|
Cheap Eats 2008 - 3 Stars. Best in Class
Winner in the 2008 Age Cheap Eats Guide.
Distracted by Fitzroy Street's human menagerie, you might miss this unassuming little place. But for faultlessly executed southern Italian fare served in intimate surrounds, seek out Bar Santo. Start with dainty polenta cakes topped with a rich mushroom ragu, or polpettone di tonno, a herb-flecked tuna 'meatloaf' daubed with tangy aioli. Some mains are beyond Cheap Eats orbit and the menu is brief. But orecchiette in a balanced sugo tossed with broccolini and spicy salsicce, or four-cheese ravioli in sage and butter remind me that it's better to do few things very well.
Cheap Eats 2007
Thoughtful food, gentle Italian-accented waitresses, diners stretching
out the newspaper over their tables: Bar Santo is a happy, serene
place. It's Melbourne-does-Italy by the beach. Expect comfort food
exemplified by soft gnocchi dumplings topped with a rich lamb ragu
or less usual, southern Italian fare; perhaps spaghetti tossed with a
plucky beetroot pesto, red onion, basil and parmesan. Heavier mains
like slow-cooked ossobuco take you out of Cheap Eats' territory but
there's still plenty of choice. Be sure to end with a fluffy, lemony
wedge
of Bar Santo's famous baked ricotta pudding.
Mietta's 2006
Right on the curve of Fitzroy St where diners can look out
onto trams groaning around the corner partially obscuring the
palm trees near the Palais. Well done Italian food at very
reasonable prices make this one of St Kilda's better
destinations. Warm candle-lit ambience at night.
http://www.miettas.com/Australia/Victoria/St_Kilda/Bar_Santo.html
|