre of having the waitress drissel the mushroom borage gravy over the tart, was another nice touch. Again this small action took our dinner from average to special.
©The Ponder Room
Rough Cut Linguine Crab. You can’t go to an Italian inspired restaurant and not have pasta right? Hand picked Shark Bay crab meat was dispersed through the pasta. Finished in a smooth tomato. cognac and basil sauce, it too was a hit.
Red Pepper Garlic Fennel Shrimp pizza was my choice. Having filled up on bread I almost changed the order but realised I was probably too late. No problem I thought, assuming the pizza would be a small dinner plate size. When a full sized pizza landed on the table I realised my error. The prawns lay in a bed of fennel, Mozzarella, Parmesan, chilli, lemon and fresh dandelion. The pizza base offered a tasty woodfired back note. I managed one full piece and ate the prawns before the richness took hold. My friends all enjoyed their piece.
©The Ponder Room
Foolishly we’d ordered some potatoes and “cleansing” lettuce salad. Both were delicious. the lettuce a little heavy on the oil to help cut through the richness of the pizza.
©The Ponder Room
©The Ponder Room
Somehow we managed to make room for dessert. One diner picked the Strawberry Pear Gelato, assuming it would be a nice light end to the meal. Like the mushrooms it too received a drizzle from the waitress, this time Rose Prosecco. It slid down well, though judged a little too sweet for some.
©The Ponder Room
Tre Cannoli three favours. In contrast our other dessert, which we thought might be too rich, turned out to be very light. The three flavours, Raspberry custard, Pistachio-sweet ricotta, and Dark chocolate zabaglione, were all fought after with no clear winner. The rosewater syrup was a delicate surprise.
©The Ponder Room
As mentioned above, the atmosphere was relaxed and conducive to chatting, the food at a high level and all the little service touches raised the overall experience to another level. Overall a wonderful night out, something I would definitely recommend. All this when our waitress admitted she was new to the restaurant. She did a great job.
As the candle flickered to the end I pondered:
- I’d happily go back just for the bread, the dessert and can’t wait to try the mushroom tart;
- The decor, food and additional service touches excel the branding of a “Bar and Grill”;
- I do have to admit that we all had difficulty choosing something from the menu. No idea why. There was a good amount of choice, they all sounded good and they even offer entree, medium and large sizes. Somehow however, the unusual combinations made it very harder to chose.
- The only negative was being told we couldn’t take the pizza home (we only managed to eat one quarter of it). Surely if you are prepared to take the risk, and you have paid for it, you should be able to do so. The answer to this seems to vary across restaurants.
For more information go to Satini Bar and Grill
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